Why She's The Best

Barbara Walters Exclusive Interview on 20/20 six weeks after retirement. 

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love a handful of high profiled pioneers from our culture and studied them tremendously and followed their work because I identified and aspired to have the same qualities of their work ethic, accomplishments, and success. Everyone knows how much I have always regarded highly Barbara Walters. After fifty years, the 84 year old Barbara Walters retired from working on television at all. On her last day on The View she DID say "But who knows what the future may bring!"

Well sure enough, she's at it again, not even six weeks after she retired she ALREADY had an exclusive interview. Walters was most famous for obtaining the big "gets" of news makers. She would get the majority of the FIRST interviews, sometimes the ONLY interviews, that no other journalist could get, but also was known for asking the questions no one else ever had the courage to ask. She got the first and only interview with the leaders of Egypt and Israel together, first interview with Christopher Reeve after his accident, first interview with newly elected presidents since Richard Nixon, first interview with Martha Stewart and first and only interview with her TWO HOURS after sentencing, first interview with Michael J. Fox after learning of his Parkinson's disease, first and only interview with Mark David Chapman who killed John Lennon, first interviews with murders like Robert Blake, Menendez Brothers, and Jason Grant, and the first and ONLY interview with Monica Lewsinky during the Clinton scandal which is to this day the most watched news interview in history.

So it is no surprise she is the best at what she does, that after a while people will go to HER to do the interviews. So finally she retires and is on vacation and gets a phone call from the President of ABC News saying that he thought ABC got an interview all the networks were after, the father of the shooter from the Santa Barbara rampage. However, the father had said he would ONLY do the interview with Barbara Walters. This has happened many times in her career, but even after retiring, she is still on top of her game.

Besides being on top of her game, the interview was not only about news, but the father wanted to really talk to the audience to help people understand mental illness. He did not know his son was mentally ill, he did not see signs and states there were not any obvious signs to take note of. He empathized with other parents who have children with these mental illnesses and with the parents of the murdered victims. This interview is in fact the FIRST interview ever of the PARENT of a perpetrator of a major shooting. Walters, still making history.

Besides her most recent exclusive interview, I got to read all the way through he memoir Audition. I thought it was a fantastic read, and I actually heard her voice as I read it, as if she were reading it to me. I always loved watching and reading biographies about people, especially the high profiled masters of our culture. Barbara Walters is no different. However, as I read her book, I really enjoyed some of the things she did and went through in her personal life, as well as professional life.

Besides her recounting her experiences, she was also giving advice in her book, which I thought was a great style. I don't know if she meant to do that. I know I do it in my book I'm writing too and I certainly didn't mean to. I noticed as I re-read passages. One of those things she recounted was her long time friendship to American attorney during the McCarthy era of the United States, Roy Cohn.

Roy Cohn was known to be obnoxious, not well liked, sharp tongued, yelled and screamed at subordinates, and very arrogant. Barbara, herself, would say how she really disliked him and couldn't stand him. But most people questioned, then why for so many years did you have this friendship? I think she mentioned in her book how Dan Rather once asked her "How could you be friends with him!?" She only told her answer in her book to everyone when she published it.

Although Roy Cohn had some horrible qualities in his personality, she accepted all of them and didn't mind many debates and arguments because at the end of the day he was really a harmless human being with many flaws and could do no harm. He was a good person by nature and had good intentions, although his exterior was "an acquired taste". But no action of fault could ever take away from her loyalty to him due to the great amount of help he had given to her with her father in a very troubled time. His action and concern, with the full intent of just helping because he cared and wanted to do the right thing with no expectations in return, saved her father from a horrible situation. She was forever in his debt, but only in her mind. Cohn never wanted anything in return for his action or ever held it over her head.

She explained how you have to really open your eyes and heart and see what is really important in people. Did she fight with Cohn? Yes. Were there times she thought he was arrogant? Yes. Were there times she debated on issues? Yes. regardless of ALL those flaws, none of them were great enough to break her loyalty to him because the greatest common ground was that he was a good person with good intentions. She didn't label him or read in between the lines wrongfully. She accepted all his flaws and put her loyalty before anything else, not her own needs, not her career, not her wants. That's why she's the best. Because that compassion you also see in her interview style, she practices in her life and shares that with the world. You go Barbara Walters! (BOWS)

Yours in service,
MASTER A TRENTO