Wooldridge interview [Begin Tape 2, Side 2] Warren: What do you mean a good sense of humor? Do you have any examples? Wooldridge: Well, not really, but just a delightful guy. Warren: I'm going to be interviewing him this fall. Any stories you know that I ought to probe from him? Wooldridge: Sure. Ask him about his first news broadcast. Warren: That happened here? Wooldridge: No, it happened-well, it might have happened here. I believe we did have a radio station then, but he tells me a story that on his first news broad-he left here and went with, I believe, the Richmond News Leader newspaper. They had a radio station, and I believe the news broadcaster for the evening news left town, got a promotion and went to New York or Washington or something, and they needed somebody to go over there, so they said to Roger, "We're going to send you over to the railroad station. You're going to do the evening news." So as Roger tells the story, and you get it from him, but as he tells the story, because I was not there, he said imagine his feelings when the station announcer said, "And now here's Roger News with the mud." I'll tell you one little story that did not happen here, but it has done me well in the years after that. When I was about ready to graduate, it was in 1951, I did not know what I was going to do for a living, and I noticed on the bulletin board that the FBI had changed their requirements. You no longer had to have a legal degree or be a CPA. If you had a bachelor's degree from a credited institution, you could become an FBI candidate. 36 So I wrote a letter down to the FBI office in Richmond, Virginia, and said to them that I saw this notice of revision, and I also said that prior to this, I had looked into it and the FBI required a person to be twenty-four years of age before they would accept you as a possible candidate for their employment. I said, ''I'm only twenty- two, so if that still exists, I will not come down for your examination, but if that has been waived also, then I would like to be considered.II I got back a postcard. I got back a form postcard that said, "Report to such and such an office on Saturday to so and so at such and such a time for examination." Well, I went in, and this examination was dealing predominantly with entrapment, as I recall. It was a written exam. While the exam was going on, they called you into a separate office one at a time for a private interview with the agent in charge. Well, my name beginning with "W," I was the last one called. I had finished the exam when they called me. And they called me, and the agent in charge started talking to me and I was answering his questions and everything. He inquired as to my date of birth, or he looked down on the sheet of paper, and he said, "You were born in 1929." I said, "That's correct." He said, "You're only twenty-two years old." I said, "That's correct." He said, "Well, we can't take you." He said, "Twenty-four is our minimum age." I said, "Well, sir," and I reached in and I got out the letter. I said, "I wrote this letter to you and stated my age." He called his secretary in and asked her to bring the file in. She brought the file in and there it was. He said, "What did you get from us?" I said, "This is the postcard I got from you." And he proceeded to chew his secretary out thoroughly in front of me, and that made an impression upon me. I 37 resolved never to chew anybody out in front of anybody else again. I think it was uncalled for and not good management. That was maybe not something that happened at Washington and Lee, but it taught me a lesson which I have never forgotten, obviously. Warren: Wow. That's a good lesson to learn. Wooldridge: I really do have to move along. Warren: I really do want to thank you. Wooldridge: Sure. Warren: I'm delighted my voice lasted as long as it did, and I just delighted that we got together. Wooldridge: Well, if I think of anything else, there are a few other things, I'm sure, somewhere in the background. Warren: I'll be around all week. Wooldridge: I remember in particular, I won't mention his name, but you can probably figure it out, I was a freshmen and I went across the hall and asked one of my fellow freshmen if he wanted to go down to the corner to get a Coke or something. I wanted to take a break from studying. He said, "I can't." I said, "Why not." He said, "It's Thursday night." I said, "What's that got to do with it?" He said, "I've got to fill out these reports." He had papers on his desk. I said, "Well, you can take a break." "No, I can't," he said, "I've got to do this." I said, "Okay. What kind of reports have you got?" He said, "Well, my father has turned over to me the management of these oil wells." He said, "I must have the report in his hand every Monday morning, and in order to do that, I have to fill them out on Thursday night and mail it on Friday. 38 Otherwise, they will not be in his hands by Monday morning." That was kind of an eye-opener for me. Warren: Were there many people like that here? Wooldridge: Oh, I don't know. I didn't pay much attention to that. I was sure that I was among the less advantaged of the kids that were here, but that never really entered into it. I'll never forget one of my fraternity brothers who was probably equally as poor as I was. He had a stutter habit, and how they ever put him with this fellow, I don't know, but they roomed him with one of the richest boys in the school. So we were sitting around one evening talking, and somebody said something. I was starting to work in the laundry. I guess I'd said something about shirts. He said, "Boy, y-y-you should s-s-ssee m-m-m-my-my roommate." He said, "Every d-d-d-day he puts on a n-n-n-new shirt. Not a c-c-c-clean one, but a new one." We'd been in school at that time three or four weeks, and this fellow had a new shirt every day. Warren: Oh, my gosh. Wooldridge: How do I get rid of this? Warren: Well, you say good night. Say "Good night, Gracie." Wooldridge: All right. Warren: Thanks. [End of interview] 39