Tom Johnson’s career took him white House Publisher in newspaper in jobs Dallas And Los angels To the chairman of CNNWhile he enabled her to swap stories about two impressive figures – Lindon B. Johnson and Ted Turner – It is not the real reason that he wrote his memoir.
Instead, it is to explain how his achievements were made despite suffering through depression, so he considered suicide, in the hope that others would help when needed.
Johnson, 84, said in an interview, “I want to tell that depression is a healing disease.” “You don’t have to kill yourself as I did by my two best friends.”
He calls his memoir “operated”. It is partially at a tribute to his mother, who told a young boy growing up in Georgia that he can fulfill what he wanted through hard work, and there is an acceptance that such a drive comes with cost.
He went out of a graduate school in Harvard to work at the White House. As a junior-level colleague, who first worked with Press Secretary Bill Mores, his most important duty was to take care of attention in the meetings. He was quite confident that when LBJ left the White House to return to Texas in 1969, he took Johnson with him as his top ally.
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This article has material about suicide. If you or someone who knows you need help, you can call or text 988 suicide and crisis lifeline or chat online at 988Lifeline.org
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A public break still painful years later
So you can tell that the pain to write her publicly, half a century later, that she concluded that “our Vietnam policies were wrong. Pricelessly wrong.”
He knew that his old boss felt squeezed, believing in the strategic significance of war, but recognizing that it was not going well and resulting in unnecessary death. Johnson remembered the President a day earlier, as he had gone around his Texas farm, would he have done anything different.
“He said,” Tom, I will go to my grave, believing that we have done the right thing, “Johnson remembered. The former President died a few weeks later.
Johnson went to work for the Times Mirror, first at the Dallas Times Herald as a publisher of the Los Angeles Times, during the bounce for newspapers. He said that he was eventually pushed out by the Chandler family, who was the owner of the newspaper because he was considered very generous. He then considered the presidential position in CNN, despite advice that the Turner, the founder, was “Natty”.
He took a job anyway in 1990, and quickly considered Turner as a visionary, which was spent to spend to make CNN as a global news organization successful. In retrospect, he spent 11 years as the chairman of CNN, marking his greatest success period as television network.
Tom Johnson wrote in “operated”, “Lindon Ban Johnson was the most complex man with whom I had ever met.” “He will remain the most complex human being, until I started working for Ted Turner in CNN after decades.
The “driven” is filled with stories in the “drunk” for both men, but Johnson is clear about his loyalty. He praises both of them. He left CNN after effectively snatching his duties after the sale of the network to the Turner effectively for time Warner; Seeing that Johnson’s depression was rebuilt, he wrote.
Johnson first discovered depression, when he was in La Times, withdrew from family, friends and activities, which he loved. His wife, Edwina pushed him to get help, where he came to know that he had a genetic tendency for depression.
“You really learn the importance of this person who is sharing the journey with you, even when I was difficult to love,” he said. “I will take him out, I will take out my children. Never at work.”
Johnson sure to remove guns from his home
Johnson said that his lowest point came in 1989 when he lost his job as a publisher. A hunter, Johnson, took him to a colleague to get him out of the house. He said, “A weapon is easily accessible for a person considering suicide, a serious mistake,” he said.
He told Turner about his fight with depression while discussing the CNN job. This was not an issue. “He said,” Hell, Pal, I tell you about me, “Johnson said.
Through the test and error, they found the right medications to help them. Johnson said he also benefited from talking to some other prominent men, who were struggling with depression: newspaper columnist Kala Buchwald, “60 minutes” correspondent Mike Walece and novelist William Stayran.
Johnson was also a workholic, who used to leave the house often before waking up his children, until they were in bed again. He missed his daughter’s many sports events, causing him to face her: “Don’t forget that you are also a daddy.”
“The biggest regret of my life was that I was not a good father for my children in that regard,” he said. “I was a good provider, but I was not for them.”
After retiring at the age of 60, Johnson has tried to give time to his family when he was not small. He is also advocating mental health issues, drug abuse and Alzheimer’s disease to help people to help people, whose latter was diagnosed during the Kovid -19 epidemic to her daughter.
And he is writing ‘operated’, which he has called “the most stressful project of my life”.
His visit underlined that you never leave journalism: Johnson was obsessed to ensure that it was factual and fair. “My wife said,” If you ever do another book, it will be with another wife. “
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David Budder writes about the media and entertainment intersection for AP. Http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/Profile/dbauder.bsky.social