Interview with Andrew Cline, February 23, 2017

Partial Transcript: This interview is for the Don Galloway Oral History Project.

Segment Synopsis: Cline grew up in North Carolina and worked there at a think tank before coming to Hooksett, New Hampshire for an editor's job at The Union Leader. He is now an independent writer.

Keywords: The Union Leader (Newspaper)

Subjects: Hooksett (N.H.); Newspaper editors

Partial Transcript: Can you tell us what your relationship was to Don Galloway?

Segment Synopsis: Cline talks about his relationship with Don Galloway. He never met Galloway in person, but worked with him. Galloway had responded to an advertisement by The Union Leader (where Cline was the editor) for local columnists. Galloway had been involved in libertarian politics and writing a piece before. Cline still remembers Galloway's hilarious email, with puns and dry humor that impressed him. Galloway got a regular column writing position in the newspaper, but didn't accept any payment for it (except for a free newspaper subscription). In his writing, Galloway expressed distrust of government and power, which appealed to the readers. His writing was humorous and independent - he didn't hesitate to mock either political party.

Keywords: Columnists; Libertarian politics; Libertarian writers; Newspaper columnists

Subjects: Editorials; Galloway, Don, 1937-2009; Humor; Libertarianism; Marx, Groucho, 1890-1977; Newspaper editors; Newspapers--Sections, columns, etc.; Politics and government

Partial Transcript: As far as your editorial policy at the time went, was he even further to the right than your editorial policy or was he just kind of right in with it?

Segment Synopsis: Cline talks about Don Galloway's writing. He thinks that it was libertarian, but Galloway did not have a conventional writing style. His writing was like a stream of consciousness filled with jokes and ideas that were not always clearly unified into a thesis or argument. He was serious, however, when he wrote about war and his daughter, who was in the army.

Keywords: Columnists; Newspaper columns

Subjects: Galloway, Don, 1937-2009; Humor; Libertarianism; Politics and government

Partial Transcript: In fact, when we emailed back and forth, he--this guy never talked about Hollywood...

Segment Synopsis: Cline talks about Galloway's personality. In their interactions, Cline noticed that Galloway never talked about Hollywood or his acting career. Galloway even made efforts to hide his celebrity background. He did not want publicity or recognition. He always talked about Hollywood in a disparaging manner and downplayed his past achievements. He mostly liked to talk about his family and children.

Keywords: Former celebrities; Television actors

Subjects: Celebrities; Galloway, Don, 1937-2009; Hollywood; Politicians

Partial Transcript: Did having his column impact your circulation statistics?

Segment Synopsis: Cline doesn't think having a particular columnist, such as Galloway, impacted newspaper circulation. But people liked Galloway's work and Cline rarely heard negative feedback about it. Galloway was witty and independent, something unusual in newspaper writing, so he was liked all around. Galloway declined the opportunity to have his work syndicated even though Cline and others thought that he had a unique voice that would be welcomed nationwide.

Keywords: Newspaper columnists; Syndication

Subjects: Editorials; Galloway, Don, 1937-2009; Newspapers

Partial Transcript: Who do you consider the outstanding political syndicated columnists today?

Segment Synopsis: Cline lists his favorite columnists, who he thinks are the best in the nation. Among them are George Will and Charles Krauthammer. He expresses his views regarding left wing columnists, who he doesn't consider as good as the ones on the right. He considers Don Galloway's writing to be of a very different style, more in the tradition of comic columnists. Galloway went into many tangents and provided numerous jokes in his writing. He had great comedic timing.

Keywords: Charles Krauthammer; George Will; Left-wing columnists; Newspaper columnists; Right-wing columnists

Subjects: Editorials; Galloway, Don, 1937-2009; Journalists; Newspapers

Partial Transcript: Do you know why he originally moved to New Hampshire?

Segment Synopsis: Cline talks about the possible reasons why Don Galloway might have moved to New Hampshire. Among the various reasons people move to that state is a particular political leaning. The state had been chosen as an experimental ground for a libertarian project. Though this happened after Galloway's arrival, the state had a reputation for being hospitable to people with right-wing views. People like Galloway would not be mocked in New Hampshire.

Keywords: Libertarian people; Libertarian states; New Hampshire politics

Subjects: Galloway, Don, 1937-2009; Libertarianism; New Hampshire; Politics and government

Partial Transcript: Do you know why--did he ever say why he left acting?

Segment Synopsis: Cline does not know why Galloway had left acting or why he left writing later on. Galloway had once joked in his column that he realized that one day that he was not good at acting anymore. He stopped writing when he left New Hampshire to settle in Reno, Nevada, for family reasons. Cline says that Galloway was an extremely private person and was probably concerned about standing out from the crowd as a former celebrity.

Keywords: Former actors; Kentucky actors; Privacy of actors

Subjects: Acting; Celebrities; Galloway, Don, 1937-2009; Television actors and actresses

Partial Transcript: But he did talk about his family quite a bit in our email exchanges.

Segment Synopsis: Galloway had two children from his first marriage and two from his second. He talked a lot about his children, always in fondness and admiration. He was much concerned about the Iraq War, in which his daughter was fighting. Cline thinks that Galloway's own perception of his highest achievement was to be a father.

Keywords: Parent-child relationships

Subjects: Families.; Galloway, Don, 1937-2009; Iraq War, 2003-2011; Parent

Partial Transcript: Um, are there other things I should have asked you or you'd like to add?

Segment Synopsis: Cline gives a brief description of Galloway's personality. Galloway distrusted power and celebrity status, both of which he spoke against in his columns. He thought that the average American people were capable of governing themselves and was alarmed when people started acting as more powerful than others. He was self-deprecating in his humor and did not want to be identified as an actor (but as a regular person).

Keywords: Government authority; Government power; Libertarian views

Subjects: Galloway, Don, 1937-2009; Libertarianism; Politics; Television actors and actresses