Producer (18 page)

“I looked at the sound man who was standing next to me,” says Charles Bierbauer, “as we were hearing these words come out
of the president’s mouth. ‘Nice rhetoric,’ I said with sarcasm, ‘but that’s never going to happen.’ ”

Charles saw the rhetoric as a substitute for reality, the very thing that had torn apart the German nation. After all, he
had lived there for years and in his opinion, “It felt like Reagan’s plea to the Soviet leader was more like Kennedy saying,
‘
Ich bin ein Berliner
.’ That was rhetoric, too, and the irony was that Kennedy didn’t speak it correctly. The word ‘Berliner’ was also the name
of a dessert. When Kennedy left in the ‘ein,’ that made the actual translation something you would say in Germany when you
ordered a jelly donut.”

Later in his speech, President Reagan said:

As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon
the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner,
“This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.” Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it
cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.

He also called an end to the arms race, which was met with polite applause. In fact, there was no wild reaction one way or
the other until three years later, in September 1990, when former President Reagan returned to Berlin where he personally
took a few symbolic hammer swings at a remnant of the wall.

I happened to be in Malta at the time, doing a pre-advance for an upcoming summit and I wanted to see this historic moment
for myself. After all, I had been there when he gave the speech three years prior. I remember running around Malta, a somewhat
isolated island, searching for a way to watch CNN. I finally found one hotel with communications that were advanced enough
to pick up our network. As I watched the Berlin Wall fall, I remembered an inspiring motto that sat on President Reagan’s
desk in the Oval Office of the White House:

THERE IS NO LIMIT TO WHAT A MAN CAN DO

OR WHERE HE CAN GO

IF HE DOESN’T MIND WHO GETS THE CREDIT.

When I first saw it, I copied it down on a piece of paper that sat on
my
desk for a long time. It was also on my close friend Ali’s desk. Today, they sell this adage on plaques at the Reagan Library,
and as tough as it is, I do my best to live up to it every single day.

The lesson here is that the tearing down of the wall will always be seen as a defining moment in Cold War history. For me,
watching Reagan beseech Gorbachev to end the
boundaries between East and West Berlin was a moment I will never forget. But to this day, there is disagreement over how
much influence, if any, Reagan’s bold speech actually had. No one can say for sure who deserves the credit, but most people
are relieved that the wall is down, whoever caused it to happen.

As a producer, I am like a ghost person who stands in the background. All my decisions are made strategically for the good
of the network and the current situation. In the end, no one can take credit for anything because it takes a large group of
people, including mostly unsung heroes, to create a summit and to pull it off. Since I am not in a position where people credit
me for whatever success we are having, I have learned not to measure my self-esteem by somebody noticing my work. As a producer,
that isn’t going to happen. It’s an old story: When you make a mistake, you get called onto the mat and everyone tells you
about it. At CNN, we try to remember to credit the people who deserve it, but sometimes we get so caught up in what we’re
doing, we forget. That doesn’t mean that people are not appreciated, though. When times are chaotic and you do something wrong,
you’ll be called out. But when you do something right and you hear nothing from anyone, that just might be the highest compliment
of all.

A great irony is that after all the years I produced TV coverage for summits between the Soviet Union and the United States,
I had never met or even seen Mikhail Gorbachev in person. I was always in the control room when he was onstage, and by the
time it was over, he was gone. This was true in Malta, Geneva, and Reykjavik, as well as our other venues, because as much
as I wanted to meet the Soviet president and shake his hand, I was too busy doing my job.

It is doubly ironic, then, that I finally met Mikhail Gorbachev
years after I left my job as White House producer. Skip forward to when I was working with Larry. I thought that Mikhail Gorbachev
would be our dream guest, so I sent him a book about Russian and American art. The card said, “I covered all of your summits
and now, I’m producing
Larry King Live.
”

Maybe he got it and maybe he didn’t. But we eventually landed an interview with him on our show when he wrote a book he wanted
to promote. I suggested to Larry that we take him to dinner before the show to break the ice. We agreed to meet at a restaurant
called Duke Zeibert’s, a DC political hangout on Connecticut Avenue, and I was in awe as I stood at the escalator, waiting
for Mikhail Gorbachev to arrive. When I spotted his balding head and the telltale scar on his forehead at the bottom of the
escalator, I was stunned at my good fortune.

He and his interpreter began to ride up, and when they arrived at the top of the escalator, I put out my hand. “How do you
do, Mr. Gorbachev?” I said. “My name is Wendy Walker and I produced eleven US-Soviet summits for CNN from 1983 to 1993. And
this is the first time I’m meeting you in person.”

His eyes got wider and his smile became warmer. He looked like he felt that, just maybe, he was in good hands as I escorted
him to the table where Larry was already seated. As we ordered and engaged in some conversation, I couldn’t help but marvel
at the way things had worked out. During a decade of summits, I had been all over the world with the Soviet president, in
Geneva, Malta, Helsinki, Berlin, Reykjavik, and Moscow, and many more places. Now, after leaving the White House job and signing
on with Larry King, here I was, meeting and having dinner with Mikhail Gorbachev for the very first time.

When anyone asks me to name the biggest guest we ever had on the
Larry King Live
show, I always answer, “Mikhail
Gorbachev.” It meant so much to me personally because his appearance on our show represented so much history and so much effort
to get to that moment.

On a CNN live special at the funeral site of President Reagan, in June 2004, Larry hosted a final farewell to President Reagan.
Former president Mikhail Gorbachev spoke with Larry, through a translator, about his former friend and opponent:

GORBACHEV:
I’ve been thinking again about many things that happened in the past. It was the will of destiny that at the most difficult
time that the world was going through, when it seemed that only a miracle could stop the process of confrontation and of tension,
we were able together to stop it, and this was done, thanks to the fact that the US leadership, particularly the president
of the United States, President Reagan, and the Soviet leadership understood where the world was moving and how far the arms
race had gone.

I remembered, when I was there, the history between us. It is really unique. It all began when, after the first meeting in
Geneva, we even exchanged some bitter remarks. But in Geneva, two days were enough for us to begin to understand each other,
and we adopted a statement saying that nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. It was a difficult dialogue. I
do not want to be simplistic… But then trust emerged and it became easier to solve problems. And he turned out to be the person
[with] whom we were able to get along and then to become friends.

He was a person who had a big heart, a person who had his values, and a person for whom the wish to do something… to make
a difference, to support his friends, but in particular to support the mood of the entire nation, this was very, very typical
of him. I saw that, and I valued
those qualities of President Reagan. He was a wonderful man. He was an extraordinary person.

How amazing that after having such a close relationship with Reagan, Gorbachev would be talking to Larry during the funeral
coverage. I will never forget Gorbachev looking at Reagan’s coffin covered with an American flag at the rotunda in Washington.
Two enemies who had turned into profound friends. What a lesson! What a moment!

SHOULD YOU REALLY CARE WHO GETS THE CREDIT?

Even when no one gives you personal credit for what you did to make something a success, they know who you are. It always
comes out eventually, even if someone else claims credit for what you did. More times than I can count, I worked my butt off
on something and then someone took my ideas, put them in a memo, and claimed them. But the right people knew where the ideas
came from, and these days, so do I.

That is why I loved this lesson so much, and why I kept Reagan’s words on my desk in clear view.
I bet Reagan is right
, I thought to myself when I first saw it. People always find out who did the work. You just have to have a good attitude
and not worry about getting credit, because even if it looks different than you expected, the end product is where you can
derive your satisfaction.

I
t’s hard to believe that the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, occurred
nearly a decade ago. It still feels raw: the shock, the sorrow, and the disbelief as we watched thousands of innocent people
lose their lives in an instant. As I consider this tragedy that forever changed the way we view life in the United States
and the rest of the world, I see that those of us who lost loved ones can only feel grateful that we are here today, to speak
up for those who were silenced forever.

Granted, this was the worst collective disaster that Americans ever experienced firsthand on our native soil. But the heart
of the story is in the personal details, the smaller anecdotes of courage, compassion, and survival under fire that make this
historical event come alive in its agonies and its triumphs. It seems that it takes a tragedy to bring out certain enviable
human qualities. I’m talking about the kind of courage that makes us wonder, just before we drift off to sleep at night, what
we would have done, faced with a similar situation.
Would we have measured up? Would we have been as selfless as some of the unsung heroes who rose to the occasion and sacrificed
themselves to help others? How can we express our gratitude for still being here and being able to feel our sadness, give
our opinions, and grieve our losses?

These kinds of pivotal, earth-shattering events imprint on people’s minds so permanently, most of us remember exactly where
we were, what we said, and what we were doing at the time. The attacks on September 11 were just such events that profoundly
affected people all over the world. Whether or not we lost family and friends, no one was spared the emotional impact. Each
of us turned on our television sets to view the now all too familiar images of ash-laden people, the lucky ones, who looked
like ghosts, faces struck dumb in shock, stumbling away from a white cloud of destruction that seemed to be chasing them down
the street. For a brief moment, most everyone in the world was looking at the same live pictures and holding our breaths to
see what was coming next.

You had to be in a bubble not to know what was happening on September 11. This tragedy of epic proportions stunned the entire
world, including those of us who were reporting the news. I was on the West Coast, in bed, asleep, when I got a call from
Suzy. “Turn on the television right now,” was all she said.

I ran into my office, dropped into my chair, and stared at the images of one of the tallest buildings in the world, One World
Trade Center, on fire, spewing black smoke. At CNN Atlanta, anchor Carol Lin broke into a commercial at 8:49 a.m., EST, and
said:

This just in. You are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade Center, and we
have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. CNN Center
right now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling our sources and trying to figure out exactly what happened,
but clearly something relatively devastating is happening this morning there on the south end of the island of Manhattan.
That is, once again, a picture of one of the towers of the World Trade Center.

My stomach churning, numb with disbelief, I watched the second plane slam into the next World Trade Center building.
This is not an accident
, I told myself as thoughts of terrorism escalated. When the giant structures crumbled to dust right in front of our eyes
a short time later, my first thought was,
How many other planes are in the sky right now? Is it over or has it only just started?

Every network and cable station, national and international, had their cameras set on what we would come to call Ground Zero,
as we watched the planes slam into the building over and over again in a continuous tape loop, as if it were happening every
three to five minutes. I scanned the monitors, trying to spot anything else in the sky, when I saw my friend, Jim Miklaszewski,
Pentagon correspondent for NBC, come on the air. He started to give his report when a deafening crash sounded. Mik automatically
ducked down, as if to protect himself from an invisible blow.