On Her Trail

My Mother, Nancy Dickerson, TV News' First Woman Star

By: John Dickerson

Narrated by: George Newbern

Before Barbara Walters, before Katie Couric, there was Nancy Dickerson. The first female member of the Washington TV news corps, Nancy was the only woman covering many of the most iconic events of the sixties. She was the first reporter to speak to President Kennedy after his inauguration and she was on the Mall with Martin Luther King Jr. during the march on Washington; she had dinner with LBJ the night after Kennedy was assassinated and got late-night calls from President Nixon. Ambitious, beautiful and smart, she dated senators and congressmen and got advice and accolades from Edward R. Murrow. She was one of President Johnson's favorite reporters, and he often greeted her on-camera with a familiar "Hello, Nancy." In the '60s Nancy and her husband Wyatt Dickerson were Washington's golden couple, and the capital's power brokers coveted invitations to swank dinners at their estate on the Potomac.

Growing up in the shadow of Nancy's fame, John Dickerson rarely saw his mother. This frank memoir -- part remembrance, part discovery -- describes a freewheeling childhood in which Nancy Dickerson was rarely around unless John was in trouble or she was throwing a party for the president and John was instructed to check the coats. By the time John was old enough to know what the news was, his mother was no longer in the national spotlight and he didn't see why she should be. He thought she was a liar and a phony. When he was fourteen, his parents divorced, and he moved in with his father.

As an adult, John found himself in Washington, a reporter covering her old beat. A long-delayed connection between mother and son began, only to be cut short by Nancy's death in 1997. In her journals, letters and yellowed newspaper clippings, John discovered the woman he never knew -- an icon in television history whose achievement was the result of her relentless determination to reinvent herself and excel. On Her Trail is a fascinating picture of the early days of television and of Washington society at its most high powered, and charts a son's honest and wry search for the mother he came to admire and love.

Great read!

An interesting look into a pioneer in broadcasting. Also a fascinating book regarding the parent child Relationship.

Good Story

This was a good story really about a son discovering who his Mother was and coming to appreciate her. It was fun to uncover her true identity through her son's eyes. It seems this is what many of us do as we grow up and mature--which is to come to see our parents for who they truly are. One finds they are much more than even what we imagined. Their flaws we come to understand better the more we can understand where they came from. The author was honest in his feelings and how he eventually followed her footsteps in his own career choice. He also came to make choices and live a life differently than he was raised. The narration was great too which added to the experience. I enjoyed this journey of discovery.

Smart, incisive, funny

Like everyone, I'm sad John Dickerson didn't read the audiobook, but he found a narrator who speaks with Dickerson's own cadence and who perfectly performs his wry sense of humor. This is a remarkable listen not just for that performance but for the brilliance of Dickerson's study of his complicated mother, a study that is historical and scholarly at the same time it's personal and emotional. It is remarkable to see so much talent in this mother-son duo, as much different as they are alike.

A great tribute to Nancy Dickerson

I loved this story. It was beautifully written. I lost my mom 6 years ago and love good stories written about relationships that people have with their parents. John Dickerson brought his moms life out beautifully. It was a wonderful tribune to the smart and talented Nancy Dickerson. She would have been very proud of the book. As she was of her talented son John. Loved it! Martha in Minnesota ❤️

Unique insight into a vital life wel lived

On election night 1960 I was in the Driskill Hotel, Austin, with LBJ when about 4 AM his election as Vice President was called. Very few had remained that very long night. I asked the Vice President Elect for his autograph on a small spiral notebook I carried in my shirt pocket. He used the broad point pen he always had for such signings, shook my hand, and said “Come on boys, let’s go have breakfast at the PK Grill across the street.” I turned to the one journalist there I instantly recognized as she was the only female newscaster on a national network and asked for her autograph on another page of that notebook. She wrote: “Nancy Hanschman, CBS News, Election Night, 1960.” With that memory I listened to this excellent and revealing story told by her son born years after that night now so long ago. The world is very different now. John’s candid memories flash jarringly across the decades. We have much to learn here.