Everyone who works at George has heard the question a hundred times: "Does he ever come in to the office?" We would respond with a mixture of courtesy, because he was gracious and would expect the same of us; a little bit of humor, because it was a funny question, if you knew the truth; and a touch of frustration, because he worked hard and made sacrifices for George. But we couldn't explain all that. So we would simply nod and say something like, "He's in the office all the time. It's what he does." He, of course, was John Kennedy.
And as we were completing work on this issue, we learned that John wouldn't be coming to the office anymore.
John was the co-founder, editor in chief, and president of this magazine, but the confusion about his role was understandable, because no one expects celebrities to hold day jobs. Truth is, John had a hand in every aspect of creating and producing George-the big picture and the daily details. Our editors and writers could talk about the stories he urged us to assign long before they were elsewhere in the news, about the insightful criticisms he would make after reading manuscripts, about how seriously he took his letter to George readers that ran on this page. Our designers and photographers knew that John brought a fresh eye to their work, challenging them to transform material usually presented in black and white into a colorful drama. And George's business staff and advertisers could discuss how committed he was to helping them sell this magazine.
But those stories aren't really the point. For as much as we learned from John and loved working with him, he didn't create George for the fun of it. He edited George because the magazine manifested certain beliefs he wanted to promote: That there are good men and women in politics whose work is made harder because our political era fluctuates between scandal and alienation. That for all its imperfections, politics is a noble profession, and given his unique perspective on and place in the political world, he could make a difference by saying so. That much of the reason many people think ill of politics is the influence of a reflexively adversarial press. And, most importantly, that a segment of the American public-a large segment - shares those beliefs and rejects cynicism.
"Politics is too important to be left to politicians," John liked to say. He didn't intend the remark to disparage politicians. He meant that the country would be better if more people were involved in its civic life. That's why he took such pride in the fact that George is the most popular political magazine in the country; it suggested that he was reaching people who have an open mind about politics, and that he was giving something back to a nation that had given much to him.
Many of you have asked us how we plan to pay tribute to John in our pages. The answer is that we've left this issue of George as it was before John's death because it was the last one he edited. We'll devote much of our October issue to remembering him. We also want to thank all of you who have written, called, faxed, and e-mailed us with your condolences. Your kind thoughts have helped give us strength to carry on despite losing an irreplaceable colleague and friend. In the end, the greatest tribute that we can pay John is to continue putting out the finest magazine we can. We think he'd want it that way. -The staff of George |
