YouSaid · the spoken record

Chris Dodd

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2018-11-26

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2018-11-26

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1. “But it did, but it was always difficult going through it, making good choices and good decisions. Rosa Doloro, the congresswoman from Connecticut today, after 24 years, was my campaign manager in that race, as she was in the coming races. She was my chief of staff. I brought her to Washington. She was one of, I think, one or two women who were actually chiefs of staff in Senate offices. There were no women in the Senate. Barbara McCulsky came a few years later along the way. So it was overwhelming in a sense. I was the most junior member of the place in the minority. And it leaves you kind of sitting back, put it mildly. But also there are opportunities. Some of the most productive years in many ways, not because I authored major legislation, but I was able to get a lot done because you don't have the kind of overbearing committee chairman who want to make sure everybody toes the line. Right.”

   2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

2. “Well, I mean, being flooded with resumes because you had the President Carter lost as well, so you had the White House staff, and as you point out, a lot of people from the Democratic side of the aisle lost their seats, and so had literally an overwhelming amount of people applying for jobs. The first time I remember the first memory.”

   2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

3. “I did, actually, I did better following two elections than I did in the easier election, arguably, in the 70 Watergate class. My numbers went up about eight or ten points in each race in 76 and 78 So I was paying attention to that. I had no idea that Abe Rivikov was going to retire in 1999.”

   2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

4. “Some things I'm very proud of. I was very involved in the leadership race. I was one of the co-managers of Dick Bowling's campaign to become the majority leader, one of the most contested races between Jim Wright, Phil Burton, and Dick Bowling, was put on the rules committee by Speaker O'Neill in my second term, which was almost unheard of in those days, part of his inner cabinet, the Speaker's cabinet as the rules committee is involved. I was paying attention to my district. They'd had a very popular Republican congressman for a number of years I've mentioned earlier to you, Bob Steele. And so getting back home and were you concerned about...”

   2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

5. “Well, first of all, you're junior. I'm sitting in the very back of the row, so in the house, it's awfully hard to make a mark in that sense legislatively along the way.”

   2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

6. “With her, I've known her. She and my sister were roommates in college. Oh, is that right? I've known Nancy since she was 18 years old. First of all, she's an awesome supporter of Democrats. I don't know if anyone that's come remotely close to raising the kind of resources that a lot of struggling, particularly women, to struggle raising money. They never would have been able to raise anywhere near the finances to run. And she represents a modest view of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. And so I understand people in other places who are facing huge uphill battles given the registration levels in their states. But first, I believe, Nancy, if Democrats win tomorrow, the House, I have no doubt in my mind that she'll be chosen elected as the Speaker of the House. And that would be by an overwhelming majority of Democrats who will support her.”

   2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

7. “Well, it seems pretty focused on Nancy. Maybe there's other, I'm not following each of these races whether or not they're talking about the fact that she's.”

   2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

8. “Well, you have here, I mentioned to you we had education as an experience as a difference, and this time around it's gender. You've got 272 women running for Congress, 215 people running of color are running, nothing like that. So you have gender, you have age, you have education and race. Those are huge changes. So whatever else happens tomorrow, that much is true. You're going to have a very different look to the Congress. When we were elected, one of the first things we did in 1975 was go after committee chairman who'd been around a long time. Many of them actually were progressives in their day. And by 1975, they'd been there for 30 years or so. And so their politics looked different than it did in 1940s when they had first run as progressives in their own time and era. In a sense, you're getting that today as well. The changes that are occurring are reflecting the”

   2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

9. “But what will happen to change was phenomenal. Most of us who elected that year had never served in public life. We're well educated. That is, prior to, I say, an earlier generation that didn't have those opportunities. We were activists. Toby Moffat, my colleague from Connecticut, worked for Ralph Nader. There's a long list of people who have been, they're political upbringing was through activism, anti-war movements, civil rights movement coming up. So it was more than just a numerical shift. It was a group thatse political teeth were cut in the anti-war movement and the civil rights movement, who were determined, again, to bring progressive politics to the House of Representatives. And there is a parallel.”

   2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

10. “Well, it's interesting you raised that, David, because I think, in a sense, while that was both numerical and there was a generational and educational shift in many ways. And we may not have the numerical switch, at least in those numbers. You'll know the answer to that question why people listen to this, but we're talking the day before the election.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

11. “But anyway, that was my slogan. The nomination process was in July of 1974, and an old cattle dairy barn, which was one of those meeting places in Thompson, Connecticut. And I won the nomination. And there was an opportunity for Doug to primary me. He had enough votes in those days the structure was, but decided against it pretty quickly. Of course, Richard Nixon resigned in August of that year, and 75 of us were elected in November. It's hard to even remember Monday events between August and November that year. It was such an overwhelming year.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

12. “Senator from Colorado. Great am I. Terrific friend. And his father became a great friend as well. We ran against each other, three of us. There were 60 towns in eastern Connecticut, the second congressional district. We actually debated 60 times in every town. On some evenings, the three of us outnumbered the audience by two in a Grange Hall or an old town hall. Had a bad slogan, but I knew so little at the time it was a good thing I was a listener, not a talker, I suppose. Anyway.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

13. “Oh, in fact, he was one of the four or five people that orchestrated Jack Kennedy's presidential race and state party chairman in Connecticut even in those days, 1974. And who's the third? And Doug Bennett, Michael Bennett's father?”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

14. “No, it had interesting. I got into a little late, got into the race in April, I think it was around March or April of 1974. I really had a lot of reluctance about doing it. I just started with a law firm in Connecticut. And probably wouldn't have run. There was a Republican member of Congress from the district, Bob Steele, who could have served the next 50 years in that district. He was very well liked, decided to run for governor that year against Ala Grasso. And in 1974, Elagrasso became the first woman elected in her own right as a governor in the United States. Bob Steele lost to her overwhelmingly. So the fact that he was going to run and leave this seat opened it up. And I got involved in it. John M. Bailey Jr., my good friend Jack Bailey, who I know all my life, was a candidate. And Doug Bennett, Michael Bennett.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

15. “Well, I'll never forget, David, very shortly before he died, he died in May of 1971. And I remember sitting in the house, and I can tell you the reporter's name, Sue Nichols of the New Haven Register, who was interviewing my father. And one of the questions she asked towards the end of the interview was, had you known at the outset in 1933, when you began a public life that your career might end on this note, would you do it again? Whenever I was reading, I put down, I thought, that's an interesting question. I wonder how I'll answer that. And I'll never forget how quickly this, I do it again in a minute. He said, there's no other calling in life where you can make as much of a difference or as many people as you can through public service. And I thought to myself, that's pretty good. This guy has every reason to be bitter and angry about what's happened to him. And he looks back without hesitation and says he'd do it again in a minute. That was enough of an inspiration, and I've never forgotten the conversation, never forgotten the name.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

16. “Well, you know, we used to tease at home. He would say that with some frequency after many years earlier, in fact. But no, I think he was really, this was a devastating blow to him, had this very distinguished career made significant contributions and have it come to this was very, very painful.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

17. “I did a one set of primaries early on and again it was a tough experience to go home having lost in a primary in Stanford. One of the cities, it wasn't the whole race. I started law school. That summer and then started shortly thereafter in the National Guard, the U.S. Reserve's Army Reserves.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

18. “Well, I think he personally felt offended by the charges. He thought he was right that it wasn't that the accusations were incorrect, and he wanted to be able to clear the record, I suppose, more than anything else and felt he had to do that the best way he could do that is by seeking re-election.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

19. “No, it was ironically the things he was censured for were actually legal at the time. They no longer are in the question and made a defense converting campaign.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

20. “It was very, very rough on them and painful, having dedicated his life to public service pretty much since the time he finished college. And at this point in his early 60s, and it was hard.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

21. “Ultimately, my parents both died very quickly thereafter. My father six months after the last election, my mother about a year later.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

22. “Was and it was probably from a personal standpoint better off. My siblings had a much rougher time being here every day when the stories would appear.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

23. “It was so little interest when I joined the Senate in 1981. There was very little interest in Latin America. People were concerned with obvious reason the Soviet Union arms control issues. But my experience in Latin America, when I left the Peace Corps, I hitchhiked all through South America for coming back. And interestingly, my family, my brother Tom was the ambassador ultimately in Costa Rica and Uruguay, taught Latin American diplomatic history at Georgetown. Two of my sisters actually studied Mexico. One of my brothers did. My mother learned to speak Spanish as an adult. Not because we all thought about it necessarily, but just from coincidence standpoints, we all became involved.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

24. “It was 1965 when I put the application in. It was June of 66. Often do with the Peace Corps and the Dominican Republic. It's gone for over two years, two and a half years. It was a life altering experience for me.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

25. “Well, it was sort of amusing. I took some teasing and ribbing by my friends. Not much of it. Obviously, it was a fun line, and it was repeated to me quite frequently.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

26. “Were guns and butter Democrats, he was a Franklin Roosevelt Democrat and a product of the World War II generation to some extent. But you're absolutely correct. He was a strong supporter. He believed we were doing the right thing.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

27. “Was one of the floor leaders on the civil rights bills Hubert Humphrey was the leader of the Democratic side and Dirks and the other, but there were a handful of people who were actually floor leaders, took great pride in the fact he was involved in that.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

28. “Largely because of my sister and what she went through and what a difference my mother made, particularly in her life. And so my siblings have all had very good and strong and healthy lives and are interested in public policy, are interested in politics, but I'm the only one that made a decision to jump in.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

29. “See your dad go down? No, not at all. I remember going to school the next day and everything was fine. I mean, just, I think, avoiding us, making us feel like we were sort of deeply involved in the issues. And I'm one of six children, as you mentioned. I'm the only one that's ever run for public office in my family. My oldest brother Tom is a professor and has been for 50 years at Georgetown. My sister Carolyn, who's been blind from birth, revived the Monosauri system of teaching, the American Montosaurus, taught Montessori schools inner city.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

30. “A little bit, yeah, not much, but my parents were pretty good about this. They didn't use this as political tools in a sense, as some do today. And so very much aware of it. I remember my father bringing me into my parents' bedroom the day before the election in 1956 and told me he was going to lose. But it was fine. They'd run a good campaign and life would move on. A little stunning to hear your father announce he's going to lose something. And we did. We finally moved on. And two years later, he ran and won the race. But we weren't dinner.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

31. “Only in 1959, after the 58 election. But in the house years my father, he would come down and do his work. In those days it was a much easier schedule in many ways. Members showed up on Tuesday or Thursday. There was a limited, by June they were pretty much gone with some exceptions. So it was not the kind of growth of business and requirement you be here almost on a full-time basis came later.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

32. “Well, from the time I was early on, yeah. In fact, even at Nuremberg, my father was at Nuremberg, there was an effort to try and recruit him to run for governor of Connecticut in 1940, I guess it would have been 1946, maybe 48. And I know he toyed with the idea of doing that. But in 1952 decided to run, and 56 lost, 58 won, and then had a great relationship with Prescott Bush as they served together for about four or five years until Prescott Bush left the Senate in 1962.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

33. “And every American president, regardless of party and ideology, have embraced those views without exception. Some more aggressively than others, but no one has suggested we walk away and that there's a choice between globalization and nationalism. Of course we want to have our country come first. Every country ought to think that way. That does not mean you reject the idea of building global relationships to serve your interests, if for no other reason, are selfish reasons. What greater way to be strong about defending ourselves than having partners and friends who will stand with us in critical moments?”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

34. “Well, again, I don't think we ought to be so rigid that we're unwilling to look at how can we make these institutions work better? Are they serving our interests well? Do they be modified in some ways? Sometimes we appear to be opposed to any kind of thoughtful approach or different approach. So I don't reject that idea at all. What I do reject the ideas that we take unilateral decisions to move away because we don't believe they serve our interest. And I would argue that the last 70 plus years, the United States has been successful for many reasons, not the least of which is because we built those international relationships. We had partners. It wasn't just us. In many instances, both economically, politically, militarily. The fact that we had relationships that had become deepened as a result of those institutions served our nation tremendously well.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

35. “And a few other people around President Truman and President Roosevelt believed that this was a nation of rule of laws. And we would need to establish that principle. I grew up learning a lot of what happened at Nuremberg, one of which was part of the opening lines of Justice Jackson, that four great nations stung with injury and flushed with victory, stayed the hand of vengeance by voluntarily submitting their captive enemies to the judgment of the rule of law, the greatest tribute that power ever paid to reason. And there were words like that that came out of Nuremberg gave us a lot of the moral authority as a country for things like the IMF, the World Bank, NATO, and so forth. Nuremberg had a great value. Aside from being the right thing to do under the rule of law, it gave us a legitimacy and a moral authority, which 70 years has served us very, very well.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

36. “Oh, the very top. And it was difficult here. There were people highly critical of the trial in the United States. The British under Churchill just thought we should line them up and shoot them all. Why would you give these thugs a trial? The Russians were more liberal. They thought we ought to give them a week-long trial and then shoot them all. And the French were sort of ambivalent about the whole thing. But the United States, to its great credit, in beginning with Franklin Roosevelt, of course, who died in April of 1945, and then Harry Truman following him.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

37. “Civil rights cases, me and my mother were escorted out of the state of Arkansas. Have we won a case there in the 1930s, late 1930s? Some labor cases in South Carolina. At an age 37, he was tapped to come over, go over to Nuremberg, along with Justice Jackson, just initially as an interrogator. But by the fall of 1945, he had become the executive trial counsel under Robert Jackson. For the next 15 months, Supreme Court justice. And for the next 15 months, they prosecuted the initial 21 defendants at Nuremberg, along with the Allied powers.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

38. “Well, he grew up in a family had lost a lot. His father had lost everything. My grandmother, his mother, my father's mother died at a very young age. My father was really raised primarily by three sisters, not an uncommon story many people have. And got himself through college and was the nighttime telephone operator at Yale Law School and graduated in 1933. Very excited. New deal came down. FBI, Justice Department.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

39. “And so appealing to people's worst instincts, particularly when they have legitimate complaints. I mean, a substantial part of the crowd out there that's showing up in these rallies are not bad people. And they've gone through a lot. Their jobs and so forth have disappeared. Automation, technology primarily. Their children are coming back home or not getting the work. Less than 50% today of people growing up in the United States think that their children will not be as well off as they are. Give you an idea, 1940 was 90%. People thought their children would be better off than they were. So I'm not suggesting they're right in all of this, but I understand it to some degree. When you have come along in political leadership appeals to people's anxieties and frustrations and fears, then it can work, at least in the short term. I don't believe it has any currency in the longer term at all. But a moment's like this, it can have a certain amount of appeal, which is dangerous.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

40. “Elections Well, fear is always in the short term, fear will win. I mean, unfortunately, that's the case. I'm not predicting. In this election, that'll be the case, but it's an easier emotion to arouse. The easiest, historically, this is not just unique to us, obviously, going back in time. Someone once said any jackass can kick the barn door down, takes an architect to build one. Sam Rabber.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

41. “You bet. Some of the best Americans facetiously, and I'm saying this now as a joke, but I used to teasingly say that after five generations, we ought to require that people leave because the ones who've just been here just arrived seem to understand this great place called America and the opportunities it provides. How many great stories we've heard about people who've gotten in here, just arrived, and turned their lives around, make huge contributions to the country And how many times we talk to people who have been here for generations and seem to appreciate the country less?”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

42. “Well, she understood the value. It's a lot of those immigrants did. One of the reasons they came was better opportunities, and her grandchildren, my mother, made in Latin, Greek, and college. So in the space of a generation and a half, despite coming and couldn't read or write their own names, set up and teed up the ball pretty much pretty quickly for the next two generations going forward.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

43. “The famine years, most of them, 1840s, stone masons, I had a couple of great-great-grandparents who couldn't read or write. They were 15 and 16 years of age, had nine children, my grandfather, great-grandfather, was the number ninth. But that wonderful woman, she couldn't read or write, but she got herself elected to the school board in every village in Connecticut.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

44. “True. I'm fifth generation, all Irish. My sister married a wonderful Italian-American. She finally was expanding the gene pool, we said of the family, but very proud of our Irish heritage.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

45. “Best campaign I ever had run was the campaign you led the effort on. You say that to all the consultants. I say so to a lot of girls.”

    2018-11-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 289 — Chris Dodd · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source