Me and Mario Cuomo
Subtitle: conversations in candor
By: Alan Chartock.
Publisher: Barricade Books
Published: 1995
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 304
Subjects: Cuomo, Mario Matthew -- Quotations.; United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1989 -- Quotations, maxims, etc.; United States -- Politics and government -- 1989-  -- Quotations, maxims, etc.; New York (State) -- Politics and government -- 1951-  -- Quotations, maxims, etc.
Description: The circumstances were unusual. One man, Mario M. Cuomo, was governor of New York and a leading figure in the national hierarchy of the Democratic Party. The other was Alan Chartock, a college professor who also managed eight public radio stations and the Legislative Gazette newspaper in Albany.

The two were thrown into the kind of relationship most journalists only dream about. For nearly twelve years, Chartock interviewed Cuomo once a week on a program that was heard on most of the public radio stations in New York State. Anyone who ever heard the program can confirm that it was combative and humorous - a feast of fast talk, wit and sarcasm rivaling the best of salon conversation.

Despite Cuomo's long-running claim that only three people were listening - "Harvey and Ethel and someone who has now switched to Chinese opera" - the program attracted a legion of loyal fans who would time their rides home from their weekend houses in upstate New York so they could hear the jousting.

Cuomo revealed himself on these programs. He voiced his view of the Catholic church, a view quite often at odds with that of his bishops. He spoke eloquently on the issue of abortion and a woman's right to choose and he took incredible pains to use contemporary events to portray his view of the world. When Jimmy Cagney died he gave a eulogy on the radio show that couldn't possibly be surpassed, and he spoke of why the clergy should dress in white instead of black.

A chapter on family speaks of his mother, his father and of the marriage of his son Andrew to Robert Kennedy's daughter. That exchange was so moving that The New York Times boxed it and published it in full. It's difficult for one to read it and not get wet around the eyes.