An Heir for the Captain

Bill Moyers, late of the White House, was installed last week as publisher of the prosperous Long Island daily, Newsday (circ. 413,000), and heir presumptive to the owner and editor-in-chief, Captain Harry F. Guggenheim, 76. As befits such an occasion, the Captain threw a luncheon for 900 in Garden City that was a must for every New York politician from Governor Rockefeller and Senators Javits and Kennedy down to 20 of Nassau and Suffolk counties' senators and assemblymen.

The Captain reminisced over lunch. He recalled how, in the course of dealing with Johnson, he had come to like and admire Moyers. One day last August, Moyers phoned Guggenheim, who was lounging in his trunks on a Savannah beach, to give him a message from L.B.J. On the spur of the moment the Captain said, "Bill, everybody leaves the Government sooner or later. When you are ready to go, how about coming to work for Newsday?" To Guggenheim's surprise Moyers was willing, replying that he might quit "sooner rather than later." Thus, at 32, Moyers was on his way to becoming the Captain's principal aide at Newsday.

But can a man who has been one of President Johnson's closest advisers be the kind of impartial journalist needed to run the seventh largest daily in the nation? Moyers conceded that the question is pertinent, all the more so, since L.B.J. "not only gave me employment but his confidence." Would he support the President? "In the eyes of many people, I'll be damned if I do, damned if I don't." Had L.B.J. given him any special parting advice? Yes. "He said, 'I'll keep an eye on you, if you'll keep an eye on Bobby.' "

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