Word: romagna
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...Even so, Romagna's nimble pen-a needlepoint Sheaffer Snorkel that writes in violet ink-followed Kennedy's long-distance dash with a fidelity that both the White House and the White House press corps have come to trust. When Kennedy went down to Latin America last week with a batch of speech texts in hand, Romagna went along too; he accurately transcribed not only the slightest presidential departure from the script, but Kennedy's impromptu remarks at public receptions along the route. "Keeping the press happy is my prime objective," says Romagna. "Keeping the official file...
Moth Bags for Mossbacks. To keep the press happy, Romagna has performed prodigies of rapid transcription. Romagna's wooden attache case, custom-built by the White House carpentry shop, is a portable desk, but in a pinch, Romagna has been known to recruit the nearest back for the same purpose. Recording presidential talks in the White House rose garden -a favorite informal speaking site-is Romagna's pet chore: "Provided the speech is not too long, I can take it down, run the 50 yards to my office and transcribe it. dash into the mimeo room and have...
British-born Jack Romagna, 51, earned his place in the White House by an early determination to become the best shorthand reporter in the business. As a boy of 13 in Washington, where his father was butler to the late U.S. Senator Davis Elkins of West Virginia. Romagna learned Gregg shorthand (and typing) in night school, spent 40 daytime practice hours a week taking down everything he heard on the radio. In 1941. when the White House shorthand reporter resigned, Romagna, then working for International Business Machines Corp. in New York...
Since that time, no President has stumped him, although all four of the Presidents Romagna has served have given him bad moments. On Pearl Harbor night, Roosevelt installed him in a bathroom adjoining the presidential bedroom to record, unbeknownst to the assembly, a secret Cabinet meeting from behind a 2-in. oaken door. Romagna recalls the experience as "ghastly." There was a phone in the bathroom, and assorted Cabinet members popped in to use it-forcing Romagna to hide behind another door. In 1948, on tour with Harry Truman. Romagna transcribed more than 300 of Truman's 536 campaign...
Seasickness v. Bach. To gird for the New Frontier. Romagna endlessly replayed tapes of the Kennedy-Nixon TV debates, worked up an assortment of new shorthand symbols to fit New Frontier talk. One graceful jiggle of the Romagna pen, for example, expands into 13 words...