AN UNCOMMON MAN

More on WRNI

2011-10-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

Taped last week, radio reporter, columnist and former Providence Journal writer Scott MacKay's interview of me, about the Pell bio and writing in general, ran this morning on the NPR station.

WPRO Morning News

2011-10-20T04:40:00.001-07:00

Did a segment this morning on Rhode Island's WPRO AM-630 Morning News Show, hosted by Andrew Gobeil and Tara Granahan. They were most gracious. Talked mostly about the book, but they were kind enough to mention my continuing Providence Journal series on veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifWRNI
Today's appearance followed a report broadcast Monday by reporter Flo Jonic on WRNI FM 102.7, Rhode Island NPR.

200 at launch party! Reviews coming in!

2011-10-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

Some 200 people came out on a beautiful fall afternoon Oct. 16 for the launch party at Salve Regina University's Pell Center. I signed 100 books -- after that, the publisher ran out. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse spoke, along with Congressman David Cicilline; all were greatly influenced by Pell. Also speaking were grandsons Nick and Clay Pell, and Salve president Sister Gerety and Chancellor Sister Antone. I did a reading. The wine flowed and the food, including cucumber sandwiches, was scrumptious.

Meanwhile, reviews are starting to come in, including from Publisher's Weekly. They're good. Links to them can be found at the official book site's reviews page.

Upcoming events include a reading at signing at Newport's Redwood Library, Nov. 17, and a presentation at the Nov. 30 Pecha Kucha in Providence. Details soon.

AN UNCOMMON MAN now on Apple iTunes

2011-10-14T13:59:00.000-07:00

In addition to Amazon Kindle, the book is now also available electronically at the Apple iTunes store.
Hard copies also available at many retailers and online outlets!

Oct. 16 launch party press release...

2011-09-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

PUBLIC INVITED TO LAUNCH PARTY FOR PELL BIOGRAPHY

Sept. 30, 2011
For immediate release

NEWPORT, R.I. -- The public is invited to join Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, members of the Claiborne Pell family, and author G. Wayne Miller for the 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, launch party marking the release of Miller’s

AN UNCOMMON MAN: The Life and Times of Senator Claiborne Pell, the authorized biography of the late six-term U.S. senator.

The event will be held at Salve Regina University’s Pell Center, 518 Bellevue Ave., Newport, 02840.

In addition to Reed and Whitehouse, whose political careers were greatly influenced by Pell, speakers will include Salve President Sr. Jane Gerety, Salve Chancellor Sr. M. Therese Antone, and two Pell grandchildren: Nick and Clay Pell. Miller will read from the book and sign copies. Newly named Pell Center executive director James Ludes will host.

Published by the University Press of New England, AN UNCOMMON MAN is the first biography of the creator of the Pell Grants college assistance program and the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities. A longtime advocate of global peace who was instrumental in several treaties and an early opponent of the Vietnam War, Pell was also known for his visionary ideas -- and quirky personality. He served six terms in the Senate, longest of any Rhode Islander, from 1961 to 1997, never losing an election. Miller wrote the book with exclusive access to family archives and the Pell Collection at the University of Rhode Island, among other sources.

A staff writer at The Providence Journal, Miller is the author of seven previous books and is also a documentary filmmaker. His most recent film, 2010’s BEHIND THE HEDGEROW: Eileen Slocum and the Meaning of Newport Society, which he wrote and co-produced, has been broadcast on PBS and enjoyed several theatrical runs at Newport’s Jane Pickens Theater.

The Oct. 16 event will run from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Refreshments will be served. For this one event only, copies of AN UNCOMMON MAN will be sold at a 30-percent discount off cover price. Official publication date of the hardcover is Oct. 11.
The Kindle edition is already available.

More on the book at www.pellbook.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Claiborne-Pell-biography/155042620179

Press inquiries: pellbook@gmail.com

-- 30 --

Nice words in Phoenix interview!

2011-09-29T14:37:00.001-07:00

David Scharfenberg, editor of The Providence Phoenix, had some very nice things to say in introducing an interview with me about my soon-to-be-released new book, AN UNCOMMON MAN: The Life and Times of Senator Claiborne Pell. And let me return the compliment: David, whose own fine writing I got to observe when he was on the staff of The Providence Journal, has done a superb job at the helm of his fine weekly, which I have been reading forever. Thanks, David!

Available now on Kindle!

2011-09-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

The hard copy release is still on the horizon, but Amazon has released the Kindle version of the book. You can read it now! Details at the Amazon Uncommon Man site.

Books in hand!

2011-09-01T13:38:00.001-07:00

Pre-sale copies of AN UNCOMMON MAN: The Life and Times of Senator Claiborne Pell, my eighth book, seventh non-fiction, arrived at my home and I am delighted. University Press of New England did a fabulous job! After inscribing one to Yolanda, to whom the book is dedicated, I brought copies to Nuala Pell, who was similarly pleased. Nula and many other Pells, along with Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and lots of other folks, political and otherwise, will be joining me 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, at Salve Regina University's Pell Center for the book release party. Please join us. Books are expected to go on sale, through Amazon and in bookstores, about the end of September.

News coverage begins, four months in advance

2011-06-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

A mention of the book June 17 on the Providence Journal's Books Blog.

Now on Amazon!

2011-06-01T02:21:00.000-07:00

The book is now available on Amazon, check it out!

New photos added to the slideshow

2011-04-01T03:50:00.000-07:00

As I comb through Pell's personal scrapbooks and other sources, I am adding new photos to the UNCOMMON MAN web site. I have almost 60 up there now, all nicely organized and captioned, with many, many more to come.
Here's a rare shot of the Pell in swim trunks, from the 1960 campaign year.
Check the rest of them out at the UNCOMMON MAN slideshow.

Rhode Island Monthly to run excerpt

2011-03-18T07:40:00.001-07:00

I have just reached agreement with Rhode Island Monthly allowing the magazine to run a substantial excerpt of AN UNCOMMON MAN: The Life and Times of Senator Claiborne Pell in their August issue, which is their biggest newsstand seller of the year. This will be an enormous boost for the book, and I am grateful to the magazine for their interest!

New web site up and running!

2011-03-09T07:54:00.001-08:00

A few tweaks remain, but the dedicated web site for AN UNCOMMON MAN: The Life and Times of Senator Claiborne Pell, due for publication in October, is now live.

The site features an excerpt from the book and a photo gallery, among other attractions. I am still organizing the gallery, adding captions and more photos. Eventually, I expect this to be a great resource not only for the book, but also to those interested in Pell and the period from JFK to Clinton.

Since we do not have the cover yet, nor a page on Amazon, some links are not yet operative. Still, I invite you to visit -- and offer any suggestions you might have.

Book launch plans advance...

2011-02-04T10:32:00.001-08:00

All the details here, on the G. Wayne Miller blog.

New title is finalized

2011-01-26T10:55:00.000-08:00

After deciding that A VERY DIFFERENT SENATOR did not quite capture the man, we have settled on a new title for the biography:

AN UNCOMMON MAN
The Life and Times of Senator Claiborne Pell

And that's not all that's happening as we move toward October 2011 publication -- the book is now in copy-editing, the marketing plan is taking shape, and I am having a new web site designed. We have selected two photo inserts and secured permission from The Providence Journal and other sources to use some great archival shots. Those and many more will be on the new web page's slideshow. The web address will remain the same, however: And so will the bio email account: pellbook@gmail.com

We also are beginning to plan the book launch party, at Salve Regina University's Pell Center (expect lots of noteworthy people, could be THE political event of the season!) and other appearances and events. Stay tuned as the fall approaches...

Publisher deal reached!

2010-12-14T14:36:00.000-08:00

I have reached agreement with the prestigious University Press of New England to publish the Claiborne Pell biography. The book will be on the publisher's Fall 2011 list, which means we can expect lots of attention starting in about September, quite possibly with a book launch in Newport, the senator's home.
I am delighted with publisher UPNE, a consortium of the Dartmouth College, Northeastern University, University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire and Brandeis University presses with a distinguished list of titles and a powerful marketing reach in the region and beyond (and partnerships with other publishers). The editorial board and marketing and sales people at UPNE are enthusiastically behind the book, which portends good things! More details as they emerge...

Pell Awards, June 19, 2010

2010-06-21T03:32:00.000-07:00

I attended the Pell Awards at The Foundry in Providence as guests of Nuala and Dallas Pell. Liza Minnelli was honored for lifetime achievement in the arts, and a crowd of more than 400 turned out for the event, which has benefited the Trinity Repertory Company since the first award, the year after Claiborne's retirement. Besides Nuala and her daughter, Grandson Clay attended (pictured with his grandmother and aunt), along with longtime aides Jan Demers (pictured with Clay and Minnelli) and Dennis Riley and his wife, Senators Jack Reed (who was instrumental in the biography) and Sheldon Whitehouse Academy Award-nominated actor Richard Jenkins, Providence mayor David Cicilline, and many more. With me in the photo beneath the poster of Pell is Yolanda.

Long ago...

2010-06-17T03:29:00.001-07:00

Nuala and Claiborne are by the sea, one of their favorite places, in this uncaptioned photo from Dennis Riley's superb collection. My educated guess is that it was 1960s, on the rocks along their property in Newport. This joins the wonderful shot of the Pells in their automobile in 1960 as one of my favorite Claiborne/Nuala shots.
-- Photo courtesy of Dennis P. Riley.

A beautiful rendition of Claiborne

2010-06-09T06:11:00.000-07:00

Christina Pell, Claiborne's granddaughter, is an exceptionally talented artist (and, like her father, the late Bertie), a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. As i wrap up A VERY DIFFERENT SENATOR, Christina is contributing a story or two for the biography, and she sent a link to this wonderful painting of her grandfather toward the end of his long life. Thanks, Christina.
Here's a link to some of her other work on Facebook.

Last term, last stage of writing...

2010-06-05T05:29:00.000-07:00

I have completed the first draft of my biography, having just finished the epilogue. Am now editing and fact-checking. The end of the book, of course, chronicles the end of Pell's years in the Senate, and the end of his life, when Parkinson's claimed him.
Here is a shot of him at the Capitol during his last term, which ran from 1991 (having beaten Claudine Schneider) until 1997. Isn't this a stately photograph? Thanks again to Dennis Riley, whose contributions have been enormous.
-- Photo courtesy of Dennis P. Riley.

Mandela and Pell

2010-05-28T03:46:00.000-07:00

Pell was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during some of his final term in office -- the realization of a long dream. Here he is with Nelson Mandela, one of many world leaders he met as chairman, and during the years before, when he worked in his trademark low-key style toward his goal of world peace.
-- Photo courtesy of Dennis P. Riley.

Hideaway

2010-05-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

Pell loved his hideaway office in the U.S. Capitol. There, he was surrounded by his books and photographs and paintings of his father and family members, and treasured mementos from his many campaigns. There, he greeted special visitors. There, he was in his element.
-- Photo courtesy of Dennis P. Riley.

Chairs Senate Foreign Relations

2010-05-07T02:24:00.000-07:00

Pell realized his long-time ambition of chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the Democrats resumed control of the Senate in the 1986 mid-term elections. One of his most important roles would be shepherding the intermediate-range nuclear missile treaty (INF) to ratification -- a critical advance in his even longer-held dream of world peace. Here he is chairing the committee when debate opened on January 25, 1988. Secretary of State George P. Shultz is testifying. Long-time Pell nemesis Jesse Helms sits to the chairman's left.
-- Photo courtesy of Dennis P. Riley.

Teddy and Claiborne

2010-05-01T06:51:00.001-07:00

Ted Kennedy eulogized his friend Claiborne at Pell's funeral in January 2009 -- the last major public address that he gave. The two were longtime buddies, in the Senate and in their personal lives. Here's a wonderful shot of the two in the 1960s.
-- Photo courtesy of Dennis Riley

Pell, and Presidents three

2010-04-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

Throughout his career, of course, Pell had many occasions to be with the commander-in-chief; two, John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton, who eulogized Pell at his funeral, were also personal friends. Here he is in the late 1970s with President Jimmy Carter, and past presidents Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon, whom Ford had pardoned for his Watergate transgressions.
If you haven't already, don't forget to join the Facebook Pell biography page!

That different Pell look...

2010-04-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

As the '70s progressed, Claiborne became increasingly known not only for his legislative accomplishments -- but also how he dressed which was, well, different. He wore his late father's clothes, even though Herbert was many sizes bigger, and when he took his daily jogs, he looked like... he looked like this. Running shoes, socks and shorts; topped with a suit jacket (I'm guessing from his Princeton days), and a shirt and tie. The chapter I am writing now gets into this other side of Pell in detail, and I am enjoying it immensely...

The third term begins...

2010-03-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

After his 1972 reelection victory over John Chafee, Pell returned to Washington with an ambitious agenda, and his new look. The look symbolized a new period in his life, the subject (among others) of Chapter Six, which I am now writing.
Here is a photo of Pell in the fall of 1973.

Celebration at the Pell Center

2010-03-20T05:20:00.001-07:00

Last night, family and friends of Claiborne Pell joined Pell Grant recipients at Salve Regina University's Pell Center for a celebration of the grant program and the winner of the first Legacy Award: Rochelle Denisha Gregory, who told her extraordinarily compelling story. A documentary film crew including producer Elyse Katz was on hand; Elyse, director Steve Feinberg and Pell grandson Clay are making a film about the success of the Pell Grants (I am serving as consultant). A great evening in Newport.
Pictured are: Nuala on the "set," actually a reconstruction of Pell's hideaway office (note the painting of Nuala and Claiborne on the wall); Clay, daughter Dallas, granddaughter Tripler, Nuala and former Congressman Louis Stokes, who served 30 years with Pell; Elyse, Dallas and others on the set; a view of Nuala before the camera, Steve back to me; and Rochelle at the podium.

Nuala on the campaign trail

2010-03-19T06:55:00.000-07:00

Have finally finished Chapter 5, likely to be the longest chapter. The focus is the Pell Grants, Pell's opposition to the Vietnam War, and his tough 1972 reelection race against John Chafee. He won, of course, with a strategy that called on his wife to again hit the trail, as she had so effectively in 1960 (the 1966 race was a blowout). Nuala impressed the people (and media) that she met during speeches and door-to-door campaigning. Here she is leaving a house in October 1972. Note the Pell literature in her hand. And that white picket fence is so '50s (and early '70s).

Pell Grants; a 'Titanic Struggle'

2010-03-09T08:13:00.000-08:00

The year 1972 was one of the busiest for Pell. It was the year he finally realized his ambition of a college-aid program that would come to be called the Pell Grants, an ambition accomplished in the thick of angry debate over busing; the year he began as a huge underdog for reelection against John Chafee, a campaign The Providence Journal rightly caleld a "Titanic Struggle"; and the year his mother died. I am writing all this now in the longest chapter yet of the bio.
When the year was over, Pell grew a mustache. Here's a shot of him wearing it. A very different look for A Very Different Senator.
And also, a flyer from the 1972 campaign. A very clever pun of a slogan, "Pell: When you stop to think."

Against the Vietnam War

2010-02-11T04:53:00.000-08:00

Pell was a leading critic of the Vietnam War, and his open break with LBJ in a 1967 major Senate speech made headlines everywhere -- and drew a deluge of letters, some supporting him and others slamming him as an unpatriotic pinko-Commie. And then came his secret mission to Paris, which I am writing now...
Pell's vocal opposition brought him into direct conflict with LBJ, whose otherwise brilliant legacy (on domestic issues) was forever tarnished by his escalation of the war. Here is Pell in 1967, posing with a painting of our first president.

Wins again!

2010-02-05T04:18:00.000-08:00

Pell won his first reelection, against Ruth Briggs, in 1966 with almost 70 percent of the vote. Here he is reading the Providence Evening Bulletin on Nov. 9, the day after the election.
Trivia point: I remember the Evening Bulletin well, since I wrote for it back in the days when the Projo had two editions. In fact, I wrote the very last deadline story for the Bulletin, in 1992, about a small fire.

National Endowment for the Arts

2010-02-04T07:34:00.000-08:00

What a trip through history this week of writing has been -- the Berlin and Cuban Crises, the Cold War, JFK's assassination (on Pell's 45th birthday), all of which is grim. Fallout shelters and duck-and-cover, which I remember from when I was a kid, were very unsettling. And then there was the Vietnam War.
But the '60s were also a time of great hope, especially as the decade wore on. Pell played a large role in that -- he was an optimist by nature -- and one of his lasting contributions to the greatness of what the human spirit can be was in his critical role in establishing the National Endowment for the Arts, and also the Humanities. Am writing that passage now, and came across this great quote from LBJ at the 1965 swearing-in of the members of the new National Council on the Arts:
“I believe that a world of creation and thought is at the very core of civilization and that our civilization will largely survive in the works of our creations. That quality, as I have said many times before, confirms the faith that our common hope may be much more enduring than our conflicting hostilities, and I want that each hour of the things that we do will be enduring. Right now, the men of affairs are struggling to catch up with the insights of great art. The stakes may very well be the survival of our entire society.”
The photo is Pell with the president at about that time.

First year in office

2010-01-30T07:42:00.001-08:00

I have now completed the biography through Pell's election to the Senate in 1960, a year in which he stunned the Democratic establishment by winning a three-way primary and then went on to bury his Republican opponent in the general election. I am currently writing what will be Chapter Four, about Pell's first term, during which he led the effort to create the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, which rank with the Pell Grants among his greatest achievements. Here is the freshman senator in the summer of 1961 in Washington, the Senate Building, speaking to some people from Rhode Island.

Ordered to Italy for war duty

2010-01-15T02:46:00.000-08:00

In 1943, the Vice chief of Naval Operations ordered Coast Guard lieutenant Claiborne Pell to Italy, where Pell, a recent graduate of a military-administration course at Columbia University, would help in rebuilding the war-torn Italian fishing fleet. This is the confidential memo that sent him on his way.
Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

Princeton girlfriend

2010-01-06T14:32:00.000-08:00

Claiborne was a handsome young man, with no shortage of opportunities for dates. Here he is with "Missy," a girlfriend in 1940, the year he graduated from Princeton. His scrapbook has more photos of Missy, whose last name I have been unable to learn. Anyone out there know?
I found this photo while writing Chapter Two, which begins with ancestor Pells and ends with Claiborne entering the Coast Guard in 1941. It's a long and (hopefully) fascinating chapter, but I am nearly done.The photo is contained in Pell's personal scrapbook, Volume 2, which covers mostly his college years.
Isn't this another great one? I get lost in time, literally, going through Pell's early life...
Image courtesy of Nuala Pell.

Scenes from a campaign

2009-12-21T15:14:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-16T09:40:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-11T04:59:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-01T11:41:00.000-08:00

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.

Awards and honors

2009-11-27T07:53:00.000-08:00

Pell received dozens of honorary degrees and awards from many groups over his long career. Here he is early in his Senate career receiving a medal from the Sovereign Order of Malta.
Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

A poignant letter to Mom

2009-11-24T06:03:00.000-08:00

Even as her health failed and she neared death, in 1972, Claiborne Pell's mother wrote to her son -- and she to him. This undated letter from Claiborne to Matilda (likely written in about 1970) shows his feelings for her. Pell writes:
"Rarely do I find it easier to write than speak, but this is one time since I get so choked by emotion when I try to say these thoughts... you have been a wonderful mother... I could not respect or love a parent more than I do you."
Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

Researcher extraordinaire

2009-11-19T08:52:00.001-08:00

I am pleased to welcome Linda Henderson, longtime friend and colleague, onto the project. Linda, most recently the Library Director at The Providence Journal, has been an instrumental help in all of my non-fiction books. She will be assuming a major role in A VERY DIFFERENT SENATOR: Claiborne Pell's Senate Foreign Relations Committee accomplishments, notably the period when he was chairman. I could not be happier -- and I recommend Linda to anyone with a need for informed, thorough, accurate and speedy online or offline research. Read her credentials here!

Letters from Mom

2009-11-18T10:23:00.000-08:00

Until her death (in 1972), Pell's mother, Matilda (Bigelow Koehler) wrote frequently and proudly to her senator son. This letter is from the summer of 1968, when Pell's opposition to the Vietnam War and other factors fueled talk of Pell as a Vice Presidential candidate -- talk he did nothing to quash.
Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

'Liberal namby-pamby,' `idiot' and `coward'

2009-11-16T14:24:00.000-08:00

Dating back to the Kennedy Administration, during which he toured Southeast Asia and came back with a cautionary tale, Pell was in the forefront of the opposition to the Vietnam War. History, of course, proved him right -- and many of his constituents, and other Americans, backed him during the 1960s and early '70s.
But not everyone, of course.
In this unsigned and undated letter, the first page of which I'm posting here, someone slammed Pell. Don't you love the courage of those who send hate-filled anonymous letters? Real spine and conviction... not to mention getting right. Ah, not.
Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

Ford, Carter, Nixon

2009-11-13T05:05:00.000-08:00

Starting with FDR, a friend of his father, Claiborne Pell knew many presidents. Here he is with Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon, in an undated photo likely taken in the late 1970s, during Carter's term in office.
Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library

A Veterans' Day visit

2009-11-11T11:15:00.000-08:00

Accompanied by Nuala, I visited Claiborne Pell's grave this morning to see his stone, newly erected. Nuala shared some recollections at the cemetery, and on the drive there and back to Pelican Ledge. I always enjoy her company, and always insightful and often humorous observations and reflections.
It is, of course, Veterans' Day, and Pell was a veteran of World War II and the Coast Guard, which he joined in 1941 -- and in which he remained, on active and then reserve status, until mandatory retirement at the age of 60. He was a captain when he retired, well into his Senate career.
Julie and Bertie, two of the Pells' two children, are buried with Claiborne. And not far away, Nuala's mother, and Claiborne's mother and stepfather, lie in rest.
Pictured here:
-- Claiborne's stone. The second white stone in the distance is that of Nuala's father, Ollie O'Donnell.
-- Facing the church, the back of Claiborne's stone. Julie and Bertie's stones are just beyond.
-- Not far away, the graves of Matilda, Claiborne's mother; Cmdr. Hugo W. Koehler, Matilda's husband and Claiborne's stepfather; and Hugo "Hughie" Koehler, Matilda and the commander's only child, Claiborne's half brother.
On my way back. I stopped by another grave, that of Eileen Slocum, another prominent Newporter and friend of the Pells. Eileen is the central character in my documentary BEHIND THE HEDGEROW.

Biography roots

2009-11-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

As early as 1980, when he contacted a literary agent, Pell was interested in a biography -- or autobiography -- of him. Several subsequent attempts fell through. Ironic that the book is finally being written, without him to read it. Family members and former staff all agree that he would have enjoyed reading the story of his life. After all, as we have previously reported on this blog, he wrote what was likely the first draft of his story when he was all of 13 years old.
Note Pell's degree of self-awareness about his quirky side, which co-existed with his pride in achievement: ''My personality and approach are a bit oddball, but nevertheless have survived in this very real and rough world of politics for four Senate terms, the last of which I won by 75 percent of the vote.''
Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

Yachting with Jackie and JFK

2009-11-09T13:13:00.000-08:00

In these undated photographs (most likely 1962 or 1963), Pell is seen with Jackie Kennedy, wife of the late president, and with JFK. Probably Newport Harbor.
Images courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

Early writing, precocious child

2009-11-04T11:53:00.000-08:00

In this letter from September 1924, Claiborne writes to his mother, who is in New York, from Newport -- where he was probably staying with his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Edward M. Padelford. I say probably because I have read many of Mrs. Padelford's letters, and this is her handwriting on the envelope, postmarked Sept. 18, 1924.
Claiborne at this point was not yet six years old!
Images courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

Foreshadowing...

2009-11-03T05:33:00.000-08:00

In late December 1939, when he was 21 and in his last year at Princeton, Pell spent a few days in the nation's capital touring and studying. "I really liked Washington a lot and the people also," he wrote to his father, who was in Lisbon. Pictured here: both sides of a postcard of the Library of Congress he also sent Herbert. "Have had an interesting A.M. studying here, Love," he wrote.
Images courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York.

Clay Pell's grandfather and great-grandfather

2009-11-02T03:47:00.000-08:00

Are shown here, in a 1928 painting by Olive Bigelow Pell, Claiborne's stepmother. This is the ten-year-old Claiborne with his father, Herbert Pell. The painting, along with many other Pell-family paintings, photos and framed documents, hangs on the wall of Clay Pell's house, which I visited yesterday.
I think the painting speaks eloquently to the father-son relationship, in which lie many of the clues to Senator Pell later in life.
By a fire in Clay's library, I learned more about the late senator, the late senator's father -- and Clay's dad, the late Bertie, Claiborne and Nuala's first child, named for Herbert. All in all, a fine and productive Sunday afternoon.
Image courtesy of Clay Pell.

Love story

2009-10-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

Among my other accomplishments during my two days at the FDR Presidential Library was bringing to life the story of how Claiborne met Nuala and then they married, all back in 1944, when Pell was recuperating in Newport from a case of undulant fever he contracted while serving in the Coast Guard in Italy. I knew the broad strokes, of course, from Nuala and Pell himself -- but the details, spelled out in letter exchanges with Pell's father, Herbert -- are now clear.
Here is a page from the Sept. 26, 1944, letter from Pell to his father in which he professes (for the first time to Herbert) his love for the young Nuala O'Donnell.
Pell writes:
Now comes a slight cough of introduction. Ha-rumph!!
I am really very much in love and expect to marry Nuala O'Donnell. I have been very sure myself but didn't say anything before since I didn't want to get you excited in case it didn't work out.
It did work out: They married in New York that December.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York.

From the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library...

2009-10-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

Comes this wonderful shot of the 14-year-old Claiborne Pell and his young half-brother, Hugo Koehler, in London in the summer of 1933. Pell and Koehler were with their mother, the former Matilda (Bigelow) Pell -- and this photo, according to Pell's notes, was taken with Matilda's new Leica camera.
This was but one of many gems I found today as I research the papers of Claiborne's father, Herbert, whose Hopewell Junction estate, Pellbridge, is not far from the library. FDR was an old friend of Herbert. I'll be back at the library first thing tomorrow for more...
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York.

Pelection

2009-10-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

In his personal appointment book for September 1960, Pell marked the 28th, date of the primary election, as "Pelection Day." He was right -- he was the runaway winner of a three-way Democratic primary. He would never lose another election. And, yes, the primary that year was on a Wednesday.
Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

Flying

2009-10-24T11:39:00.001-07:00

The young Claiborne Pell had a bit of an artist's eye. He liked to draw boats, a portend perhaps of his ocean- and sea-related legislation -- and also airplanes. Here's a drawing of a monoplane, when Pell was about 12, which would have been mot too long after the excitement of Lindbergh's transatlantic crossing in an aircraft that looked something like this...
Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

Press releases

2009-10-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

As the September 1960 Democratic primary neared, with first-time-for-anything-candidate Pell a supposed underdog in a three-way race with two better-known candidates, Claiborne sent out a flurry of press releases. Here's one of them -- his personally-edited copy and the final version that resulted.
Images courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

Trinity Church

2009-10-20T05:09:00.000-07:00

Claiborne Pell's funeral was in Newport's historic Trinity Church -- and so was that of his father, Herbert, in July 1961. A plaque is being erected in Claiborne's honor, just as his father was honored with the plaque pictured here, which I photographed yesterday on a visit to the church and a private guided tour by the church's Tom Erb. The father-son relationship is a critical one in my biography, and it's a them i will strike from the opening chapter.

The story of his life... at age 13

2009-10-16T06:10:00.000-07:00

With the expert guidance of University of Rhode Island Library archivist Mark Dionne, who has been a tremendous resource, I pored through a box of old materials yesterday that included more letters, drawings photos and more from Claiborne Pell's childhood. This was a great find, as I thought we had already gone through everything that was on file. Here is an autobiography that Claiborne write in the early 1930s. It's not dated, but an educated guess based on the materials around it is that he was 13 at the time.
And check out the young Pell's letter he submitted to the editor of the New York Times endorsing FDR, a friend of Pell's father, Herbert. Pell was 15 years old when he wrote it on March 5, 1934. A nice try, I figured -- but lo and behold, a search of the Times online archives revealed that it was published on May 10 of that year. Politics was in his blood...
Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

An eccentric stepmother

2009-10-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday found me in Newport, interviewing Janet Pell, Claiborne's daughter-in-law, and Nuala again. Nuala shared stories of Claiborne's stepmother, the eccentric but gifted artist Olive Bigelow Pell, a distant cousing of Claiborne's ...mother, Matilda Pell. Olive painted a wedding portrait of Nuala and Claiborne, pictured here in the background in a Connie Grosch photo that illustrated my 2005 Projo story about the Pells, "A Remarkable Life."

John Lewis

2009-10-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

John Lewis, now in his 90s, was Pell's first campaign manager -- helped steer him to victory in 1960 against huge odds. I interview John this morning, and here is a picture of the Pell watch that he still wears.

JFK and Pell

2009-10-08T11:47:00.000-07:00

Claiborne Pell's friendship with John F. Kennedy (and Jackie)began years before JFK became president. Here's a letter from Kennedy to Pell thanking him for Pell's support in his 1958 Senate reelection campaign.
Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

Ninety minutes on WPRO, AM-630

2009-10-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

-- Talked about the book for most of an hour and a half this morning on host John DePetro's top-rated talk/news drive-time show on Providence's WPRO AM-630, good stories and callers, a good time all-around.
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST.
Photo of John DePetro courtesy depetro.com

A letter, a note and a radiogram

2009-09-30T15:50:00.000-07:00

Pell finished his Coast Guard service in World War II and went into the Foreign Service, serving in, among other places, Czechoslovakia. But he was already thinking about elective politics. In this Jan. 30, 1947, typewritten letter to Pell, father Herbert outlines some possibilities -- including seeking nomination as R.I. state senator from Newport. Pell was just 28 years old. He would eventually win elective office, in his first try -- to the United States Senate, in 1960.
Herbert dictated most of his letters to a secretary, who typed them -- but occasionally hand-wrote one, such as this New Year's greetings in 1947. Herbert's handwriting was legible, if difficult to read.
Claiborne's handwriting was a bit better, as seen here in a note used to cable his father, who was in London, that his engagement to Nuala O'Donnell would be announced in November 1944.
And here is the radiogram that Herbert sent Claiborne after the son wrote the father of his intention to marry.
These documents are among the thousands I have been reading at the Pell archives at URI. Spent a good part of the day there again on Wednesday.
Images courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

TICONDEROGA

2009-09-28T04:30:00.000-07:00

A wealth of information awaited me during a weekend visit to Fort Ticonderoga, which has been in Pell family ownership since 1820, when Claiborne's great-great grandfather William Ferris Pell bought it. My host was Robert Pell-deChame, whose knowledge of Pelliana is deep. I learned a lot, and found a great ongoing resource not only in Robert, but with the Thompson-Pell Research Center. Pictured here are Robert with a fort canon donated by John Slocum, husband of the late Eileen Slocum, subject of my Newport documentary film, BEHIND THE HEDGEROW; the front of the Pavillion, the 1820s manor built by William Ferris Pell, Lake Champlain is to the left; and Robert being interviewed by me near the Pavillion. Photographs by Yolanda Gabrielle, who made the trip with me.

Providence Phoenix story

2009-09-24T06:06:00.001-07:00

Nice story by Bill Rodriguez in today's Providence Phoenix, noting that I am looking for Claiborne Pell stories for the bio. Thanks, Bill.

1920s Pell family films

2009-09-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

Claiborne was intrigued at a young age by movies, and his father, Herbert, apparently was, too -- the family purchased a camera, and shot film. In this clip, from 1920s footage, we see various Pells, including Herbert and Claiborne. Also, a trip to a city -- I'm guessing London -- and bullfighting. At the 6:55 mark, there's the handsome young Claiborne (probably about ten years old) at the tiller of a sailboat. His lifelong fascination with the sea began very early, and here's that fascination documented in film. very cool.
Courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

World Traveler

2009-09-23T07:35:00.001-07:00

As Senator, Pell chaired the Foreign Relations Committee. His overseas experiences started at a very early age, when he traveled abroad with both his father, Herbert, and his mother, the remarried Matilda Bigelow Koehler (Claiborne's parents divorced when he was eight years old). Here is Claiborne's passport, issued on April 9, 1927, just weeks after his parents divorced. Claiborne was eight.
Also here, a passport for his mother, issued in 1932, when she was 37. This is the first photo of Matilda I have found -- though I am certain to find others.
A significant part of the biography will be the relationship the young Claiborne had with his parents.
Images courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

Seeds of Amtrak

2009-09-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

Pell was a railroad buff -- and a visionary of high-speed passenger-rail service in the United States, which after the Second World War developed an interstate highway system but allowed passenger rail to suffer. In this clip from the projo, spring of 1962, Pell gets a favorable reaction to his plan for high-speed rail, run by a public entity, to serve the Northeast corridor. Yes, this is the root of today's Acela Amtrak service. Note the map!

School days

2009-09-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

In every major profile or book I've written, the child that became the adult has always fascinated me -- the old question of roots. For Pell, the story of the boy who became the man will be a major section of the book. And so, I am immersing myself in old Pell family letters, school records, photos, essays -- searching for clues from a non-digital age to supplement (and confirm/deny) recollections by those who are still alive. I love this process, but haven't gone this deep into the past since writing KING OF HEARTS, about C. Walton Lillehei, the maverick 1950s doctor who made open-heart surgery a reality.
Fortunately, Claiborne and his father were pack rats and saved, it seems, everything. What good luck for me (if a lot of work, no search function here)! Spent several hours today going through personal correspondence, including Pell report cards and writings from his high school years, the 1930s at St. George's School in Middletown, R.I. Pictured here is Pell's sophomore-year report card.
Also pictured here is a Halloween poem he wrote in the fall of 1927, when he was nine years old.
As always, more can be found at the Facebook Claiborne Pell biography page.
Images courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

COLD WAR CAMPAIGN

2009-09-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

Pell was once famously called a "creampuff" by a political foe, but he was in reality a smart campaigner who was willing to try new media and new ideas. In this video from a TV ad from his successful 1966 reelection bid, he very effectively plays on Cold War fears. Creampuff? Not hardly...
Images courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

NEWPORT HISTORY

2009-09-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

Spent a while in Newport today, interviewing Nuala Pell, Claiborne's widow, at her house -- the same modest house that Pell himself designed and built, on beautiful waterfront property near Bailey's Beach. Nuala holds the key to much of the Pell Puzzle, as it might be called: how this man who could have spent his life at the cabana instead developed a strong connection to working-class Rhode Islanders that lasted 36 years (six Senate general elections) and made lasting contributions in areas where he himself has no need (Pell grants, for example, for students unable to afford college).
Nuala and I passed an enjoyable and wide-ranging hour, with her sharing memories of Kennedys (Jack and Ted), 1960s campaigning, Nuala's mother, and Claiborne's father, Herbert Claiborne Pell: former ambassador to Hungary and Portugal, one-term Congressman from Manhattan's Silk Stocking district, and an enormous influence on his son (late into life, Claiborne still wore his father's belt).
After my visit with Nuala (pictured here at the Pell Georgetown residence in 1962), I drove by the house on Bellevue Avenue (bottom photo) that Pell's father owned while his son, only child and future senator, was a youngster. Pell passed much of his boyhood there.
On my way back, I stopped and photographed Newport's historic Trinity Church, built in 1726, where the Pells worshiped and where Claiborne's funeral was held on Jan. 5 of this year (middle photo).
More photos, including one of Nuala with Jackie Kennedy in May 1960, on the Facebook Pell Biography page.

2009-09-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

Spent part of a fine late-summer afternoon visiting Senator Jack Reed at his Jamestown home listening to his recollections of Claiborne Pell, whose seat Jack won when Claiborne retired. Much good material and excellent insights into a man who, as Jack rightfully observed, did not come across as the consummate politician -- but who was, in fact, in his low-key way, "a very, very adroit politician," as Jack described him. Jack had some good Pell stories, and also gave me a better understanding of how this man from Ivy League privilege (a Princeton grad) had the desire to create what came to be known as the Pell Grant program, which has allowed millions of non-wealthy Americans to get their college degrees. And Jack had more, much more, which will help enhance the book.
We sat on Jack's deck for the interview. This photo of me with Jack was taken when I visited him in Washington last year.

CAMELOT, BERLIN, BAY OF PIGS

2009-09-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

Spent another morning, eyes increasingly strained, in front of a microfilm reader checking every story The Providence Journal and (now-defunct) Evening Bulletin published about Pell in 1961, his first year in the Senate. Got through 1960 last week and I will eventually get through the entire record, though it will be many hours until that is done. No computer data bases or Google for this... This is research the old-fashioned way, a skill I learned in the early 1970s when I took my last semester of senior year in high school off to intern with a Boston professor who assigned me projects in Harvard Med School's Countway Library. But I digress....
This is a fascinating walk back into time, to a pivotal period in American history -- when JFK and Jackie, good friends of Claiborne and wife Nuala Pell, were creating Camelot. 1961 was the year of the Berlin Crisis, the establishment of the Peace Corps, the Bay of Pigs, and much more. Pell was in the thick of it, from the start. His long experience in the Foreign Service gave him an immediate stature.
And he took care of his constituents, too -- hiring a large staff, returning often to Rhode Island, and making himself available to people and the press.
An astute piece the projo published on Nov. 13, as Pell's first year in Washington drew to a close, was headlined: "The Pell Enigma." That line could, in many respects, serve as a tag for much of his life.
In winning the 1960 primary election on his first-ever try for office -- unendorsed against two entrenched and popular members of the Rhode Island Democratic machine -- and then clobbering his GOP opponent, a WW2 war hero, in the 1960 general election -- Pell defied all expectations (even his own).
"Mr. Pell did the things the Rhode Island political handbook said a candidate could not do and win," projo staffer Paul A. Kelly wrote in that long-ago 'enigma' piece. "Unless he wants to run for president some time, Mr. Pell has no place else to go politically but where he is already. All he has to do is run again for the Senate every six years and keep on winning. He is a young man, and his chances for keeping up his performance at the polls, on the basis of his performance at the last election, seem good for a long time to come."
How prophetic those words were! When he finally retired, after six terms, in January 1997, Pell has served 36 years -- longest of any senator ever from Rhode Island. Indeed, as of last month, according to the U.S. Senate Historical Office, Pell was the 16th longest serving senator of all senators since the founding of the republic, ranking behind only such figures as his friends Tedd Kennedy and Joe Biden, two of the people who eulogized him this January at his funeral. I covered that service for the projo.

RESOURCES

2009-09-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

In this initial stage, one of my primary jobs is determining the best sources of credible information about Pell. His archives at the University of Rhode Island Library are an obvious major source, and I spent part of yesterday there beginning to familiarize myself with the collection, which occupies 2,500 linear feet of documents, photographs, movies, etc. While at URI, I interviewed a longtime friend of Pell, former governor Bruce Sundlun.
Today, I lunched with former Providence Journal political reporter and columnist M. Charles Bakst, pictured here, a friend for many years and without doubt one of the best political writers ever. We dined outside on providence's Federal Hill at Venda Ravioli, where Charlie had the steamed mussels and baked trout, and I had the Petto di Pollo, with chocolate gelato, all scrumptiously prepared (those who know Charlie, or his columns, will understand the importance of mentioning the food). Charlie, as expected, was great -- good insights and many leads.
This being Rhode Island, we of course ran into other people we knew: Hasbro Chairman Al Verrecchia and his wife, Gerrie (Al was one of the principal characters in my book about the toy industry TOY WARS) and Fr. Marcel Taillon, one of the wonderful priests I met while writing AN AMERICAN BISHOP, about Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence.

WORKING

2009-09-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

Spent several hours today going through microfilmed newspaper accounts of Pell's decision in 1960 to run for the U.S. Senate. He had never sought any political office, and he found himself in a bruising primary against two established R.I. pols. A fascinating year for him. Unconventionally colorful campaign tactics and a smear campaign against him, the "millionaire." hard on the eyes, I must say, these dusty old microfilms.
So I was working.
Working is also the title of the book, A VERY DIFFERENT SENATOR -- it's the working title for now, but I must say I do like it.

UNDERWAY

2009-08-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

With some of the advance work done, I am soon to begin a leave of absence from The Providence Journal to begin the research into the first (and exclusive) biography of Claiborne Pell, who won an improbable victory in his first try at elective office, in 1960, and went on to serve six terms -- 36 years -- as senator from Rhode Island. I am writing with the cooperation of the Pell family, starting with Nuala Pell, widow of Claiborne, who died of Parkinson's Disease at the age of 90 on Jan. 1, 2009. For a look at this distinguished man's life, read John Mulligan's fine obituary in The Providence Journal.
Or, read the obituary published by The New York Times, one of many other media outlets that marked his passing.
I knew Claiborne for many years, and toward the end of his life wrote an extensive story, illustrated with photos and a beautiful scrap-book slideshow, in the April 10, 2005 Projo.
I also covered Claiborne's funeral, at which he was eulogized by former president Bill Clinton, vice president-elect Joe Biden the late Teddy Kennedy, and Claiborne's successor, Sen. Jack Reed. Read the story.