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‘That’s Rufus’: Rufus Edmisten Reflects On His Career And The Politics Of Today

WUNC News | By Frank Stasio,
Amanda Magnus
Published May 23, 2019 at 12:08 PM EDT
After the Senate Watergate Committee hearings concluded Friday, August 3,1973 in Washington the reading of a statement by L. Patrick Gray III, former director of the FBI, Senators and counsel held a session. Rufus Edmisten is on the right.
After the Senate Watergate Committee hearings concluded Friday, August 3,1973 in Washington the reading of a statement by L. Patrick Gray III, former director of the FBI, Senators and counsel held a session. Rufus Edmisten is on the right.

Rufus Edmisten cut his teeth in the political world as counsel to former U.S. Sen. Samuel Ervin Jr. Ervin was the chairman of what is commonly known as the Watergate Committee, and Edmisten played a key role in that committee’s work as well. Frank Stasio talks to Rufus Edmisten about his memoir, his experience in the Watergate investigation and about how that scandal compares to the political climate of today.

He personally served the subpoena to President Richard Nixon for the Watergate tapes, which was the first-ever Congressional subpoena of a sitting president. Edmisten went on to to serve in North Carolina as attorney general and secretary of state. His new memoir “That’s Rufus: A Memoir of Tar Heel Politics, Watergate and Public Life” (McFarland and Company/2019) chronicles his political career.

Host Frank Stasio talks to Edmisten about the memoir, his experience in the Watergate investigation and about how that scandal compares to the political climate of today. Edmisten will be at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh on Thursday, May 30 at 6 p.m.

 

Copyright 2019 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
Amanda Magnus
Amanda Magnus grew up in Maryland and went to high school in Baltimore. She became interested in radio after an elective course in the NYU journalism department. She got her start at Sirius XM Satellite Radio, but she knew public radio was for her when she interned at WNYC. She later moved to Madison, where she worked at Wisconsin Public Radio for six years. In her time there, she helped create an afternoon drive news magazine show, called Central Time. She also produced several series, including one on Native American life in Wisconsin. She spends her free time running, hiking, and roller skating. She also loves scary movies.
See stories by Amanda Magnus