Scoop Jackson’s Legacy: Not What You’d Think
By SusanUnPC on August 1, 2007 at 4:11 PM in Current Affairs
By SusanUnPC … Say what? John McCain enlisted Scoop Jackson’s 12-year-old son to spy on the Chinese? These days, young students of politics most often, and rather derisively, refer to former Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson (D-Wash.) as the influential mentor to Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Elliott Abrams, Charles Horner, Douglas Feith, and Ben Wattenberg. Sen. Jackson, who after his late marriage at age 49 continued to live for many years in his family home with his unmarried sisters, had two children, a boy and a girl. Today, that son Peter, now a speechwriter for Democrats, reveals his story of his trip to China, at age 12, along with John McCain. (PHOTO: Pete Jackson left, John McCain right. Woman unidentified.)
My brief career as a spy with John McCain in China
The senator and presidential candidate comes to Seattle for a fundraiser, prompting barstool memories of the time when an Everett, Wash., kid met up with McCain in 1979 in the Gobi Desert. …
It’s a great yarn. Peter Jackson is clearly a talented writer with a great memory.
His father died suddenly at age 71 in 1983. Longtime Washingtonians like me were in awe of both Jackson and Sen. Warren Magnuson, who served this state well:
Jackson served almost his entire Senate tenure concurrently with his good friend and Democratic colleague Warren G. Magnuson. “Scoop” and “Maggie” – as they affectionately called each other – were one of the most effective delegations in the history of the United States Senate in terms of “bringing home the bacon” for their home state. Washington State received nearly one sixth of public works appropriations, even though it ranked 23rd in population.
I doubt that Sen. Jackson could have anticipated he’d fathered such an irreverent, creative son. I do so wonder what Scoop would think of Pete’s revelations today. It’d be no fun to quote from Pete Jackson’s piece, so you’ll want to read it in full.
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Of Note: This article is published in today’s edition of Crosscut, a new journalistic venture that features news from around the Northwest and Western Canada. I’ve quickly come to rely on Crosscut — through its daily newsletter — for its presentation of news stories from newspapers I’d never otherwise have time to check out, and for its original reporting, like today’s story by Pete Jackson.
Jackson’s other recent article is “The Pacifist Northwest: We’re the nation’s volunteer factory“:
Washington and Oregon colleges and universities lead the nation in supplying Peace Corps volunteers, with the University of Washington No. 1. With that and other factors in mind, it’s time for the congressional delegations to work to get the planned U.S. Public Service Academy sited here. … Read all.
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