Now I've Heard Everything

Do you have to be kind of an SOB to be a success?

What kind of connotation does that term even have anymore?

Those were two of the key questions that Al Neuharth tried to address in his bestselling memoir “Confessions Of An S.O.B.”

Al Neuharth  was the founder of USA Today, as well as The Freedom Forum, and the Newseum.  So apparently being an SOB helped him.

Memorial Day is an occasion to pause and honor those who have given their lives in military service.

But we can also remember those who went to war to save lives.

In 1963, a 21-year old student nurse named winning Smith joined the Army, and in 1966 was sent to Vietnam, where the war was escalating.  She was there until 1967,

But it wasn't until years later that she realized that she, like many of the servicemen she treated, or suffering from PTSD.

We learned recently that daytime TV's Ellen DeGeneres Show is coming to an end next year after 19 seasons.

Her show made its debut just a couple of years after I met and interviewed her mom, Betty DeGeneres.

In 1999, Betty published a book called “Love, Ellen,” a memoir of her relationship with her famous daughter -- and the challenges both mother and daughter experienced when Ellen revealed her sexual orientation. 

Long before Jimmy Fallon, way before Jay Leno, before Johnny Carson, or Jack Paar .. NBC's Tonight Show was hosted by its co-creator Steve Allen. 

In the fall of 1954, the 32 year old comedian and entertainer became the host of televisions first-ever late night talk show. 

Largely thanks to Alan's intelligent humor, The Tonight Show became a hit.  

Steve Allen soon moved on to other Ventures, but was always widely popular and in-demand.

I first met him in early 1987, when he wrote a book he modestly called How To Be Funny.

A new nationally syndicated radio talk show is debuting this week.

Its host is conservative commentator Dan Bongino, who was, for several years, a Secret Service agent who's assignments included the presidentia protective l detail.

After unsuccessful bids for US Senate and the US House, bongino turned to writing books .. and radio.

I met him in the fall of 2013, after he wrote a book called Life Insde the Bubble.

Is there any man, woman, or child in America -- or anywhere around the world, for that matter -- who does not know Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, and Snoopy? 

Those, and the other characters created by Charles Schulz more than0 years ago are among the most popular icons in American art. 

He is widely considered one of America's greatest cartoonists of all time, and the roster of other famous cartoonist who say they were inspired by Charles Schulz is a long one. 

I was offered the chance to interview hin in 1989 after a book about him by author Rheta Johnson was published -- she called it "Good Grief." 

George Shulz served in various positions under three U.S. presidents -- in fact Shultz held four different cabinet-level posts over the years.

An economist by training,  Shultz came to Washington as Richard Nixon's first Labor Secretary.  He became Director of the Office of Management and Budget a year later, and a year after that Nixon appointed him Treasury Secretary.

Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980. and in 1982 chose Shultz as his Secretary of State. Shultz became a key shaper of foreign policy during  the Reagan's administration. 

I met him in the spring of 1993, when he wrote a long memoir of his years at the State Department.

So here now, from 1993, George Shultz.

When three guys from San Francisco started Starbucks 50 years ago, in 1971, they probably had little idea of what the future would bring for their little coffee bean business.

By 1986 there were still only six Starbucks locations.  But in 1987, they sold the company to Howard Schultz. And under his leadershipp, Starbucks grew to 46 stores by 1989, and in1992 the company went public,

Howard Schultz was CEO of Starbucks from 1986 to 2000, and again from 2008 to 2017. 

In 1997, Schultz wrote a book called "Pour Your Heart Into It," and that's when I met him.

She was born into what would become one of America's most famous music families. 

La Toya Jackson is the fifth, and middle, child in the Jackson family.  Lss well-known than the Jackson Five or little brother Michael, La Toya carved out her own place in pop culture, as a singer and songwriter.

But little by little America learned about the private side of the Jackson family, the side the fan magazines didn't want to write about.  It was a a story of domestic abuse. 

I met La Toya in 1992, after her bestselling memoir "La Toya" was published. 

He was a farm boy from Hamlin, West Virginia.  Chuck Yeager join the Army at the outset of World War II, Have it wasn't long before he became a fighter pilot.

Two years after the war ended, in 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first test ilot to break the sound barrier.

He rose through the ranks to become a general, before retiring.

By the time I met him in the fall of 1988, Yeager was still finding new adventures. He and his longtime friend Bud Anderson co-wrote a book about their adventures hiking in the High Sierras.