My good friend Allen Weinstein and I are members of the same support group for people with Parkinson's. Journalist / novelist Charles W. Bailey II, who died on January 3, 2012, was a valued member of our group. The photo below from the 1960s shows Chuck (right) with Fletcher Knebel. Together, they wrote three novels about the major threat of that time -- the danger of nuclear warfare. One of the novels, Seven Days in May, became a hit film.
"Chuck" Bailey -- The Last Assignment
by Allen Weinstein
Those who remember Charles W. "Chuck" Bailey in his two successful post-World War II careers- as a journalist and a popular novelist-will join his family and friends next week at a memorial service in Washington, DC. I was neither family nor friend, nor professional colleague over his 82 years. Still, I shall be among those attending the service to pay homage to a man I met only in his last few years, and whom I knew primarily as a fellow sufferer of Parkinson's disease.
Washington newspapermen knew Chuck as editor of a major Midwestern daily of the time, The Minneapolis Tribune, and, later, for his involvement with National Public Radio. Chuck managed to combine deadline journalism in the 1960s with a new career which combined journalism and writing popular novels (with co-author Fletcher Knebel). Their acclaimed 1963 best-seller "Seven Days in May," detailing a near-successful plot to overthrow the government, became a film the following year.
By the time of his death, Chuck had faded from public memory. Among a dwindling number of aging Washington correspondents, however, Chuck was best known as a journalist for his dispassionate attention to detail and factual accuracy. A small number of Parkinsonians met regularly to debate issues, and it was the members of this group who noticed finally that Chuck Bailey- although he listened intently to the arguments of his colleagues- no longer spoke. Appeals to Chuck from his colleagues went unheeded or rebuffed with a sphinx-like silence. It was several months of such silence before, surprisingly, one day Chuck spoke, in a whisper to be sure, but, none-the-less, an end to the silence.
From that point, Chuck Bailey took on a new role in this group, as mediator in charge of settling arguments. Shouted disagreements would end in appeals from the group to Chuck, their Midwestern Buddha, whose barely whispered incantations were sufficient to quell argument. The intense, rhetorical volley which the speakers had relished in previous years gave way most often to gentle arguments amidst an agreeable group of friends seeking consensus.
Then one day when we arrived for our weekly discussion, we found that Chuck had been moved to a location in another state, closer to his family, but no longer reachable to the colleagues in our group. A few months later, we received announcement of his demise. Undoubtedly, Chuck had filed his final copy and, unsentimental to the end, had moved on to his next assignment.
4 comments:
After I joined the group in 2009, it took me a couple of months before the light bulb clicked on and I realized who Chuck was and recalled that we had a personal connection from years earlier. When I came to work at BNA in 1955, his wife Ann was also working there, but on another publication. One of her co-workers and good friends was Diana LeBlanc who two years later would become Diana Schappi (i.e., my wife). But Ann left before that happened and I bid on and got the job she had left.
Diana had gotten to know Chuck during her friendship with Ann and expressed great admiration and affection for him. BNA staffers in those days (and later) had some wild parties. She told me about one back then when the partyers decided to scale the walls of the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens here in DC and go skinny-dipping in the pool. Unfortunately I can't remember if the Baileys were participants.
In any event when I mentioned this long ago connection to Chuck after one of our meetings, I could tell it registered. In 2010, when I learned that Ann had died I expressed my condolences to Chuck at a meeting. Although by then he was pretty far down the road of progression with his Parkinson's and dementia, I could see his eyes well up with tears.
Chuck, despite being much more advanced with the disease than the rest of us, somehow became the linchpin of our meetings as Allen has described so well in his post above.
I am another member of the group that the previous post referenced. I joined in 2004 and found an already Parkinson ravenged "Chuck." While I knew of his newspaper experience, I was unaware of his "Best Sellers" although "Seven Days in May" was one of my favorite conspirency movies, because of the interesting by-play between the leads Kirk Douglas and Bert Lancaster continued as they got older and because Lancaster graduated from De Witt Clinton HS, as did a suprising number of our group.
I felt when I first met Chuck, that he was "locked in," just waiting for the "right" stimulus to break out and contribute. I discussed my perceptions with the group facilitator and spent time along with others in the group trying to get him to react in the group. We finally achieved limited success, but what I remember is Chuck's response to attending the weekly sessions, his wife reported that it was very important for him to attend the weekly meetings. I'm stuck here in Mexico but I'm sure we had an appropriate turn-out, indicative of our respect for the man.
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