Word: goings
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Pearson's Merry-Go-Round appears in 600 newspapers with 20 million circulation. (Estimated income to Pearson: $2,000 a week.) Then there's the radio. On Sunday nights he talks over ABC to 10 million people, for a weekly wage of $5,000 plus all the Lee hats (his sponsor) that he wants. His sponsors claim 77% accuracy for the predictions which, along with his disclosures, are his stock in trade. The batting average means little: "We can always boost it," a staffer explains candidly, "by predicting things like tomorrow will be Monday...
...ways: 1) by accurate tips, diligently followed up; 2) by doping out a story for yourself, then confronting some knowing source with it to see if you're on the right track. Generally I just operate with a sense of smell: if something smells wrong, I go to work...
...Thomas was speculating in commodity markets with inside government information finally got Republican Senator Homer Ferguson's investigating committee after Thomas. When Ferguson suddenly stopped investigating, Pearson's nose twitched, and off he went on the scent. Finally, last September, he sniffed out the story. The Merry-Go-Round ran an eye-opening letter from Thomas to Ferguson, threatening to denounce the Michigander for taking favors from big automen, unless he called off his investigation. Since neither Senator would want the note made public, where did Pearson get it? Apparently from. Tom Clark's Department of Justice...
Pearson also counts on the common failing of Congressmen: they can't help talking. "I often tell a friend or two to keep their ears open at a closed-door meeting," says Pearson. During the war, the Merry-Go-Round spilled the news that F.D.R. had irritably snubbed General de Gaulle. "One of the Congressmen who heard it took a few notes," Pearson recalls...
Peek Up a Rope. If necessary, he will twist an arm. Last year he called John Sonnett, who was taking over the Justice Department's anti-trust division, to point out that he was accustomed to getting anti-trust scoops. Retorted Sonnett: "Aw, go peek up a rope." Sonnett was punished with rough rides on the Merry-Go-Round. The column is equally open about rewarding those who do cooperate: some newsmen spot Pearson's sources simply by seeing who gets his backpats...