[Note from Kevin: this is not a true “Ezra’s Essay.” The title was supplied by me; I hope Pop approves. Of course the rest of the essay was written by Pop but not for general publication. But as someone currently embroiled in the job search and having to meet people and speak quite a bit, this bit of writing offers advice which strikes me as topical. It is one of many such non-essays to be published in the coming days. Pictures will come when I can find a good camera with which to photograph the relevant articles to which he refers.
As a side note, Pop mentions that wearing the velvet-strapped watch was not an option for him. I am guessing it is because its straps are rather small. Funnily enough I just discovered that fits me rather well because I have obnoxiously skinny wrists. Unfortunately the watch has long since stopped. Weirdly it chose to do so at 2:42, which is notable to me primarily because it was the time that my baby book claims that I was born. Which I wouldn’t remember if my favorite numbers were not 2 and 4, and had I not been born on the 24th. But all this is neither here nor there. Without further delay –]
Monsignor Kevin,
In this box there are four items. One is a series of speaking notes that I made for my speeches over the years. Another is a watch. You can tell them apart because there are no moving hands on the notebooks. Your mother, with her Ivory League education, may help you with the identification. And finally, there are two DVDs. One is Dick Hichol’s retirement at which I was the MC. The other is my retirement party. Your parents were present on the second occasion.
The notes are cryptic. For example, “bxn” means business. The notes were only intended to remind me of the next series of thoughts that I wanted to offer.
The notebooks were compiled by my secretaries in the last few years that I worked for AT&T. When I returned from my enlistment in the American Army, I soon found out that AT&T was trying to screw its employees, particularly the veterans, so I arranged to join the union. In not many years I became the vice president, the president of the local covering two states, an executive board member, and a national negotiator for the union. It might be observed that in 1945, AT&T intended to screw its employees. In 2007, their conduct has not changed. They are still at it, particularly on the drug benefit program.
Starting out in the labor union business was the best training a speechmaker could have had. It was rough and tumble and any mistakes that were made were called to the speaker’s attention. Fistfights were not unknown in labor union meetings. I learned then and there that reading a speech was a fatal mistake. It had to be delivered extemporaneously or only with a handful of notes. Otherwise the audience lost interest in what was being said.
I suspect that in the 45 years I worked for AT&T, I may have made 400 speeches. When I was in the management of AT&T’s labor relations, there was a threat from the Teamsters which people in the Bell System wanted to hear about. Many of my speeches had to do with the threat from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).
There is no record of the speeches I made until 1955 when I went to New York to assume my job in the management of AT&T’s labor relations. Later, my secretaries gathered many of my notes and then assembled them in the form you see. These notes represent only handful of the speeches that I made. ON no occasion did I ever read a speech from the podium. I either delivered it extemporaneously or using some of the notes that are in the book. I would refer to the notes only to refresh my memory for the next point. Notes were used largely on those speeches that would take a half-hour or more.
There is a DVD which has to do with my retirement and with the retirement of Dich Nichols. I think you will notice that I rarely used notes in these presentations.
When a speech is read to an audience, you will find that the listener’s attention will be diverted to newspapers, notes and gossip. Delivering a speech extemporaneously will cause them to give you their full attention even if it is only to see if you make a mistake. I send you these notebooks only for the purpose of seeing to it that, as you go through life, I hope that you will recognize the importance of preparation. The idea is to know what you are going to say as well as what your opponents might want to say as well. But in the final analysis Kevin, when you look at these binders, I want you to think of preparation, preparation, preparation. Of course, it takes works to prepare. But if you are going to succeed you must prepare as fully as you can.
Also included in this package is a watch that I used when many of these speeches were delivered. I quit wearing a wristwatch in 1944 when I had a watch with a metal band that came into contact with two live poles on an airplane generator. I was trying to balance the output of those two generators. The electrical contact nearly melted the metal band. From that day forward I used no watch at all, or I carried it in my coat pocket.
This watch was given to me, as I recall it, on my 30th anniversary year with AT&T. It is a first-class watch but it has velvet straps. There is no way that the straps can go around my wrist. Consequently, when traveling or offering a speech, I carried the watch in my right hand coat pocket. When the trip was finished, I put the watch back in my dresser drawer.
I might observe that my father believed that any man who wore a wristwatch was less than masculine. He did not know of the term “gay,” but that is what he had in mind. He also considered anyone using safety raors in the same light. Straight razors were the only shaving devices he approved of, even after he became blind.
Well Kevin, I send these items to you because I have long since designated you as the historian for the family. They are intended for your use. You may show them to anyone who wants to see them, but in the final analysis, they are meant for your use and safekeeping. Maybe somewhere down the road you may look at the ibnders and it will remind you to prepare your rosy little ass off. And if you ever use the watch when you debate or make a speech, I hope it reminds you of your grandfather, and the fact that if I ever read a speech to a meeting of a labor union, I would be courting being tarred and feathered.
Well Kevin, this is about all there is to say at this juncture. Remember to prepare, prepare, prepare, and while you are doing that, I hope you are staying as strong as possible. That will permit me to enjoy my eternal visit with Jesus and to also utter the Biblical injunction by saying, “On with the rat killing.”
-Pop
January 25, 2007
~~~
Pop’s response to this entry:
Hey Kevin,
I read your latest entry and derived a good bit of satisfaction from it. It has always struck me that the way to succeed, at least in my endeavors in the labor relations field, was to prepare, prepare and prepare so that I would rarely be taken by surprise.
I still think that this is good advice, particularly with the line of preparing your rosy little ass off.
Pop
PS from Judy: Obama could have used this sound advice from Pop before his first debate.