Hunter-Gault, Charlayne 1983-1986

Hunter-Gault, Charlayne
1983-1986
Ms. Gharlayne Hnnter-Gault
Channel 13
MacNeil-Lehrer Report
356 West 58th Street
New York, N. Y. 10019
Dear
Charlayne:
All of us at FCD are very pleased about your election to
the board of directors, class of 1986.
The meeting dates for
the remainder of thisj^and through 1984 are:
December 8, 1983
The Century Association
9:45 a.m.
March 1, 1984
The Century Association
9:45 a.m.
June 7, 1984
The Century Association
9:45 a.m.
September 20, 1984 (Annual
The Century Association
12:00 nonn
Council)
December 6, 1984
The Century Association
9:45 a.m.
I enclose two clips from the New York Times describing
of FCD grants.
All the best.
Sincerely,
Orville G. Brim, Jr.
0GB:jlp
results
September
12th
Charlayne,
For your information.
you next week.
Encs.:
I will call
FCD council and board
Ms. Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Channel 13^ WNET
MacNeil-Lehrer Report
356 W. 58th Street
New York, N. Y. 10019
agendas
Dear
Charlayne,
Here is the agenda for the conference
I mentioned.
was
Thought your show last Tuesday
tops.
night
Bert
0GB:jlp
Enc.
Carnegie/FCD
conference on children and
Mrs. Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Channel 13
MacNeil Lehrer Report
356 West 58th Street
New York, N. Y. 10019
elders
\A~C
TheMadNeU/Lehrer
" V E W S H O U R
^^ i E C B / E D m l
^ m
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT
CORRESPONDENT
Janioary 25, 1984
Dear Bert:
In recording the meeting dates on my calendar,
I focused for the first time on the fact that
they are held at the Century Association. I mast
tell you that I have very serious probleafns with
that.
It is a discriminatoiy club and ir^ caning
there to attend a meeting would be tantamount to
sanctioning such a practice.
I raise this with sane trepidation, only because,
as you knov , I have a continuing concern about
my ability to attend meetings that might conflict
v/ith my out of town assignments. But I raise it
because it^ conflict in caning to the Century Club
is even greater.
I'd appreciate your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Charlayne Hunter-Gault
(212) 560-3109
356 WEST 58th STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10019
January 4, 1984
Mrs. Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Channel 13
MacNeil-Lehrer Report
356 West 58th Street
Nex^ York, N. Y. 10019
Dear
Charlayne;
I would appreciate it very much if you x<rould send a recent
personal resume so that we may have a copy for the permanent
file of the foundation.
Thanks very much in advance.
I hope the enclosed will be of some interest to you.
Sincerely,
Orville G. Brira, Jr
0GB:jlp
Enc.:
CTI conference announcement
Gurin/Brim chapter in Vol. 6, LSDB
Dear
Charlayne,
board
We have changed
meetiag.
the site of our
You and I should talk about tlie
Century the next time w e get together.
Here is a vrite up of some notes
from oxir luncheon conversation.
They
will be incorporated ia the background
statement for the March agenda.
Look
forward
to seeing you
Ms. Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Channel 13
MacNeil-Lehrer Report
356 West 58th Street
New York, N. Y. 10019
then*
THE UNUSUAL LIFE OF
rHARLAYNE
^hunterFrom desegregating the
University of Georgia to joining the elite ranks of
ifitemational journalism, Charlayne Hunter-Gault has used
determination and tempered anger to do the work
she considers important
m
BY JUDITH CUMMINGS
I
t was going to be a hard-ball day
for the correspondents and staff
of public television's "The MacNeil-Lehrer Report." Months
of international crisis had
stoked one of the most intense
news periods in many years. The
Chancellor of West Germany, Helmut
Schmidt, was in the country to discuss
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
with President Carter and had chosen
the program as a vehicle to present his
country's position to America.
Bent over a mass of notes, clippings
and briefing memos, Charlayne Hunter-Gault was preparing for the interview she would conduct together with
Roben MacNeil, the veteran journalist. Before long, he rolled into her
office and cheerily began firing off his
ideas. The slender black woman with
the striking hazel eyes leaned her elbows on the cluttered table and added
her proposals, her soft, Southern-accented voice a lacy accessory against
the Canadian's tailored speech. A luncheon address by Schmidt the day
before had fueled Hunter-Gault's
curiosity about what the European
leader would say under her question-
Judith Ctimmings is a reporter for a
major daily newspaper in New York
City.
52 SafvylAufiust Í9SC
ing. The day promised to be a good
one, but she relinquished that thought
to recommend that MacNeil read an
anicle from a German newspaper that
had been passed along to her by her
friend, the Jamaican Ambassador.
The Jamaican Ambassador is only
one of the new links Hunter-Gault has
forged in a precious chain of personal
and professional relationships (most
often a mixture) that undergirds the
journalistic talent she brings to a story.
On the wall behind her are a series of
pictures: Hunter-Gauh with civil
rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson;
with Detroit Mayor Coleman Young;
with Eleanor Holmes Norton, chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The photographs date from the eight years she
spent as a reporter at The New York
Times covering the activities of major
black figures. But there are earlier
relationships too—with Vernon Jordan, head of the National Urban
League; with Judge Constance Baker
Motley; and with others who became
her advisers, protectors and confidants
nearly twenty years ago when she
played a historic role as one of the first
two black students to desegregate the
University of Georgia. During her rise
in her profession, Hunter-Gauh has
strengthened such contacts and friendships, and used them to inform her
reportage. On any given day, then.
Andrew Young, the former United
Nations Ambassador, or Dr. Kenneth
Clark, the psychologist, or a newspa)er-editor colleague may receive a call
; rom the television correspondent asking, "What do you think?" Such are
the resources which help a journalist
meet the challenges of a news program
that confronts a different major issue
each night for 30 minutes. The three
on - the - air interviewers—Hunter Gault substitutes for either MacNeil
or for Jim Lehrer—think of their work
as "writing" major hard-news stories
over the airwaves. The guests offer a
point of view, and the interviewers'
task is to extract it further, explore it,
and bring out alternatives, contradictions and criticisms. "The MacNeilLehrer Report" is the only show that
specializes in such in-depth reporting
on national television five nights a
week, 250-odd shows a year, and it is
one of the few news programs that
other news professionals take seriously as journalism—not as entertainment
or as a headline service. The program
gives average viewers, whether or not
they've been keeping up with network
news, a nightly crash course in subjects like inflation, defense spending
and oil deregulation. The Schmidt
broadcast, according to the Public
Broadcasting Service, would be seen
by about three million viewers, the
program's average nightly audience.
Her coverage of the
unprecedented visit of
Pope John Paul II
received praise from
colleague Robert
MacNeil for her knack
of ''saying sijnple,
relevant things at the
right momenta
As a member of the elite ranks of
, national and international reporting,
Hunter-Gault has attained a level few
women or blacks have achieved. Propelled into her highly visible role by
her intelligence, a pleasant, gracious
manner and apparent unflappability,
the 38-year-old journalist is as much at
ease interviewing Margaret Thatcher
as she is leading a participant audience
of New York City health specialists in
impassioned debate on the quality of
health care for the poor.
Last year she covered Pope John
Paul II and received wide praise for her
step-by-step (or "blessing-to-blessing," as she calls it) commentary on his
tumultuous and unpredictable visit,
including praise from her colleague
MacNeil for her knack of "saying simple, relevant things at the right moment." Hunter-Gault is not MacNeil,
a brain surgeon of an interviewer who
wields a precise, delicate and swift
verbal scalpel. But she's getting there.
Neither is she Barbara Walters, who
captures the memorable revelation by
disarming her guests. But for now,
that is not Hunter-Gault's goal.
Where teamwork is key, that more
personal approach might get in the
way of the development of the story,
and nobody at MacNeil-Lehrer, she
says, lets that happen.
The practice of journalism at MacNeil-Lehrer is not very different from
that of print journalism. The program
usually starts with a "lead" statement
from MacNeil on the new development that generated the story, followed by a paragraph of background
by Lehrer or Hunter-Gault; then the
first guest is introduced. HunterGault, who joined the show in 1977,
was chosen over eight other experienced women candidates because, savs
executive producer Al Vecchione, she
was strong in handling the wide range
of issues the interviewers confront and
was virtually the only candidate with
any television experience. Still, making the transition from print to air did
not happen overnight.
In the fluid, concentrated activity of
Channel 13's office, there is little time
to explore how it did happen. But in
her handsome co-op apartment, between the comings and goings of her
husband, Ronald Gault, Commissioner of Employment for the City of New
York; oi her sixteen-year-old daughter, Susan; and of Chuma, their sevenyear-old son, her thoughts sweep
along with the ease of someone used to
being interviewed. "In the beginning,
I asked very New York Times questions, which could take as long as the
answers," she says with her bursting,
eyebrow-wrinkling laugh. "It took me
a long time to turn to the second guest
and just say, 'And what do you say
about that?' instead of restating the
whole position." Deciding what questions to ask is usually not a problem;
most often they arise rather naturally
from the story. The more challenging
task has been to attune her style to her
co-interviewers: One night to MacNeil, who is crisp and facile, often the
unabashed devil's advocate; and another to Lehrer, who seems the
smooth and boyish country lawyer.
She has emerged as a cool customer, at
once friendly and responsive, and serious and tough.
During one broadcast she asked
Bishop Abel T. Muzorewa (who then
headed the interim Government in
what was once Southern Rhodesia and
is now Zimbabwe) whether or not he
was getting military aid from South
Africa—a sure-fire touchy question
for a politician of a black-majority
nation. He shot back that it was none
of her business, which probably told
the viewers more than a five-minute
reply would have. Sometimes viewers
write to complain that she interrupts
too much, but the name of the game is
authority in a situation where male
newsmakers naturally gravitate to familiar male correspondents. "When
people say, 'You've improved,' I think
that's presumptuous as hell. They
don't say Robin [MacNeil's nickname]
and Jim have improved, and they
have. The presumption is that you
couldn't do it. I realize I have improved, but it depends on who says it.
Usually, I just don't like it."
Hunter-Gault knows her own
mind, knows what she wants and what
rewards and sacrifices to expect. One
recent week included wrapping up a
special United Nations report on Iran,
followed by a trip to the Southwest to
investigate the controversy surrounding the MX missile, capped by a stop in
Boston on the way home to address a
university audience about the impact
of the mass media. A housekeeper is
necessary to keep the household and
children running on course through all
this, but Hunter-Gault takes it all in
stride. "1 knew when I was twelve I
wanted to be a journalist. I put that
before everything else. My kids were
born into that," she says. It's hard to
remember a time over the past halfdozen years, even when her children
were very young, that she came close
to a complaint about being overwhelmed by it all.
Hunter-Gault's own mother, a
pretty, shy woman, had worked—as a
secretary in an Atlanta real estate
firm—while raising her and her two
younger brothers. Her father was a
Methodist chaplain who retired from
the Army as a lieutenant-colonel. The
long postings to faraway places separated him from his family while Hunter-Gault was a small child, and to this
day she rarely communicates with
him. But she credits him and her
grandfather, a flamboyant evangelist
preacher, with implanting her drive
"to be visible" and to achieve through
the efforts of her mind. At sixteen, she
was already strongly independent.
Her decision to convert to Roman
Catholicism was a hard one in a family
of proud Protestant ministers. Today,
in ner living room filled with black an
and Chippendale-style furniture, so
far removed from Atlanta, her youthful conversion is practically the only
thing she does not seem willing to
discuss. (She smiled, though, when
she noted her daughter's display of
independence in becoming a student of
Swami Muktananda, right after a period as a "born-again" Christian.)
A
part of her past, the pivotal part, is shared with
the nation's history.
After a three-year struggle to gain admission to
the all-white University
of Georgia, she was esconed onto the
campus with Hamilton Holmes, the
other black student challenging the
school's admission policy, only to be
'•íunter-Gault with Jim Lehrer, left, and Robert MacNeil: the only nightly in-depth reporting on national television.
•sconed off under heavy guard after
jigry white students rioted in front of
ler dormitory. The pictures of nineeen-year-old Charlayne Hunter's
ears went around the world, but she
vent back to complete a degree in
ournalism, a sheepskin tribute to
vhat she alone dismisses as mere "grit
md determination." The experience
jroved to her once and for all her
ibility to overcome great obstacles.
'What I have to explain to people
ibout me," she said, the only time an
sdge of impatience creased her smooth
roice, "is that I have had a very unusu0 life, starting when I applied to GeorI said at that time that I refused to
it that be the most important thing in
jy life, although it may have been the
iost critical. But it's not like if it
idn't happened, I wouldn't have
een anything." People who knew her
iiring the desegregation ordeal reember her as markedly individualis: and independent even then. "I'm
ot representing anybody," she told
Iterviewers who pursued the "sym>1 of your race" theme. She also was
are of the worldwide attention fo-
cused on the event and viewed the
reporters covering her with a developing journalistic eye. When a few
months later she revealed her secret
out-of-state marriage to white student Walter Stovall, the seeming inconsistency angered a lot of people but
embedded her further in their minds.
"People who remember, remember
two things," says C. Gerald Fraser, a
Times reporter who is her close friend.
"She's the one who integrated the University of Georgia and she's the one
who married that white boy." Hunter-Gault considered it a personal matter then and still does. The marriage
ended in a divorce sometime after Susan was born, but the Stovall family
lives around the comer from hers, and
they remain close.
Winning a coveted spot at The New
Yorker, Hunter-Gault spent five years
there as an editorial assistant and a
writer for the "Talk of the Town"
column. Her job involved a surprising
amount of "licking envelopes and
making coffee." Susan was born during that period, and another baby died
soon after birth. She and Stovall parted
and she accepted a Russell Sage Fellowship to study social science at
Washington University in St. Louis.
In 1968 the program sent her to Washington, D.C., alive with social and
political protest, where her ability to
operate under demanding conditions
resurfaced. Earl Caldwell, now a columnist for The Daily News, recalls
meeting her when she was a miniskiried young woman covering the Poor
People's Campaign. "She was the innocent little Southern girl," he said.
"You'd think she was vulnerable as
hell, but she knows everything you
know and some more. She's been
through a lot; you forget that."
Next came a job as a reporter in
Washington with WRC-TV, an N B C
affiliate. That was a "pure television"
experience, which taught her that silently holding a microphone in front
of a monosyllabic interviewee will invariably loosen the tongue, and other
useful techniques. There, too, she met
Ron Gauh, who shared many of her
concerns in his work at the Justice
Department's Community Relations
Service. When the social-action era
would stay.
In 1977, the principals of the "The
MacNeil-Lehrer Report" began looking for a third interviewer, a woman,
to substitute on a pan-time basis for
MacNeil or Lehrer when they were on
special assignments and vacations. A
member or the staff recommended
Hunter-Gault, who by that time had
served as a judge for the Pulitzer
Prizes. After on-the-air tryouts she
was offered the job. "The Times
thought that would spread Charlayne
too thin," says A1 Vecchione, "so we
huddled and decided to make it a fulltime position." Hunter-Gault accepted.
She agreed to the change with a
confidence that had been tested and
proved. "The jobs I've had have all
been very unusual. I got them because
ended with the coming of the Nixon people read about me in the newspa.Administration, they moved to New pers, but what is important is that I
York, she to become a reporter for The couldn't have performed them if I
New York Times, he to become a pro- hadn't had the ability." Hunter-Gault
gram officer for Ford Foundation.
credits the women's movement for
At the Times, Hunter-Gault cov- creating a positive climate for her proered the local and national affairs of gress, but she does not award it a major
black people in a distinctly personal role. "I just don't see too much of my
fashion, drawing on her civil rights movement affected by the women's
background and her friendships to elu- movement. I have always been paid
cidate the sometimes perplexing events the same as most men because I insist
with an informed eye. This same qual- on it. I wouldn't be someplace where
ity, however, caused some observers people didn't treat my contribution as
to say that, because of her back- special."
ground, she was not hard-nosed
enough in covering black affairs. But
n the way to the Walwhichever side one took, there was the
dorf Hotel in a taxi to
record of her accomplishments. These
interview Schmidt, she
included operating a one-person Harcalmly worked over
lem news bureau for the Times, and
some details with Dan
reporting on the national sweep of
Werner, the show's
black politics, culture, and social and producer, and Pat Ellis, the foreign
intellectual activism. The era's urgen- affairs reporter. If she was nervous, it
cy, as it was perceived by the media, surely did not show. Discussing dégained attention for those issues in the tente at one moment, in the next she
pages of the Times, and so did her was promoting the merits of a popular
credibility and outspoken style. There new Roberta Flack-Donny Hathaway
was, for example, disagreement and recording, and humming it to boot.
confusion in the news media in the After makeup, she was introduced to
early 1970's about whether to continue Schmidt, who had arrived with an
referring to Afro-Americans as "Ne- entourage, for some rapport-building
groes" or to adopt the term "black," small talk, then moved into the parlorwhich many black people had come to like setting where MacNeil opened the
prefer (just as "Ms." remains in limbo interview. The Chancellor appeared
today). Hunter-Gault, after filing a exhausted. He was nearing the end of a
story from Chicago, discovered to her grueling American visit, in which he
horror after the edition came out that had pressed home his main points
wherever she had written "black," the again and again. The interview was
word had been changed to "Negro." difficult, if only because the German
In a lengthv and carefully reasoned statesman seemed so low-keyed. "Mr.
memo to the editors, she made an Chancellor, has Germany decided
eloquent argument that resulted in a whether or not to boycott the Olymnew editorial practice: When a black pics?" Hunter-Gault inquired, and
reporter wrote "black," "black" it Schmidt replied that Germany "and
Whether she's just
interviewed a head of
state or delivered a
running commentary
on a pontiff, she has
the same difficulty as
other blacks in getting
a taxi to pick her up
for the ride home.
O
other countries in Europe" felt such a
decision was still several rnonths away.
When Hunter-Gault came back with a
soft but direct, "What is the problem?" the reporters and aides monitoring the interview from an adjacent
press room were roused from semislumber. Several hours later in their
studio, watching the tape, in which
Schmidt appeared considerably more
animated and responsive than he had
looked in person, both MacNeil and
Hunter-Gault were satisfied with their
results.
Hunter-Gault had hoped to ask
Schmidt more questions on economic
issues, but the allotted 25 minutes had
ruled that out. International economics, once an area outside her interests,
has now become one of her key concerns. For some time, she believes, a
"new economic order" has been
emerging in which the rise of resourcerich Third World nations such as Nigeria and Iran must be recognized as
greater factors in the international
power equation. This emergence, she
is convinced, will have a profound
effect on the way journalists repon on
world affairs.
It is a point she stresses often in her
speaking engagements, which are
heavily attended by young people eager for a successful role model. But she
finds that she comes away more often
than she would like feeling that young
)eople are "at sea," not just about the
uture of the world, but about a direction for their own lives. What they
don't yet realize, particularly the black
youngsters, who face the added burden of discrimination, is that no matter
how well-equipped they may be with
intrinsic ability and Ivy League educations, they have to develop toughness
to survive the "mental wars," in which
those holding power in any arena of
accomplishment battle those seeking
it.
There is a tempered anger when she
says this. Whether she has just interviewed a head of state or delivered a
running commentary on a Pontiff,
once she leaves Channel 13's studio
she has the same difficulty other blacks
do in getting a taxi to pick her up for
the ride home. "That bums me up
inside," she says. Her anger is clear,
but she makes of it a positive force.
Accepted and channeled, this anger
nourishes her drive: "I can't let it affect
how I perform as a human being. I
could get so w ^ p e d up in it, it could
consume me. Tiie work I do is too
important to me to let that happen." =
f
TheMacNeil/Lehrer
NEWSHOIJR
THE MACNEIL/LEHRER NEWSHOUR correspondents
are Charlayne Hunter-Gault (upper left),
New York; Judy Woodruff, chief Washington
correspondent; and Kwame Holman, Denverbased correspondent.
A production of WNET/
THIRTEEN, New York, WETA/26, Washington, D.C.,
and MacNeil-Lehrer-Gannett Productions, the
NEWSHOUR premieres Monday, September 5, 1983
on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and
is funded by AT^T, Public Television Stations
and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Tlie MacNeil/Lehrer
NE^HOIIR
NEWSHOUR co-anchors Robert MacNeil (seated, left) and Jim
Lehrer (seated, right), with correspondents Kwaine lloliiian,
Denver, Charlayne Hunter-Gault (center). New York, and
Judy Woodruff, chief Washington correspondent.
A prwíufiiou of WNKT/rmHTKKN. New Vork,
WF;rA/26, Washington, D.C., and
Miu,Nt!Íl-Lelirer-(ianncU PnMhirlion.s.
VutuM hy AT&T.
I'lihlif Ti'lfvision Sliiltons and
thf Corporation for l\il)lic Hnmdcasting.
The MacNeil/Lehrer
NEWSHOUR
CHARLAYNE HÜNTER-GAÜLT
Charlayne Hunter-Gault is New York-based correspondent for THE
MACNEIL/LEHRER NEWSHOUR, the first nightly, early-evening, hourlong news program on American network television.
THE
MACNEIL/LEHRER NEWSHOUR premieres Monday, September 5, 1983 on the
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). (Editor's:
Please check exact
local t ime.)
Hunter-Gault's New York assignment as a general correspondent and
back-up anchor for the hour broadcast follows four years with "The
MacNeil/Lehrer Report."
Hunter-Gault began her journalistic career as a "Talk of the Town"
reporter for The New Yorker.
She left the magazine after winning a
Russell Sage Fellowship to study at Washington University where she
was on the staff of Trans-Action magazine.
In 1967, Hunter-Gault
became part of an investigative news team for Washington, D.C.'s
WRC-TV, where she also anchored the local evening news.
In 1968, Hunter-Gault joined The New York Times as a metropolitan
reporter specializing in coverage of the urban black community.
During an eight-year period at The Times -- except for six months
as co-director at Columbia University of the Michele Clark Fellowship program for minority journalists -- her work earned numerous
awards, including the National Urban Coalition Award for Distinguished Urban Reporting and the Lincoln University Unity Award.
Other awards received by Hunter-Gault during her journalistic
career include the Good Housekeeping Broadcast Pe rsonallty of the
Year Award; the American Women In Radio and Telev ision Award; the
National Commission on Working Women's "Women at Work" award, for a
program on Katherine Dunham; the Newswomen's Club of New York Front
Page Award, and honorary doctorates from LeMoyne College and Rhode
Island College.
Hunter-Gault is a member of the Council on Foreign
Relations, a trustee of Skldmore College, and is on the Journalism
Advisory Board of the University of Georgia.
In addition to her work for The New Yorker and The New York Times,
articles by Hunter-Gault have appeared In The New York Times
Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Change, Saturday Review.
Ms., Essence, The New Leader, and The Bulletin of the American
Society of Newspaper Editors.
TheMacNeil/Lehrer
RECEIVED
BfâSS
NEWSHOUR
CHARLAYNE HUlVTER-GAULT
CORRESPONDENT
March 6, 1985
Mr. Orville G. Brim, Jr.
Foundation for Child Development
345 East 46 Street
New York, New York 10017
Dear Bert,
Facing another Board meeting that I cannot attend forces
me to face a fact that I worried about from the day we
first discussed my coming on the Board...that is, my
tine is not my own.
This week, I happen to be going into the hospital for
a few days. Nothing serious, but necessary.
But the other times in the past and the times I see
coming up in the future find my work schedule intruding.
I have either been out of town on assignment or
anchoring in New York—both of which do not permit me
to be away from the office or from the scene.
Therefore, as regrettable as I find this decision, I am
going to have to ask for your understanding as I submit
my resignation to the Board.
It is not fair that I remain on the Board, not productive
as it were...to the productive members of the Board, the
ongoing work of the Foundation, and certainly those who
benefit from the programs.
I know you said at the beginning that you would be
understanding about the time I could spent at meetings, etc
And I feel you have been more than generous in your
understanding of my absences.
(212) 560-3109
356 WEST 58th STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10019
But I cannot continue, though my concern for what you
are doing is as great as' ever.
Perhaps there will come a time when I can be helpful, and
I would hope that you would think of me that way in the
future.
My last big regret is that I did not have an opportunity
to get to know each of the members of the Board. I was
enriched just being with them briefly.
Meanwhile, I understand that you, Bert, are on to other
things. I hope the transition will be smooth and that
your future work will be everything that you hoped for
and more.
All the best.
Sincerely,
Charlayne Hunter-Gault
CHG:sa
U
March
1985
Gerry,
I have written a personal note to
Charlayne and told her I would forward
her letter on to you.
OGB:jlp
Enc.
cc; Eleanor Elliott, with enclosure
Mr. Gerard Piel
Publisher
Scientific American Magazine
415 Madison Avenue
New York, N. Y. 10017
"
fcò
FOUNDATION
FOR
CHILD
DEVELOPMENT
345 EAST 46 STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10017 • 212-697-3150
ORVILLE C. BRIM, JR.
President
•f^
-Jk^yfSk-KX/V
k^^ 1
\
L
^
July 29, 1985
Mrs. Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Channel 13
MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour
356 West 58th Street
New York, N. Y. 10019
Dear Mrs. Hunter-Gault:
As chairman of the nominating committee of the Foundation for Child
Development, I am writing to you to ask whether you would be willing to have
your name submitted for election to the class of 1988 of the foundation's
council at our annual meeting on Thursday, September 25, 1985.
i know that I speak for all the mentoers of the committee in expressing
our hope that you will continue as a member of the council and that you will
join us at the meeting on the 26th.
Sincerely,
£TE:jlp
Eleanor T. Elliott
^eMacNeU/Lehrer
NEWSHOUR
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT
CORRESPONDENT
7 1986
TQ.
October 1, 1986
Kathleen H. Mortimer
Chair
Foundation for
Child Development
345 East 46th Street
New York, NY
10017
Dear Kathleen:
I continue to receive materials and notices of meetings
from the Foundation for Child Development, despite my
resignation from the Board.
As I said earlier, I regret that I could no longer
continue on the Board. My interest in it will remain.
I just wanted to make sure there hasn't been a lack
of communication on my status.
Sincerely,
Charlayne Hunter-Gault
(212) 560-3109
356 WEST 58th STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10019
October 9, 1986
Ms.
The
356
New
Charlayne Hunter-Gault
MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour
West 58th Street
York. New York 10019
Dear Charlayne:
I am taking the liberty of replying to-your letter to Kathy Mortimer
concerning materials sent to you in connection with the foundation's annual
meeting.
We know you have resigned from the board, but, according to our records, you
are still a member of the council (in the class of 1988), the de jure
governing body of the foundation that meets once a year at the annuaT
meeting.
In know that I speak for Kathy and other members of the council in saying
that I hope you are willing to remain on the council.
With all good wishes.
Sincerely,
Jane Dustan
jd/p