Word: quinn
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Quinn never did interview Brzezinski. Instead, she pieced her story together from talks with some 50 of his friends and associates. He was depicted as a publicity hound consumed by his ambition to become Secretary of State-and more. "He likes to talk of himself as a sex symbol, to speak of the 'aphrodisiac of power,' " Quinn wrote. In one vignette, Brzezinski is described as boogeying lustily at a Washington disco, looking faintly ridiculous and "flirting with 16-year-olds." Quinn elsewhere describes him as a man "constantly torn between the thrill of making headlines and the risk...
...possibly believable, if unflattering, picture of the National Security Adviser-until the final paragraphs of the first installment, when Quinn related the zipper incident. She first heard of that encounter a year ago from Clare Crawford, a former Post staffer who is now a PEOPLE Magazine Washington correspondent. Crawford had just received from Brzezinski an autographed picture taken after she interviewed him for PEOPLE. At Crawford's office, says Quinn, she thought she saw a photo that showed Brzezinski unzipping his pants. Though hazy on details, Quinn now says that she heard someone say that this was indeed what...
When Crawford read Quinn's sensational last paragraphs, she was appalled. Says Crawford: "At no time did Brzezinski do anything, either physically or verbally, that was improper or that could be interpreted as improper by anyone." He had sent the picture to her inscribed: "Clare, I really shouldn't! Zbig." Brzezinski was outraged at the Post's embroidery on his little sally. He and White House Press Secretary Jody Powell went to see the President. Carter was furious. Said he: "Go ahead and deal with...
...meet with himself, Brzezinski, White House Counsel Lloyd Cutler and Jerrold Schecter, Brzezinski's press secretary, to get the facts. On Powell's summons, Post Style Section Editor Shelby Coffey arrived with a lawyer. The paper printed its retraction the next day. (Many of the characterizations in Quinn's series are true. Though known as an exemplary husband and father, Brzezinski is notoriously vain and flirtatious...
...week ended with recriminations and bruised feelings all around, not to mention a large waste of official Washington's time. Brzezinski retained a lawyer to explore the possibility of a libel suit. At the Post, Executive Editor Ben Bradlee defended the series by Quinn, who happens to be his wife of 14 months, as a "son of a bitch of a good story." He described the photograph as "very suggestive." At the White House, which has lately had frosty relations with .the Post, the retraction was a delicious victory. Said one top aide: "This is the newspaper they made...