Treasuring the Wit and Wisdom of Molly Ivins
Molly Ivins (right) shares a laugh with the late Ann Richards, former Texas governor, in 1991. Mark Perlstein/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images hide caption
Molly Ivins (right) shares a laugh with the late Ann Richards, former Texas governor, in 1991.
Mark Perlstein/Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesThe Quotable Molly Ivins
On How to Understand President Bush, from a Feb. 15, 2001 Commentary on 'Morning Edition'
On Media Coverage of the Average American, from an Oct. 30, 2003 interview on 'Morning Edition'
On Bush Foreign Policy, from an Oct. 15, 2002 Commentary on 'Morning Edition'
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
NPR's Wade Goodwyn has this remembrance.
WADE GOODWYN: From the time she was 15 years old, Molly Ivins wanted to be a newspaper reporter. She started out taking complaints at the Houston Chronicle, and in short order worked her way up to become a celebrated beat reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. But it was the 1960s, an era of profound political ferment, and by '69 Ivins had had enough of conventional newspaper editors.
MOLLY IVINS: I had sort of given up on conventional journalism. I found it far too restrictive. I couldn't find any way to tell the truth in a regular newspaper.
GOODWYN: In an interview last October, Molly Ivins described how the civil rights and anti-war movements informed her decision to return to Texas.
IVINS: I really felt that this was such a serious time that I should give up all thoughts of a conventional career, joining The New York Times or winning the Pulitzer Prize, and I should go home and help bring about the revolution. So I came home to help bring about the revolution, and really very few people were grateful.
GOODWYN: Ivins became editor of the independent political journal The Texas Observer in 1970 and covered the Texas legislature. She was astounded at the raw open corruption she found there, and with her sense of humor and her ability to tell stories she made herself famous and the Texas legislature infamous.