E-mail a friendJanet Reno
airdate October 10, 2007
Janet Reno was the first woman to serve as U.S. attorney general and held the office longer than anyone since the Eisenhower administration. After leaving the post, she returned to her native Florida and waged an unsuccessful battle for governor. Reno was one of only 16 women in a class of more than 500 students at Harvard Law School and went on to serve as Florida State Attorney. She recently exec-produced a three-CD, 50-song compilation, "Song of America"—a project she calls a history book.
Former attorney general explains how "Song of America" came to be. (2:27)
Janet Reno
Tavis: In 1993, Janet Reno became the first woman ever to serve as U.S. attorney general, serving eight years under President Bill Clinton. I don't know of many former high-ranking government officials who've gone on to become record producers, but that's exactly what Janet Reno has done. She's behind the new collection of music that traces American history called "Song of America," and she joins us tonight from Miami. Madame A.G., nice to have you on the program.
Janet Reno: Thank you, it's nice to be here.
Tavis: Can I start by asking a couple of questions that I'm sure some would like to know? First of all, since we don't see you much in the public spotlight these days, what are you spending your time on these days?
Reno: I've been spending my time on projects such as The Innocence Project, to make sure that we do everything we can to see that innocent people are not convicted, and that the system works as it should.
Tavis: Do you think the system is getting better in that regard? Because we keep reading stories every day that would suggest, certainly with DNA, that things are getting better. What's your take on whether or not we're getting better at that?
Reno: I think we're getting much better at it. The DNA testing has been a tremendously important tool for law enforcement to analyze what it has done and to make sure that we take steps to exonerate the person who has been wrongfully convicted and find out why they were wrongfully convicted in the first place, and institute reforms in the system that prevent it from happening again.
Tavis: You've been very courageous in dealing with it and moreover in talking about your battle with Parkinson's, and yet I get the sense, given that you look so well, that it's not stopping you. And I thought I read somewhere that you've taken up kayaking?
Reno: I took up kayaking when I was in Washington. It was a good way to get your mind off what was going on all around you. And I learned to kayak on the Potomac. I don't kayak as often as I used to, but I enjoy it tremendously.
Tavis: Let me ask, I'm sure, the question that people would love to get your take on, and that is what you make of all the scandal involving your former Department of Justice with regard to Mr. Gonzalez. Of course, he's now stepped down, but what's your take on that whole mess that we had to endure?
Reno: My take is that it's time that we institute the procedures that protected the Department of Justice from such situations as existed here. I had an occasion to go back to the Department of Justice two weeks ago to honor a man who has served his country for 60 years and continues to serve in the Department of Justice. It is people like this gentlemen, John Keany, (sp) who set an example for all of us in public service and public practice, and it is time we get those procedures back in place.
Tavis: Do you think irreparable damage has been done by this scandal, or can the Department of Justice get right-sided once again, no pun intended?
Reno: I think the Department of Justice can come out of this as it should, without politicization, without scandal. It's time that we come together, join together, and move forward in ensuring a department that hears from both sides, that conducts its business in the open so that people can appreciate what is going on.
I think openness in government is one of the critical needs, if we can do that consistent with classifying material that is necessary to be classified to prevent its use and abuse in intelligence-gathering efforts. But it is time we get back to making sure that we call things like we see it, and that we do the right thing based on the evidence and the law.
Tavis: Well, no one will ever accuse you of having not called them as you saw them. Before I jump to the CD here, I can assume, but I want to hear your take on this, as you look at Washington from Miami these days, you must not - I'm sure you appreciated your time there, but you must not miss it all that much.
Reno: I don't miss it. I miss the people. I miss the political and career appointees who worked countless hours on behalf of the American people, and as long as I live I will tell the American people when they criticize somebody for being a bureaucrat that these bureaucrats are really men and women who have given so much to their country, to the department, to the cause of justice, and they do us all proud.
Tavis: Mm. Let me go to the CD now, as I promised. As I joked at the top of the conversation, I don't know too many high-ranking government officials, let along A.G.s, who've gone on to be record producers. So tell me how "Song of America," with these various artists, came to be? Where'd the idea come from?
Reno: My niece and her husband were visiting me in Washington. Ed was playing two songs he had written or contributed to on his guitar. And as I listened, it was a history of America that he was talking about, and I said, "Ed, why don't you write the history of America in song, so that we can share it with schools and have music available that will teach young children the inspiration of music. It will give everybody an opportunity to go back and look over history, and to see what we can learn from this second review of history, but to do it in song."
And Ed took my challenge and ran with it. He has spent nine years, along with his colleagues, David Macius, Bob Olhsson, others, attracting young talent, new talent, and extraordinary talent to participate in this effort. We've developed three CDs, a package of three CDs that have 50 songs that tell the history of America in song.
Ed went to Dean Root at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Music History and worked with him and identified 700 possibilities. They had to winnow that down to 50 songs. (Laughter)
Tavis: That's a lot of winnowing.
Reno: It was a tremendous effort, but they've put together a beautiful package of those three CDs, along with liner notes that help construe it, and it is our hope that we can get this into the schools and enable children and others to appreciate the history of America in song.
Tavis: How did you get some of these big name artists, like John Mellencamp and the Blind Boys of Alabama and others to participate in the project?
Reno: I was so touched by that. The Blind Boys of Alabama got involved and they just went at it in such a wonderful way. It was so gratifying to see the result. John Mellencamp, when Ed approached him, John Mellencamp said, "Yes, it sounds like a good project," and it's exciting to see this response.
Tavis: I think I read somewhere, or somebody told me that you actually - true story, that you came to Los Angeles to try to recruit some of these artists at one of the award shows?
Reno: I went out for the Grammys to let people know what we were doing with it, and it was an interesting evening because people said, "What are you doing here?" (Laughter) And I would tell them and they'd look at me, amazed.
Tavis: I can imagine, Janet Reno at the Grammy awards. I'm sure you got asked that question a few times that night.
Reno: Yes.
Tavis: Have you always been a music lover?
Reno: I can't carry a tune, (laughter) but I enjoy music. But I, from a child, "Home on the Range" was one of my favorite songs. I like opera sometimes, and I really find that music is a wonderful, wonderful inspiration to help us live through some of the tough times. Because this music teaches kids that there can be tough times in a country, but we can get through it.
Rosie the Riveter can be an inspiration for young women who think they can't do something because women don't do something like that. Yet if we're going to tell the history of America, we've got to tell it accurately, and that includes the bad with the good. So there's "Dixie" in there, because that becomes a part of the history of America that we have got to deal with.
Tavis: Do you expect any controversy because of a song like "Dixie" in this project?
Reno: We didn't really expect it, because those people have told me, "I see that it is a history of all America." And if we start being selective and keeping things out because we think it will cause dissention, that ignores what history should be about. We should be using it as a tool to find out why things were done, to better understand the spirit and the feeling that people have when they hear the music that made America.
Tavis: Finally, I'd be remiss in not asking this question, particularly given what you said a moment ago about the inspiration that can be found in this CD on certain songs, particularly for young women. I started by reminding America, as we all know, that you were the first woman to ever be A.G. You worked for a guy named Bill Clinton, whose wife, Hillary, as you well know, is now trying to take his old job in the White House.
I'm not asking you to take sides or get political, but what do you make of the fact that we have a woman who's seriously running for the White House now?
Reno: I think it's wonderful.
Tavis: Spoken like Janet Reno. (Laughs) Spoken just like the A.G. she was. "I think it's wonderful." I'm going to leave that alone. Her new CD - she's a record producer now, the former A.G., called "Song of America," featuring various artists. Attorney General Reno, nice to have you on the program, and all the best to you.
Reno: Thank you so much, Tavis, it was great being with you.
Tavis: Glad to have you on.
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