My reporting work began as a result of that, in 1924 when I was still in college. The Democratic National Committee had apparently heard of me, and they asked me if I would care to travel around the country and stenographically report the speeches of John W. Davis, who ran for President of the United States against Calvin Coolidge.

I dropped out of college for six months and traveled around the country on the Presidential campaign tour. There was no such thing as commercial aviation in those days, and there was no such thing as television. I know it's difficult for some people to imagine times like that. We traveled around the country in a private train, using a baggage car as an office. John W. Davis made speeches around the country. That was my first reporting experience.

Q. After the campaign, you returned to college and went to law school, correct? How is it you didn't go on to be a lawyer?

A. When I graduated from law school, we were in the midst of a terrific depression and instead of going into law, I went into court reporting. My family went broke, and I had to go out and make some money. You can't imagine how terrible that depression was.

Q. What kinds of cases did you work on then?

A. I worked on cases in the Federal courts of New York, Connecticut and Delaware, specializing in patent cases. The most famous case I worked on was in Delaware on the case of the Radio Corporation of America against the General Electric Company. It involved the basic radio patents. At that time I was what is called a freelance shorthand reporter. I had occasion to report the speeches of a number of famous people, among them Winston Churchill and Clarence Darrow, who gave a speech down in Princeton. I also had occasion to report the speeches by Al Smith, who was then Governor of the State of New York, and by Franklin D. Roosevelt when he was Governor of the State of New York.