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Jack Valenti, a beloved Washington luminary,
enriched the lives of a great many people.
From cabinet secretaries to interns, from
Hollywood celebrities to those who worked
behind the cameras, he taught us all about
human nature and common sense through Texas
witticisms, quotes from the classics, and rules
passed on by his mentor, Lyndon Johnson.
Today many reveal the lessons learned with
a Jack story or a Jackism – such as the call I got
that began, “Matt, the ox is in the ditch.” The
New Yorkers among us now know that means a
project is in big trouble. I answered, “Remember
the three most important words in the English
language: ‘wait a minute.’” He replied, “Well,
I didn’t know if you would advise that or
‘hunkering down like a jackass in a hail storm.’”
Recently, a former Motion Picture Association
of America staffer told me, “I had to testify last
week and couldn’t get him [Valenti] out of my
head. I wrote it and rewrote it and practiced it a
dozen times. Best of all, I kept it mercifully brief.”
Rule number one for Jack was that
character is defined by loyalty. In Washington
and Hollywood people often desert their socalled
friends at the first whiff of public disfavor.
Not Jack – he insisted that you never abandon
someone who was going through a rough time.
He always stood with a beleaguered colleague.
At Jack’s funeral, actor Kirk Douglas captured
the essence of his longtime friend when he said,
“Your problems became Jack’s problems.”
You didn’t have to be Spartacus to receive that
kindness. One day when an MPAA employee told
Jack that a mechanic would not give back his car,
Jack immediately called Williams and Connelly.
I have this vision where within hours former
Supreme Court clerks are in the auto body shop
ready to battle. Of course, the car was returned
– probably with a complimentary tank of gas. Jack
was there for us – he would never cut and run. |
Jack and Mary Margaret
in an earlier time: a black
and white photo from
their wedding day on
June 1, 1962 and together
on the front lawn of the
White House in 1964 with
daughter Courtenay and
two of President Johnson’s
prized pooches.
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Jack rejected the partisanship that gripped
Washington. On the day the MPAA headquarters
was named the Jack Valenti Building, Republican
Senator Ted Stevens said of this LBJ Democrat,
“Jack works across the aisle because he doesn’t
see an aisle. It is the root of his success and what
others ought to emulate.”
But the best weapon in his arsenal was his wife,
Mary Margaret. In her thoughtful, refined and
understated way she was the sounding board who
set him straight when his own political instincts
were temporarily out of kilter. One Friday when
the MPAA was in the throws of a debate on
depictions of violence he set out a plan – which,
frankly, didn’t have a whole lot to it. When we
reconvened on Monday morning Jack announced
a change in strategy. We were somewhere between
livid and confused and when he saw my quizzical
look he simply said, “It was Mary Margaret – she
shamed me all weekend.”
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Washington is fortunate Mary Margaret
deployed that same sense of judgment and
persistence – mixed with a large helping of
compassion and a network of committed
friends – to help turn Woodley House into a
nationally recognized program. On a daily basis,
Woodley House now provides a continuum of
consumer centered care for over 200 persons
with mental disabilities. Jack loved “bragging
on” her devotion to those whose lives it
enhanced, and the way in which she helped its
services to grow and prosper.
If Jack were here to read this tribute I know
I would receive a handwritten note thanking me
profusely. And it would conclude with the mock
dismay that only he could get away with – “the
accolades were a bit brief, but what the hell.”
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