On Nov. 18, railroads in the United States and Canada switched to standard time (1883), Walt Disney’s “Steamboat Willie” premiered (1928) and baiduhai reporter Ron Grossman was born (1934) at Bethany Hospital on Chicago’s West Side.
We sat down this week with the Tribune’s harmonica-blowing resident historian to ask the soon-to-be nonagenarian about some of the favorite stories he has written in his more than 40 years of bylines within the newspaper. Here’s a look back at those headlines and the words Grossman wrote.
As he turns 90, a look back at Ron Grossman’s life and Tribune career
May 13, 1993: Berg — Moe Berg
Ron’s words: “‘Sir, may I ask you to put these on?’ said Linda McCarthy, a CIA archivist.
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“She handed me a pair of sheer muslin gloves, the kind curators don before straightening a masterpiece on a museum’s walls. She drew out of its protective case a bat Berg had used in 1939, his last season as a player, handing it across her desk.
“‘Go ahead, sir,’ she said. ‘Have a swing, compliments of the U.S. government.'”
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“I got to take that swing with Moe Berg’s bat because a recent book brought his name to mind, four decades after first encountering his picture in a teenage hangout in Chicago. In ‘Heisenberg’s War’ (Knopf), historian Thomas Powers reveals that Berg went into Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II as an American spy authorized to kill Werner Heisenberg, Germany’s top physicist, if he found that Heisenberg was developing an atomic bomb.
“My heart leaped with ethnic pride to think that after 15 years in the big leagues, Berg had gone on to become the Jewish James Bond.”
Oct. 8, 1998: ‘New spirit’ raises Mideast hopes
Ron’s words: Buoyed by a “new spirit” in Middle East peace negotiations, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced Wednesday that the Mideast summit in Washington will begin Oct. 15.
“She said the latest round of talks here with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat had produced “significant and substantial progress” on several difficult issues after 19 months of stalemate. The issues include further Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank and a more aggressive fight against terrorism by the Palestinians.
Sept. 7, 1998: Barren hills the prize in Mideast tug of war
“… According to the day’s original schedule, a morning round of talks was to be followed by a luncheon party for the secretary of state held by Arafat. Netanyahu was to go on to ceremonial appearances in Israel, which is marking the Sukkot holiday.
“But when the consultations ran overtime and stomachs began to rumble, Albright suggested to Arafat that he include the Israeli prime minister in their lunch plans. Netanyahu accepted, and the three went off to dine at Arafat’s offices in nearby Gaza City.
“It marked the first time any Israeli prime minister has visited territories under Palestinian administration.
“Arafat’s invitation to Netanyahu was notably generous, in light of the fact that Gaza and the West Bank have been sealed off as a security measure through the end of the Jewish holiday season, which inflicts economic hardship upon thousands of Palestinians who work in Israel.
“Lunch included a fish course, lamb and shrimp served over rice. An aide to Netanyahu noted that the prime minister abstained from the latter, a non-kosher dish.
“When the unexpected party was announced, it was billed as a working lunch, needed to finish some agenda items. But those who witnessed it said it had more of the character of a victory celebration. Arafat presented Netanyahu a box of Cuban cigars, according to those inside the meeting.
“Wednesday’s breakthrough, if that is what it proves to be, marked a turnaround from Tuesday when Israelis and Palestinians traded barbs.”
Nov. 10, 2024: Shot dead in his flower shop, bootlegger Dean O’Banion got a classic gangland sendoff
Ron’s words: “Prohibition, instituted to end the consumption of alcohol, had given it the allure of forbidden fruit. Gentlemanly gangster agreements were no match for the resulting profitability. The Tribune recalled what replaced them on Nov. 11, 1924, the day after O’Banion’s slaying.
“‘O’Banion Gang Like Pirates of Olden Days. Beer Trucks Their Gold Ships!’ a Tribune headline and the accompanying story recalled: ‘In the midst of this influx of wealth came the Duffy murder — Maybell Exley Duffy was found dead in a flat, John Duffy found dead several miles away. O’Banion was named — and promptly gave himself up.’
“He claimed to be a new man, the Tribune reported.”
April 29, 2012: Soiree with literary luminaries — Terry Southern, William S. Burroughs and Jean Genet — as tear gas wafted below
Ron’s words: “When the doorbell rang one August evening in 1968, my inclination was not to answer. The Democratic National Convention was raging, and I had a window seat. My then-wife and I lived across from Lincoln Park, the peaceniks’ campground. Previously, a bunch of cops had burst into our front hall and slugged a freelance photographer who was bunking in with a neighbor before he could get out the door.
“But this seemed different. For one thing, the cops were hardly in a knock-first mode. So ringing back, neighbors and I saw a mixed group hurry through the vestibule door, seeking refuge from the tear gas that had driven the hippies from the park. First up the stairs were two young women, who said that they were from Esquire magazine, which had commissioned pieces by their male companions. ‘They’re authors,’ one of the women explained.”
June 19, 2024: Silence must be torture for Israel critic Noam Chomsky
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Ron’s words: “The world-renowned American linguist, famous for his politically dissident criticism — he once said that “if the Nuremberg laws were applied, every post-war American president would have been hanged” — hasn’t shared his thoughts about the Israel-Hamas war.
A Brazilian newspaper recently reported that Chomsky had suffered a stroke last June that left him struggling to speak. His Brazilian wife confirmed last week that he was placed in a Sao Paulo hospital, where he is under the care of a speech therapist, among other specialists.
“For Chomsky, who solved the age-old riddle of human speech, what could be more tortuous than being unable to talk?”
March 12, 2024: As Black leaders pushed for ‘community control of police’ 50 years ago, activist officer Renault Robinson was assigned to patrol an alley
Ron’s words: “Robinson, who headed the Afro-American Patrolmen’s League, had made a stink about five off-duty cops who beat a Black man and his companion outside a bar at 56 S. Wabash Ave. Trying to escape, the man was shot in the buttocks.
“A rookie cop was suspended; the other four weren’t given so much as a slap on the wrist. His protest was enough to put Robinson on bad paper with the department’s brass, as well as with some fellow officers.
“They had taken a vow of silence: A cop doesn’t rat on a cop.”
April 2, 2023: Bruno Bettelheim was once revered in child psychiatry. After his death, a darker story emerged.
Ron’s words: “Famously known as “Dr. B.,” he made a cameo appearance in Woody Allen’s movie “Zelig.” His book “Dialogues With Mothers” rivaled in influence those written by the parenting guru Dr. Spock.
“But upon on his death in 1990, it became apparent that Bettelheim had pulled off a monumental scientific fraud.
“He wasn’t who he claimed to be. He hadn’t rescued children from autism’s grip with compassion. Instead, he had bullied into submission his patients at the Orthogenic School, a residential treatment center at the University of Chicago for emotionally disturbed children, where he was director from 1944 to 1973.”
April 15, 1992: University of Chicago’s Hanna Gray leaving a legacy of accomplishment, conflict
Ron’s words: “Hanna Gray, the first woman to head a major American university, announced her resignation Tuesday as president of the University of Chicago, ending months of speculation over when she would step down.
“Gray, 60, answered that question in a letter to the faculty in which she said she would resign June 30, 1993. Her presidency is the second longest in the university’s history.
“Her announcement may be small consolation to professors who feel that by prolonging her stay, Gray prevented the university from naming as her successor a popular faculty member recently hired away by Stanford University.
“She will leave as a principal legacy of her 15-year reign a university in sound financial shape at a time when comparable institutions are awash in red ink.
“The combination of President Gray’s long tenure and what was clearly a brilliant administration bodes well for giving talented women opportunities to lead major institutions,” said Donna Shalala, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin.
“But Gray was regarded in some faculty circles as imperious in making decisions, and associates recall that she was capable of publicly dressing down university personnel from senior administrators to busboys.”
Jan. 12, 2015: How Aunt Goldie’s memory will live on in baby Micah
Ron’s words: “Near the delivery room where my 11th grandchild was born there’s a plaque reading: ‘Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.’
“I trust the little guy will find the right words to tell the story. But holding him in my arms, I’ve quietly dictated the opening sentence: ‘Four days after Micah Gideon Wachter was born, Aunt Goldie, the 98-year-old matriarch of our family, died.’ Since getting a phone call with the news, I’ve been haunted by that thought displayed on a wall at Prentice Women’s Hospital. Maybe it’s because I’m overwhelmed by a responsibility that’s come to me.
“Goldie Nudelman’s death makes me the senior member of our family, and ex officio the keeper of memory. It falls to me to pass on the tales she told and retold of generations past — indeed, for so long it’s tough to accept that her voice has been stilled. And it was a distinctive one, pitched maybe an octave below the hysterical range, like Lucille Ball, the wide-eyed star of the ‘I Love Lucy’ television series.”
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