SANDER'S STUDY

The son of an acclaimed television journalist recollects his father’s life in this combination of memoir and biography.

From his distinctive name to his commanding on-air presence as the leading political reporter for NBC News, Sander Vanocur was a ubiquitous figure who appeared on the TV screens of millions of Americans via his coverage of the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and the tumultuous 1960s presidential elections. This book, written by his son, a Peabody Award– winning TV journalist, recounts Sander’s exceptional life experiences, often masked behind a stoic demeanor. A natural raconteur, Chris Vanocur expertly blends his own childhood memories and interactions with his father in adulthood with a traditional biography of Sander’s accomplishments (complete with well-researched footnotes), striking an impressive balance between nostalgia and objective reporting. As such, readers are given a glimpse into the author’s admittedly privileged childhood, when he went to an elite private school with the children of presidents. His biology lab partner was Dan Rather. Details from Sander’s life also take center stage, including his reputation for bipartisan tenacity. Sander, for instance, was among the first journalists to publicly question President John F. Kennedy about the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, and he coined the term Irish Mafia to describe the Kennedy family’s inner circle. Sander also appeared on President Richard Nixon’s infamous “Enemies List.” The work draws heavily from the “avalanche of paperwork” discovered in Sander’s study following his 2019 death, which provided his son a rare glimpse into the private life of his often emotionally aloof father. Reproductions of letters and family photographs complement the author’s endeavor to provide an intimate look at his father’s life. The book’s final chapters on the author’s own accomplished career, while intriguing, are thematically disjointed from the rest of the book and are perhaps better suited as an independent volume. But at its best, when focused on the relationship between father and son, this work is a fitting tribute to an American luminary.

An engaging, if occasionally fragmented, account about a legendary TV reporter and his son.