Russert best interviewer on TV, says Cardinal Foley
By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
Cardinal John P. Foley was just as shocked as everyone else to hear the news of the sudden death on Friday, June 13, of Tim Russert, the long-time moderator of “Meet the Press” and Washington bureau chief for NBC News.
Just days earlier, Russert, his wife, Maureen, and son, Luke, had been in Rome, where Cardinal Foley resides as Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
“I had lunch with Tim, Maureen and Luke on Wednesday,” he said.
The Russerts visited Rome as part of a gift to Luke, who just graduated from Boston College.
They’d already attended Pope Benedict’s general audience and dropped in to see the cardinal, who arranged tickets for them for the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum. The next day, Russert flew back to the U.S. while his wife and son stayed in Europe.
The cardinal and the newsman had a friendship tracing back to the mid-1980s. Then-Archbishop Foley, a former editor of the Catholic Standard & Times, had recently been appointed president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Russert was a newcomer to the “Today Show” at NBC.
Archbishop Foley, along with Cardinal John Krol, facilitated an in-depth telecast of the “Today Show” from the Vatican, which helped to catapult the show’s ratings to first in its time slot.
“People from NBC say it was their best week on television. A few months later, I was visiting New York, and he and Maureen took me to this very wonderful French restaurant,” Cardinal Foley remembered. “He told me I made his show number one in the morning and number one in the evening. If they ever slipped to number three, it would be meatloaf at his house.”
When Luke was born to the Russerts in 1985, Archbishop Foley baptized him in New York in Cardinal John O’Connor’s private chapel, and he and the Russerts stayed in touch over the years.
Beyond personal friendship, Cardinal Foley respected Russert for his character, his faith and his journalistic professionalism.
“He was a very humble, unassuming person and very kind,” Cardinal Foley said. “Just recently when the Pope went to the White House, Tim, knowing I would be there, got up early just to see me. We had that special relationship.
“He was never ashamed of his Catholic faith. He realized the importance of faith. He never imposed it, never denied it, and never tried to hide it.”
Cardinal Foley said his own first interview for television was by the late Edward R. Murrow, whom he considered the best of his day, but not as good as Russert.
“I thought Tim was an outstanding person,” Cardinal Foley said. “He was always prepared, insistent on getting to the truth but never disrespectful or demeaning. I think he was the best interviewer television has ever had.”
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and a freelance writer.