WEBVTT

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you to Tell Me What Happened, the podcast that

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features folks from all walks of life telling

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us one childhood story and how that story impacted

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who they are today. I'm your host, Jay Rehack,

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and like you, I've had my share of childhood

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experiences, some of them positive, some of them

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not so great. But I'd like to think that what's

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ever happened to me in my childhood has made

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me a better person. Tell Me What Happened is

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sponsored by Sidelining Publishing. Publishers

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of quality books, including Susan Salador's classic,

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I've Got Peace in My Fingers, available on Amazon

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.com or wherever quality books are sold. Tell

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Me What Happened is also sponsored by LaughSaver

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.com. Visit LaughSaver .com and record your laughter.

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We'll keep it for you, now and forever. It's

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free and your children and your grandchildren

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and your great grandchildren will appreciate

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it. That's laughsaver .com. And by the way, laughsaver

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.com will become an app starting June 1st, 2022.

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So check your phones and download the app. All

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right. Today I have as my guest, an old friend

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of mine, a good friend of mine, Marty Pick. Marty

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is a retiree. He retired back in 2004. But prior

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to that, he had a succession of jobs. He was

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at Hull House as the program director for kids

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and teens. He was a daycare social worker and

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a daycare director. He finished up his career

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as a social worker for the Chicago Department

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of Aging. Welcome to the show, Marty. Thank you,

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Jay. Marty, are you ready to tell your story?

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I'm ready to launch and jump right in. All right.

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Well, listen, Marty, I'm going to get out of

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the way. I'm going to let you tell your story.

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When you're done, I'm going to ask you absolutely

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one question. And that question is this. How

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do you think that what happened to you as a child

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impacted who you are today? All right, so take

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it away, Marty. OK, thank you, Jay. In the summer

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of 1952, my friend Howard and I were preparing

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to winter our second semester of eighth grade

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in September. We were students at the Robert

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Emmett School. on Madison and Central Avenue

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on the west side of Chicago. Howard had just

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turned 13 and I was still 12. We were both serious

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newspaper readers and realized that the Democratic

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convention would be in Chicago. We had to go.

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The headquarters for the candidates was the Conrad

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Hilton hotel where 16 years later I would be

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screaming dump the hump and the whole world is

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watching. An event was occurring which would

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revolutionize our summer. The normal summer activity

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was to get to the Emmett School playground as

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early as possible and wait for enough guys to

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show up so we could play softball. It was important

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to be early because there was one bench in Wright

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Center Field for two or three located under the

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scraggly little tree that somehow grew in the

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gravel of our playground. The bench was usually

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off limits for all but eighth graders, except

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for the absolute best athletes in our class since

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when we were in seventh grade, like Steve Harris

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and Marty Harris, not related. And now we were

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eighth graders, but the convention loomed large.

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The best way for us to get downtown to the Hilton

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was probably the Harrison Street streetcar. even

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though we had a lot of ways to get downtown from

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the west side. All of our major streets had buses.

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We had two streetcars, the green Hornet on Madison

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Street and the red something or other on Harrison

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Street, which was pretty interesting because

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it had sort of an open part to it, kind of like

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the cable cars in San Francisco. So we got a

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kick out of riding the red Harrison Street streetcar.

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which fortuitously brought us straight to the

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Hilton. Every candidate had a hospitality room,

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stocked with pop and food. Seeing all that made

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our eyes light up. Howard and I wandered into

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every room and ate and drank in every one of

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them. There were four main candidates. Our governor,

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Adlai Stevenson, the governor of New York, Avril

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Harriman, the senator from Tennessee, and Senator

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from Georgia, Richard Russell. Howard and I were

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very much in demand. We all wanted supporters,

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supporters actually, that means anybody who was

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willing to walk around on Michigan Avenue in

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the sun and carry a banner. Howard and I were

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fresh young legs and good at screaming how much

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we loved the candidate we were marching for at

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the time. We remember that for Avril Harriman,

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there was a song we were singing as we marched

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on Michigan Avenue. H -A -R -R -I -M -A -N spells

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Harriman. Well, I forget the rest of the song,

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but as you can, your wife might know it, it goes

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on and on. We were given soft pills for our labors

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because it was a 90 degree day in the sun. on

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Michigan Avenue, but we both decided against

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taking salt pills because we had never seen them

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before and at 12 we were not in a habit of taking

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pills anyway. At the end of the day, as the politicians

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decamped to go to the International Amphitheater,

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now demolished, where the convention was being

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held, Howard and I collapsed into a couch in

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the lobby of the Hilton. As we sat there exhausted,

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An aide to Senator Kefauver approached Howard

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and asked him to get the senator's coat. She

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actually had badly miscalculated. Instead of

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getting the battle scarred 13 year old, Howard,

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she should have gotten the impressionable 12

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year old, me, because I would have gladly gotten

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the coat. Howard rudely answered her, tell the

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senator to get his own coat. I thought that was

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somewhat rude, but I didn't say anything to Howard

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because He was my senior, of course. And so we

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returned to the West Side, tired, bloated, and

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now political experts. We resolved to go back

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the next day, maybe be more selective on how

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much pop and food we were consuming. I don't

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remember any of our parents even asking where

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we were. And we never really talked about being

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at the Democratic Convention the entire day.

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We just went, rode to a streetcar, came back

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home, and back into normal life. But we did brag

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to all of our friends about what we had been

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doing. And somehow that week, a bunch of 12 -year

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-olds, 12 and 13 -year -olds, invaded the convention

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headquarters at the Hilton and marched around

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Michigan Avenue. That's my story, and I'm sticking

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to it. Loved it. I mean, that's a piece of history

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right there, Marty. Absolute history. You are

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part of history. I like your buddy saying, telling

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Harriman to get his own coat or telling the aide

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to get a coat. That's hilarious. That's how we're

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treated. And he's still like that. So what motivated

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you to go down there? Was it the idea that you

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get free stuff or you just had something to do?

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We had no idea there'd be free stuff. We didn't

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know what was going to happen. You know, we were

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12 years old. We've seen the paper. Hey, the

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Democratic Convention is going to be in Chicago

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at the Hilton. We're like, hey, we have to be

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there. We got to see what's happening. I love

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it. We knew it was free. That's all we knew.

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But we did kind of follow politics then, you

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know, we would, we would read the papers and,

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you know, we had a We were in eighth grade. We

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had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

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So that's my follow -up question to you, Marty.

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And that is this, how do you think that childhood

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experience going down there to the convention,

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how do you think that's impacted you as an adult?

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Does it make you more political or something

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else? I think it has. You know, I think it has

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made us more political. For one thing, we realized

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politics is I don't want to say, I want to say

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it's a game. On the other hand, it's a serious

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game. And you read about these people in the

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newspaper. Esses Kefauver was quite well known.

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He was running hearings on organized crime. So

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he was on television all the time. And I remember

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my parents always watching those hearings that

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Kefauver was running. But on the other hand,

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you would see that It was funny, it was a matter

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of life and death for some people and for other

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people it was just kind of a convenience. I'll

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work for this guy, I'll work for this guy, I'll

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work for this guy, I'll work for this guy. Makes

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no difference. That's the camp we were in at

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the time. We'll work, we'll hang around, work

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for anybody who's gonna give us some pop and

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feed us, even though we were pretty much supporters

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of Governor Stevenson. But it gave us a look

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into politics that we would not have had. at

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the age of 12, had we not gone to that convention.

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All right. Well, listen, I usually don't ask

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follow up questions beyond that. You've answered

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the question beautifully. But I do have to ask

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you, when the convention rolled around back to

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1968, were you there in 68 or were you by then

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someplace else? Yes, I was someplace else, but

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still at the Hilton, but not inside the Hilton.

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I was outside of the Hilton with thousands of

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other people. And you might've seen this on the

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newsreels. There we were screaming, the whole

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world is watching and dump the hump. We thought

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that Hubert Humphrey was inside of Hilton. And

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of course he was, looked like he was going to

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get the Democratic nomination, which he did.

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And we were not happy about the Vietnam War.

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You jumped all the way to 1968. The Democratic

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convention in 1956 was in Chicago. So we went

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to that one too. By that time we were 16. Marty,

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I did not know that. You just taught me something,

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man. I'm telling you, I didn't realize, but that's

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fantastic. That's great. So were you at 56 as

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well? Yeah, yeah, sure. We were in high school

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then. More food and pop? More food and pop. I

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don't remember the 1956 convention as well as

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I do our initial gathering in 1952. But I, I

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know we were battle -hardened veterans in 1956,

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you know, we were not exactly the same fresh

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young legs that we were in 52. That's excellent.

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And you said you're still hanging out with, with

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Howard. Are you still friends with Howard? Still

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friends with Howard. I'll see him in a couple

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of days. We have our, uh, we all graduated from

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Emmett school together, Robert Emmett in 1953.

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And we're still playing poker once a month, a

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whole bunch of 82 and 83 year olds. I love it,

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man. I really do. That's deep. That really is.

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I mean, the friendship is deep. And I think that

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the political impact of the impact of that 1952

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convention still reverberates to this day. I

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think that's, that's impressive. I know you weren't

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around then, but it was an amazing convention.

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I think that one might've gone until three o

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'clock in the morning or something. I mean, they

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kept calling. the various states, what their

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vote totals were. And so it took a while for

00:12:57.799 --> 00:13:00.879
Stevenson to get enough votes to actually be

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the nominee. I wasn't around at that time, although

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I do remember the story that they tell about

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Adlai Stevenson where somebody yelled out to

00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:10.899
him. He said, Mr. Stevenson, you have the vote

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of every intelligent American. And he said, I'm

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sorry, sir, that won't be enough. He was right.

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This show is not about politics, so I'm going

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to leave it at that. I want to thank you for

00:13:23.110 --> 00:13:25.470
being on the show, Marty. Well, thanks, Jay.

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My day is set. I'll be listening to other people's

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stories all day today. All right. Beautiful.

00:13:31.649 --> 00:13:34.269
That's great. And thanks for the opportunity.

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All right. Well, that's our show. I'd like to

00:13:38.429 --> 00:13:41.509
thank my guest, Marty Pink. I'd also like to

00:13:41.509 --> 00:13:45.519
thank our sponsors. Sidelining Publishing, publishers

00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:49.720
of quality books, and LaughSaver .com. Remember

00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:53.039
to visit LaughSaver .com and get ready for the

00:13:53.039 --> 00:14:01.179
app that's coming out in May. So I'm going to

00:14:01.179 --> 00:14:05.419
end this show, as I often do, with Susan Saldor's

00:14:05.419 --> 00:14:09.580
classic, I've Got Peace in My Fingers. So until

00:14:09.580 --> 00:14:13.100
next time, this is Jay Rehack. asking you all

00:14:13.100 --> 00:14:15.820
to please stay safe out there and try not to

00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:45.039
hurt anybody. Peace, peace in my fingers I'm

00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:49.720
gonna shake hands with you I've got words, words,

00:14:50.179 --> 00:14:55.320
words in my head Watch what I can do I've got

00:14:55.320 --> 00:14:59.440
words, words, words in my head I'm gonna talk

00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:04.259
things over with you I've got words, words, words

00:15:04.259 --> 00:15:09.759
in my head Watch what I can do I've got words,

00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:13.539
words, words in my head I'm gonna talk things

00:15:13.539 --> 00:15:18.919
over with you I've got love, love, love in my

00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:24.559
heart Watch what I can do I've got love, love,

00:15:25.019 --> 00:15:29.840
love in my heart I'm gonna give some to you I've

00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:34.980
got love, love, love in my heart Watch what I

00:15:34.980 --> 00:15:40.279
can do I've got love, love, love in my heart

00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:45.379
I'm gonna give some to you I've got peace, peace,

00:15:45.820 --> 00:15:50.240
peace in my fingers Words, words, words in my

00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:54.600
head I've got love, love, love in my heart I'm

00:15:54.600 --> 00:15:56.360
gonna give some to you