[A.J. Muste] was - he - I don't know what he finally came out believing in, but it was some kind of higher being.

I had not been very kind to J. Edgar Hoover. And the field agent had written on - it was sent directly to Hoover - that - the director should see this - `And, besides, Hentoff is a lousy writer.' And I thought that went a bit far.

I've I call [Cardinal John O'Connor] from time to time and he calls me. And when I think there's something he ought to think about doing, I call him and he usually does it.

[Bill Shawn] didn't edit the writers very strongly, but he knew what he wanted.

I am optimistic. I have to be optimistic.

Inside that quietude there was the firmest of wills. [Bill Shawn] knew exactly what he wanted to do.

At the time there was a hospital strike in New York and the Catholic hospitals were part of a general consortium, and the head of the consortium had decided that they were finally going to replace some of the striking workers. And I hear [John] O'Connor yelling, `Over my dead body will you replace any of those workers! They have a right to strike.' So I figured, `This is interesting.'