Scenes from a campaign

Against great odds, Pell won a bitterly contested Democratic primary race in 1960. I'm writing about it now. Here are a few photos from the summer of 1960, from Pell's personal scrapbook, on loan from Nuala Pell. Pictured here:
-- Claiborne and Nuala taking a break in their car -- don't know where. But this is one of my favorite photos so far.
-- A mandolin player serenades the candidate and his wife.
-- The Pell "bandwagon," a 1940 truck a Coast Guard buddy donated to the cause.
-- The family outside their home in Newport. Left to right: Bertie, Julie, Nuala, Toby, Claiborne and Dallas.


Images courtesy of Nuala Pell.

JOE BIDEN ON THE PHONE

I interviewed the Vice President this Tuesday to get his insights into Claiborne Pell. Biden eulogized Pell at his funeral Jan. 5, but I had hoped for more detail -- and got it, during and interview lasting almost half an hour, after which he told me he was late for a meeting at the Oval Office and had to go. I have long admired Biden and was honored to get the interview -- and amused by his many stories.
Of my many interviews over three decades in journalism, this one has to rank near the top -- up there with Stephen King, Ted Kennedy, Steven Spielberg and the late U.S. House Speaker Tip O'Neill.
This is a photo of Biden greeting Nuala Pell on Jan. 5, 2009, Trinity Church, Newport -- Pell's funeral.
Photo courtesy Bob Breidenbach, Providence Journal.

A PRECIOUS FINDING

While the Pell Archive at the University of Rhode Island is the primary source of Pelliana -- at 2,500 linear feet of boxes, there's a lot there -- not everything is in Kingston. Claiborne's personal scrapbooks remain with Nuala, and on a visit with her yesterday (and also son Toby and longtime aide Jan Demers), we found the CLAIBORNE PELL, VOLUME II scrapbook, which spans the period from 1937 to the late 1940s, a critical period in his life. Since what is contained within (photos, clippings, letters, his father's $300 initiation fee into the Knickerbocker Club in 1910, etc.) were personally selected by Pell, they provide enormous insight.
We couldn't find Volume I, but it is there at Pelican Ledge somewhere, awaiting discovery. Oh -- we also found the scrapbook Pell kept during the 196o primary and general elections. Perfect timing, as this morning I am beginning to write that chapter.
Pictured is the scrapbook on my desk, next to a pile of letters to and from his father circa 1930s that I've been reading through.

Pell Grants Congrats

In 1972, Pell led the fight for Basic Education Opportunity Grants -- what we now know as Pell Grants. It was a bruising battle requiring compromise, but in the end, President Nixon signed Senate 659 into law, on June 23, 1972.
Pell received a lot of support from many people, including the president of Clark University, who wrote to the senator to thank him for "truly landmark legislation in the history of higher education."
Indeed, it was.
Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.