A Podcast with David Andelman of CNN and USA Today…

Yes, David Andelman is a cousin of mine, but that’s not why I wanted to interview him on my podcast.  David is the consummate career journalist.  He’s a graduate of Harvard University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.  As you’ll see by clicking on his name above, he is described as: “… a veteran foreign correspondent, author and commentator who contributes frequently to CNN Opinion on global affairs.”  It also says that “during the course of his career he has traveled through and reported from more than 85 countries.”

I remember watching David on television when I was a teenager.  I remember watching him report, standing in front of the White House, as the correspondent for CBS Evening News.  There’s no question about it… he’s a very smart guy who has seen an amazing amount of history.  He can remember covering presidents since JFK.

He is also not a partisan person at all.  I remember having lunch with him in New York City a little over three years ago, just after Trump was elected.  I was concerned.  He wasn’t.  As he explains on the podcast, he’s willing to give any U.S. president a chance.  It was amazing to me.  There was no liberal bias, as many might expect.  In fact, he’s not someone I would characterize as being on the far left of anything.

David also served as a domestic and foreign correspondent for The New York Times.  While at the Times, he was Southeast Asia bureau chief, based in Bangkok, and East European bureau chief, based in Belgrade. At CBS News, he served for seven years as Paris correspondent. He has been a Washington correspondent for CNBC, news editor of Bloomberg News and Business Editor of the New York Daily News.

Today, David is also a member of the Board of Contributors of USA Today, and he served for more than seven years as Editor & Publisher of World Policy Journal. (Click that link and you’ll find his article: “The World in 2030.”)  Earlier he was executive editor of Forbes.com.  Recently, he published a piece for CNN titled: “As America Reopens, I Fear I’ll be Isolating for Years,” that’s really worth reading, as is everything he writes.

David has published three books described on his CNN page.  They are: The Peacemakers, published by Harper & Row, and The Fourth World War, published by William Morrow, which he co-authored with the Count de Marenches, long-time head of French intelligence. His third book, A Shattered Peace: Versailles 1919 and the Price We Pay Today was published by John Wiley & Sons, in a new Centenary Edition with foreword by Sir Harold Evans.

And he’s got a new book coming out at the beginning of next year that’s titled: “A Red Line in the Sand – Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars That Still Could Happen.”

Here’s a quote: “More red lines exist in the world today than at any other single moment in history. Whether it was the red line in Munich that led to the start of the Second World War, to the red lines in the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula, Syria and the Middle East.

As we traverse the globe, Andelman uses original documentary research, previously classified material, interviews with key players, and reportage from more than 80 countries across five decades to help us understand the growth, the successes and frequent failures that have shaped our world today.”

He’ll talk about that book on this podcast… among many other topics.  You really don’t want to miss it.

He’s also the creator of “The 55-cent Campaign,” which asks voters using mail-in ballots to place 55¢ stamps on their ballots, instead of using the bulk rate indicia that’s printed on the return envelope.  That way, you know your vote will arrive in time to be counted.  It’s actually a brilliant idea, in my view… and I’m going to promote it myself.  It means that your vote is assured of being counted sooner than it would be if mailed back using the third class indicia… and it saves the state money because it won’t have to pay the bulk rate on your returned ballot.

Again, as stated on his CNN page, David “has written for such publications as Harpers, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, Readers Digest, Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs. and is a member of the Century Association, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Harvard Club of New York, the National Press Club and the Grolier Club. He is first vice president of the Board of Governors of the Society of the Silurians, President-emeritus of the Overseas Press Club of America and serves on its board.”

Okay, so click the link below to listen to David Andelman discuss where we are today and where we’re headed in the months to come… on this… A Mandelman Matters Podcast.

Mandelman out.