Revelations

WORLD WAR II, the Middle East Conflict; the Cold War. Watergate, very few people can claim to have even been a first-hand witness to any single one of these events. But Clifton Daniel, former foreign correspondent and managing editor of the New York Times has not only witnessed but played a role in all of them, not to mention several international summit conferences and a multitude of other major events Daniel, though, has no intention of burdening his readers with anything remotely serious.

Instead in his new Lords Ladies and Gentlemen. Daniel reveals some of the lighter moments of his extensive, eventful career from his meetings with kings to his hobnobbing with presidents. The book can justly be criticized for an excess of fluttery, for dwelling on the transient rather than the substantial Daniel doesn't care. He says there has been a "surfeit" of overly serious books. "The world is not waiting for my opinions," he adds. "But, I've met a lot of interesting people and in the process have acquired humorous stories--some revealing and some devastating. I just didn't want to get involved with the controversy."

Which is not to say there has been no controversy. Daniel has been in the journalism business since the age of 14, when he began writing for a small paper in his hometown of Zebulon. North Carolina. He moved up to write for the Associated Press and then to the New York Times. His career has also included television and radio appearances, but he says his heart has always been in newspaper journalism.

Looking back on his career, he points to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill as two men who deserve the most respect. "Roosevelt led us out of the depression and saved the country and Winston Churchill stood alone with a tiny Island behind him," he says. "I have great admiration for President Truman, but I'll skip over him because people assume I'm biased," he adds, in a reference to his father-in-law. Daniel is almost as well known as the husband of Margaret Truman as he is for his journalistic exploits.

Describing some of the other presidents he has known, he says Gerald R. Ford was "extremely agreeable," and President Reagan is a "miracle man. He is the only President in my time able to separate personality from policy." On the negative side, he points to Lyndon B. Johnson as the "greatest disappointment" of the many dignitaries he has met. "He was a superb majority leader and was able to get more progressive legislation adopted than [Franklin D.] Roosevelt, but in the end he didn't have what it took to resolve the greatest issue of his time, the Vietnam War," he says.

Daniel likes to talk about presidents because he's known a lot--10 to be exact, 'a figure he shrinks from in almost false modesty, given his predilection for name-dropping. "Anyone my age who has hung around Washington long enough could do the same. It's nothing special to have known ten presidents." But Daniel lets us all know all the same: indeed, the name dropping would be boorish if he didn't take such unabashed delight in the practice. If anything Daniel is out for a little fun.

Daniel tells a hilarious anecdote about one time he, his wife and four sons visited Johnson in the White House. Johnson kept bounding out of his chair to fetch souvenirs for the boys--pens and pads with the inscription "The President's House."

"All the while the President was chatting away as if he had nothing else in the world to do. We were taking a ten o'clock train and finally I was obliged to say, 'This has been wonderful Mr. President, but I'm afraid we have a train to catch.'

'"Aw Clif,' Mr. Johnson said, 'Don't rush off. The train will wait.'

'"The train will wait for you Mr. President, 'I told him, 'but it won't wait for me.'"

They then quickly headed off to the station and when they arrived and were scurrying aboard, the conductor approached and without change of expression said, "Take your time. The White House called."

Daniel has no regret about the way his book turned out; it is exactly what he intended to write. "In the newspaper business it's your duty--your job--to meet interesting people and write about them," he says. "But people think that anyone who has been managing editor of the New York Times must have something portentous and pompous to say. I may be portentous and pompous, but I don't want to write that way."

"If you're interested in the big time, you must be interested in the big people--the movers and the shakers. They make the news."