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In recent months there seems to have been a certain mellowing in Spivak's manner, on the air and off, which is perhaps the result of a heart attack he suffered last year. He has added a nap to his daily schedule and withdrawn from the position of lead-off questioner on the show's panel, taking over the more detached role of moderator. Still, flashes of the old Spivak occur. To Edmund Muskie, fence-straddling on the challenge to McGovern's California delegates at the Democratic Convention: "Senator, why is it so hard for you to come to a conclusion?" To Gloria Steinem, lamenting women's inferior status: "What is your explanation for this serious state of affairs in view of the fact that males are virtually controlled and dominated by women from birth to puberty and often beyond that? Why haven't you done a better job, if you are as smart as you say you are?" To Clark MacGregor, expounding on the embarrassment a major contributor to the Nixon campaign would suffer if his role were disclosed: "What is he ashamed of?"
Racing Motors. Spivak still runs Meet the Press from a converted apartment in Washington's Sheraton-Park Hotel, one flight up from the living quarters he shares with Charlotte, his wife of 48 years; Son Jonathan is a Wall Street Journal reporter. The cluttered working space houses file cases in the bathtub, tapes of more than 1,200 MTP broadcasts, an avalanche of news clippings and a staff of six who labor under the pressures of weekly deadlines and Spivak's indefatigable dedication to the program. "He wakes up with his motors racing," says Spivak's key aide, Associate Producer Betty Dukert. "When he takes a vacation," observes a friend, "it's likely to be a Governors' Conference, so he can scout the crop while he 'relaxes.' "
The Spivaks limit outside social activity to major Washington gatherings, where steady streams of VIPs pay court to his influence. Otherwise, Spivak prefers to entertain Washington figures in his apartment, sizing them up over lunch or cocktails as potential TV guests. He and his wife are also members of a permanent floating poker group that includes Alice Roosevelt Longworth, who, until she kicked the habit two years ago, was the only person to defy Spivak's edict against smoking in his home.
Spivak sold Meet the Press to NBC in 1955, retaining his role as producer and permanent panelist at a salary of more than $75,000 a year. Although it is subject to the Sunday afternoon eccentricities of NBC'S pro football scheduling, the show is carried by more than 200 stations and reaches an audience ranging from 5,000,000 to 10 million, depending on the guest and the season. It consistently beats its CBS and ABC rivals in the ratings. Spivak is obviously determined to keep that lead. Last month's live satellite interview with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos—who had just established martial law in his own country—was another coup. "People are interested in the big stories," he says. "They are interested in big-name figures, and they are interested in cross-examination." As he goes into his second quarter-century, Spivak's ambition is to interview Chou Enlai. "For that one," says the man who hates traveling, "we would go to China."