The following is an original production of WTCI.

But don't not look at an opportunity if it comes your way and say I'll take that risk to do it.

We did.

We went to Washington.

Our parents thought we were nuts.

I think we thought we were nuts for a while because it was like a foreign country.

And when we went there back in you know, back in 1978.

For over 30 years, he has worked side by side with some of the most influential people in America.

This week I talk with journalist and political insider Tom Griscom for residents of Chattanooga.

Tom Griscom may be best known as the executive editor and publisher of their daily newspaper, The Times Free Press.

Before leaving the paper in 2010, he helped manage the merging of two fiercely competitive papers and in the process cemented his role as a trusted voice in the community.

His impact on Chattanooga culture most recently caught the attention of Governor Bill Haslam, who brought the retired journalist on board his transition team.

Though journalism has always been a passion for Tom, there is much more to his life story than what you'll find on the printed page.

So as illustrious and national as your career has been, you're really a homegrown boy.

Yeah.

Chattanooga's home.

We love Chattanooga.

When we left, it was a city trying sort of in somewhat decline, trying to figure out what does it want to be and would still be something.

But then to watch what how this community sort of came together.

I mean, we worked hard to get back here.

And you're a product of the public school system and you're proud of that.

That's correct.

So what was your first job out of college?

I went to work at the Free Press and it was it was a different time.

It's a very fascinating time to be in newspapers because there was real competition.

I mean, you wanted that story.

And that's not to say that doesn't exist today.

But when you've got somebody down the street from you that is a real competitor who's working the same, you know, contacts and sources that you are.

I mean, there's there was a real sense of accomplishment when you got that story first and you could sort of sit there and and sort of look at it and say, well, this is what it's all about.

When I went to work for Senator Baker in his reelection campaign in 1978, the day after he was reelected in Knoxville, we were standing in the Hyatt Regency Hotel and he asked me, what did I plan to do?

And at that point, I wasn't sure.

We did end up, as you know, going to Washington, and it opened up a whole new set of experiences.

But I told him that what I really want to do at some point is come back to Chattanooga to be the editor of the newspaper.

There's something about newspapers, if you've done it, that it gets in your blood.

And I think part of it was the sense of competition.

You can sit there every day and look at what you did with the story you wrote or whether it's in as being editor or a publisher with the whole thing comes out and you and you have that opportunity.

But so when Walter Russell, about the free press, I wrote this letter saying, you know who I am, but and I told a little bit about my background.

And that was a pivotal turning point for the papers.

I mean, not only did this merger happen, but here Hussman decides you're the man.

I mean, you're the guy who might have had the dream of being the editor and publisher one day, but essentially had gone the opposite way and professionally.

Right.

And I come in with these with these strikes against me.

Number one, I mean, I've been out of the journalism business for 20 years.

I've been involved in it on the other side.

So I had had a perspective of watching journalism evolve and not just print, but particularly TV as well.

Some radio, but a lot of TV from what I had been doing.

And second part was when you put these two cultures together here, you had a person coming back in who had worked for the Free Press.

And so, you know, I'm sure and I know there's this rip with some of the times people, you know, they brought in this free press person and rather than realize, No, what you brought in is somebody who's got a a career that they just created with things that they did a very varied background.

Because some of the things that we put in place, you know, came from the corporate world that I was in.

I mean, we put in a paper performance system in a newsroom, some basic management tools that you wouldn't find, you know, in many times in many newspapers, much less in a newsroom.

But but if you understand, you know, almost any place that you're only as good as the people that work for you and that they deserve good feedback, they deserve an understanding of where they're going and they deserve leadership, that those are tools.

Regardless of what you're doing, you ought to bring it.

So when you look back at your tenure at the Times Free Press, what are you most proud of?

I think the fact that we were able to put an imprint as to what a what the term free press is, meaning it wasn't just the free press or the times it was.

You had to take the best of both of those newspapers, put them together, but create something that really related to this community at this point in time under this new banner.

And the fact that I mean, basically what we put together was a paper that you were not going to find the content that was in the Times Free Press anyplace else.

It really was trying to be reflective of this community.

But knowing that you built that, was it hard to leave it harder to leave it than if you had just come into something that was already established?

No.

I mean, there comes a point There comes a point in life where you realize, I think I've done what I wanted to do and it's time to look for new challenges.

And I think that if somebody goes back and looks at the opportunities that you had that had been out there for us from a career and family, it was often, you know, having been in the right place at the right time where new opportunities opened up.

Those opportunities began in 1978 when he received a phone call from U.S.

Senator Howard Baker, who had taken an interest in the work that Tom had been doing on political campaigns in Chattanooga.

Joining Senator Baker's team as his press secretary, Tom began developing the relationship that would change his life and eventually give him the opportunity to work with the most powerful man in the world.

And you could have never anticipated taking on that role, making that detour professionally, that you would end up in the White House.

No.

I mean, it was.

Well.

Well, yes and no.

Let me be honest that because at the time I went to work for Senator Baker in 78 and I've told the story that that, you know, he was he was toying with the idea that he might run for president.

You know, people still remembered, you know, his question in Watergate, what the president know, when did he know it and and all this.

And so there was there was at least this undercurrent in media that, well, Senator Baker may run for president in 1980, which sort of floored me at the time, because he's going to do it.

Why would you hire this, you kno Free Press to go to work for you because you knew there had to be a ton of people in Washington, D.C. who would do this.

But so whatever reason, you know, I get I get the I guess I got the short straw.

But but we get so we get to Washington and he decides to run and it was very short lived.

The presidential campaign in 1980, which is one which President Reagan won.

But you know, so Senator Baker, Mr. Baker does go to the White House as the chief of staff.

What was it like being in the White House with Ronald Reagan as president?

I had never seen somebody who always would come in, even in the toughest of times.

And make you feel like you were the most important person in that room.

And you knew there were all these issues and things that he was dealing with.

The I'd describe him as like everybody's grandfather.

You get your your grandchild on the lap.

And then because your grandfather makes you feel good, then it gives you back to your parents who have to deal with you later.

And that Ronald Reagan made you feel good in the toughest of times.

And the one thing, Alison, that just sticks in my mind is the president would go into the Roosevelt Room, say, every other week and you'd have all these people who had asked for a tape for their event or whatever.

And so President Reagan would sit in this chair.

They'd have a camera in front of him.

They let him see the script.

He would look at one time and look, I'm ready.

They turned the camera also the head between 9 seconds.

It would hit 29 seconds right on the dot.

And it just sat there in utter amazement.

But he understood from his background, you know, okay, I've got this much time.

I got this many words so he'd know how fast to pace himself to fill that gap.

And it was extraordinary.

And that, to me, is an example of somebody who understood how to take words and use words and use them effectively with whatever the period of time was that he had.

Thom's level head and down to earth understanding of the political world gave him a unique perspective during his time in Washington, and it was his ability to trust his instincts and take chances that led to the delivery of one of Ronald Reagan's most memorable speeches.

When we worked on the on the the the speech at the Brandenburg Gate and got and I got to hear President Reagan four or five times where he ever went to Germany deliver the line.

And you could the very first time I heard it.

I knew there was no way that this shouldn't be in that speech because he's sitting in a chair like we're sitting here right now and he's reading the speech, looks at it, gets to it, and all of a sudden he sort of hits it the way that he would have hit it or did hit it.

When you stand in front of that audience, I mean, it was because he he had that sense of how to bring those words on piece of paper to life, even in just sitting down like we are here.

And so you knew that that that those lines had to survive about a new policy, if nothing more, because of the way that he would deliver it, that it would they would resonate over time, which as we see later they did.

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.

But for you, I would guess personally and professionally, that was that was the momentous occasion.

I mean, we talk about those words, but tear down that wall were the words that you had to approve and against some controversy and against others who are saying you are making the biggest mistake of your life and there's no way you're going to you're going to take us back decades if you let this happen.

What inside of you knew in your gut that these were the words he had to say and this was the time to say it?

Sitting in that Oval Office, that first time, hear him deliver it.

You knew right there, this, this.

He's this is what he's got to say.

It will reverberate.

And so when you have the secretary of state, George Shultz and others sitting there, you know, sort of saying, you're young man, you know, you don't know what you're doing and you're in Dubai and you're going to set you know, you're going to set back what we've tried for years and years and years.

I mean, that's a pretty daunting statement to be faced with.

It goes right.

I'm not a foreign policy person.

It's not my background.

I'm a communicator.

That's a skill.

And so a George Shultz, who I have the utmost respect for a great diplomat, you know, is a great American, but understanding how those words can be come together and really work and drive a message that to me was, you know, the sort of the reason that you stayed with and didn't let it go because the easy way out would have been to to use the State Department language, which was just sort of all this wandering stuff without much of a point to it.

But but the way that you get to it is you drive a point home if you think it works.

That's what a great communicator does.

How does being a great communicator, how did being a great communicator help you balance the the strenuous environment of the White House with the fact that you had a young wife, young kids, a family life at home, that you had to also pay attention to.

In that sense?

I mean, those are those are the tough tradeoffs, because before before the White House happened, I mean, I've been I've been work for Senator Baker.

I ran the Republican Senate campaign Committee.

So I was on the road about six months out of the year if you if you just add it all up.

And so now I was going to have just a what you would call a normal job again, where you might travel from time to time, but you're going to be home more.

And the White House thing opens up.

So I get to come home and say, well, boy, this this is kind of interesting.

And Senator Baker, to ask me to come in and do the transition for the White House staff and our oldest son at that point, you know, I learned later had gone to school, sat down with his with the guidance counselor there and was really concerned about this because all of a sudden his dad, who he thought was going to be home again, is going to be going again.

And and that's hard because there's there's opportunities.

And and I had told Senator Baker as we went as we were working through this, we got to a point that we were getting the whole staff put together.

And he looked at the chart one day and said, Where are you?

And I said, Well, I told you I would come in and do the transition for you, but I've got a job with Jody Powell.

And Senator Baker looked at me and he says, Young man, I wouldn't have done this without you decide you were going to do it, too.

And I said, Senator, no, no, no.

I said, You're the person that's here.

I'm the staff person.

And he said, Well, I'll tell you what I said, I'll walk you down the hall and I have the president of the United States ask you to stay if that's what it takes.

Is that what it took?

No.

And I said, Senator, you don't have to do that.

I will do this.

I'm here because of you.

And and and in retrospect, probably one of the dumbest decisions I would have made if I had just walked out after having set it up.

His experience in the world of politics eventually brought Tom back home to Chattanooga.

But before making his return to the newspaper, Tom changed paths once again, taking a job with the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, where he became the leader of operations during a tumultuous time for the company.

So how do you go from one double R to the next working with Ronald Reagan to R.J. Reynolds?

Well, you go there because you have it's all about friends and connections.

A good friend of mine in Washington who had who had been in the Reagan White House, he had gone to RJR Nabisco at the time of the merger.

And he knew that I was sort of, you know, sort of in a holding pattern, trying to figure out where I wanted to go and and so he reached out to me and I said, yes, I think I'm I think I'm ready to reengage and I'll go back to this notion of being able to build something.

When I went to Reynolds.

There were two things that were important to me.

One was, were they really serious about kids not smoking?

And we built a real program, both with a retail component, which is still there today, but also with a a piece that had advertising and things like this aimed at kids.

If some people go and look, there's some old sitcoms and the Saved by the Bell, things like this where you'll see these posters on the walls says right decisions right now.

Well, you know, we did do those kind of placement things and was a message about not smoking is not cool to do it.

So that was a piece.

And second was, if they were also serious about this product, they'd put out called Premier, which was a cigaret that was smokeless and you know, and it really dealt with a lot of the health related issues.

If they were serious about keeping that going.

I'd love to come in and be part of figuring out where that would go in the future.

Do you ever regret working there?

No.

No.

Knowing what we know now about Cigarets and the health effects.

Do you ever look back and think your message should have been different?

Your your direction should have changed?

But when I went in, I knew that about Cigarets already.

But no surprise.

I mean, I've spent the last two years at Reynolds as part of the tobacco settlement, which was it was addressing the very issues that you've asked me about and and and working with Philip morris at the time we sat down and and really addressed or tried to sort of deal with the, you know, the way that you talk about smoking health issues and, you know, and I mean, are there challenges?

Yeah, I mean, I think there's challenges.

Anything that you do and when you feel like you if you're still having an impact or trying to move the ball, you keep going.

But when you get to the point where you feel like I'm you know, I think I've sort of run this course this time to go and and and move on.

And so, no, I mean, I, I mean, I get up every day.

I can look in that mirror and say, Is there anything where I feel like I wasn't honest and gave way?

The one thing that I control and that's my own self respect, everybody controls that.

And the answer is no.

I still sit there because I never knowingly and throughout my career I've ever lied to somebody or told them something that was not that that I couldn't substantiate and feel was true.

From his hometown newsroom to the White House and beyond.

Tom Griscom has made sure not to lose sight of what really matters.

Remaining grounded with his passion for family and the little things in life, serving as constant reminders to keep things in perspective.

And when your kids and your grandkids ultimately or today, tell the story of your life and share that with future generations, what do you hope they say?

Well, I'll tell you what I think they'll say.

Then I'll tell you what I hope they say.

I think they'll say, Boy, sometime we can figure out what dad was doing, you know, because it was a you know, one day we're here, next day we were there.

And, you know, so he was in newspapers.

They got into politics and then he and but here's the point.

I think you really ought to take the opportunity to have varied experience.

And I'll go back to my point about learning.

I've been interested have been in, say, in journalism my whole career for 40 years and to watch the evolution and all that.

But I have to tell you, I'm more excited about what we, you know, the the various twists and turns that we we took.

It goes out of it.

We have looked at communication in every facet.

I think it's great to have had a number of experiences because you get you can move in and out and you learn different things and you build as you go.

So what I hope after they say, we can figure out sometimes what drives them to do that.

What they really say is, you know, it was interesting because what it really opened up was new opportunities, new things to think about and look at and probably things that were challenged and got you out of a comfort zone.

And even if you made a choice that wasn't the best choice, you can still work your way through it because something else came by.

So for a man who never stopped seeking opportunities to listen, learn and embrace new challenges, where is the place that Tom Griscom goes to get away from it all?

It is here in his library at home that he allows himself the chance to rest, relax and reflect.

When you've had a rough day or you're stressed out and you walk into this room, what's the one item that you'll maybe look at or that helps you reminisce about the time that brings you to a happy place?

Well, there's there's a couple of them.

The first thing is I love to read, and so you can sit down here in a chair and just sort of collapse and let your mind wander and get into a book for a period of time.

You can do that or you can sit here and I mean, it's sort of you can just sort of if you've seen here, look at bits and pieces of your life.

I mean, there's a baseball that my dad gave to me, signed by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig when they came to Chattanooga.

I love baseball.

And so I can sit here and you know, look at some of those, you know, memorabilia that I've got.

I've got little stadiums here, you know, that you can sort of sit like I was sitting in this chair or, you know what you're like to go out and and shag a fly here or there.

But probably most of it, I would say, is there are pictures in here of our children growing up and experiences that they had.

We had as a family where they had individually from pictures with Smokey in the Neyland Stadium in Knoxville to your pictures with, you know, with a Ronald Reagan to any host of things.

So you can just you can just sort of step back and say, you know, when things are that tough, there's a lot of great memories.

And just let yourself sort of step back a bit and find your find your happy spot again and and say, okay, let's let's get going.