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StoryCorps is made possible through funding from State Farm, the Atlantic philanthropies and the corporation for Public Broadcasting. And most importantly, through the support of participants and listeners like you nationwide.
Welcome to the StoryCorps Podcast, in this episode we will remember TV journalist Tim Russert.
Back in 2005,StoryCorps launched our national tour in front of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. and Russert participated in a very first interview we recorded on that tour.
Russert made a name for himself interviewing politicians and heads of state,but it was a story of everyday Americans,especially those from his hometown of Buffalo,New York, that was even closer to his heart.So at StoryCorps Russert interview James T.Malloy. Malloy was a second generation firefighter.
He was once the doorkeeper of the House of Representatives and like Russert,he grew up in south Buffalo.
Jimmy,tell me how it all started.
Well,I thought everybody's father was a policeman or fireman,ha.
What was your dad?
It is my father's a fireman (that) worked in one same firehouse for 37 years, down in what they call the old first war in the Irish neighborhood near the waterfront,truck eight,engine eight.
Did your dad have a second job occasionally?
Oh yeah,Oh many second jobs.There weren't many people having one job.
We call the second front.
The second front,you got it.
T
hen when your dad was off working,he's probably couldn't go to some of events at school or some other things.
Well,very true,yeah.
I went to a local high school on south Buffalo.
As playing ball one day over Kids Park and I looked up and there was the hooked letter,truck eight,which my father's a very driver and you called..
Because so happen........
Just happened to be at Kids Park with a bowl of diamond was,you know,when, and you grew up in the same atmosphere,you understand this,you know.
So,you came to Washington and you were the doorkeeper of the House of Representatives.
It was a big deal.
What was it like the first time you walked down that aisle and said, Mr.Speaker, the president of the United States.
The first one was President Jerry Ford,that,you know. I was perspiring at everything. I was only in the job a short period of time about three or four weeks
What did your mom and dad say when they saw their son?
My father,then,never made a big deal of anything.But my mother just loved it.She can get any conversation turned to it,you know.
Well,we had that at NBC with Tom Brokaw,the anchor and I would send Tom a little notes that it's OK to Jimmy's about to introduce the president of United States.Let's late on the night.And Tom would say you are about to hear the voice of James T.Malloy,the proud son of Catherine Malloy of,was 106 blow,106 blow feeling.
And finally the last time,your last arrived,he said we're about to hear the voice of James T.Malloy,an extraordinary man,a gifted firefighter,a man who studied the law,I would say in every sense of the word,a true recited man.
Well,when all of this would go on,you played in all the local saloons in south Buffalo and in all of firehouses and they would be watching the thing,one fire turn,the other is what the hell are you,what does he call him.And he said he called him .... something.So they later fount out all of you looking up they were kind of compliments,you know,it wasn't ease,though.Yeah,yeah.
Then you left the doorkeeper position When.
The 94,94,the Newt Gingrich,the Newt Gingrich,they abolished the doorkeeper.
My last official act was to introduce Newt Gingrich as the speaker, then I raced down , filed my papers. So you retired.
Before we go,the best way I would describe you James T.Malloy was a good man who knew everybody and was always proud of taking care of his own.
Well,I will accept that, I like that. Again,you always look back to where you started from,where you started from,where I started from,you know,and Washington's a great place.
But there's no south Buffalo.
No,there's no south Buffalo. Amen.
Thank you.James T.Malloy.Thank you very much.Thank you Tim.
That's James T.Malloy with the late Tim Russert.
They recorded that story three years ago in Washington D.C. where our tour started.And this July,it hits their hometown of Buffalo,New York.
Major support for StoryCorps is provided by State Farm and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Our podcasts are supported by the Fetcher Institute as part of its campaign for love and forgiveness.Learn more at loveandforgive.org.
Our StoryCorps interviews are housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
And you can hear StoryCorps on the radio Fridays on NPR's morning edition.I'm Kedy Simon,for the StoryCrops podcast,thanks for listening.