“It’s Beautiful,” Sam Donaldson, National News Correspondent , responded when he was asked about Missouri Western and its community. “It’s the people and the students that I met, you’re all bright, here to learn and smart. From what I can tell you have a great faculty, it’s a good combination. It has been made clear to me that you’ve got something here that’s important. And its worth supporting.”
Donaldson came to Missouri Western as part of the 14th annual Convocation on Critical Issues. Donaldson spoke to students, faculty and members of the community at three different events to make sure that everyone could hear his views on leadership and politics. He spoke to members of the community and Western supporters at the Convocation dinner on Monday night. Tuesday morning he meet with 25 students for breakfast, talking about issues affecting them and finally he spoke at the convocation, Tuesday, to Western faculty and students, area high schoolers and members of the St. Joseph community.
Donaldson’s focus for his speeches was on leadership and how to be a good leader.
“It’s like Potter Stewart, the late Supreme Court Justice said on another subject, you know it when you see it,” Donaldson said. “You know a leader when you see him or her, usually after the fact. We elect people or we choose to follow people.”
Donaldson also thought a good leader needs flexibility.
“A leader cannot simply say we’re following this course, ‘cause no course runs smooth, like true love, a leader must be flexible.”
Over his years as a news correspondant, Donaldson has had many events happen.
“I was five feet away from John Hinkley Jr. when he shot Ronald Reagan,” Donaldson said. “I knew it was gun fire, I’ve been around guns all my life, I knew he wouldn’t be shooting at me. We shoot our presidents, the British don’t shoot their prime ministers the French don’t shoot their presidents,we love to do that here.”
Donaldson said that this is one memory he’d prefer not to have.
“It’s a story that’s importants but its not fun watching people fall on the cement then learning later the presidents been shot,” Donaldson said. “I’ve done a ot of other stories, I’ve done a lot that I remember and think about that mattered to be but that was the most dramatic, I suppose outsde of covering the wars in Vietnam and the first Gulf War.
After 46 years of covering huge news stories around the country, Donaldson has many reasons to get out of bed each morning.
“My wife and dogs,” Donaldson jokes, “No, I love the business, it’s exciting. The dirty little secret that most of us have is if we had to and could afford it, we would pay them, rather than pay us. In my case I’ve been around the world eight times, I’ve seen things that were in the history books, done stories that were exciting and some that were so exciting but still interesting enough.”
Donaldson describes his carreer as having a two-fer. It is fun and exciting and he did something worth while.
Through out the two days Donaldson was here, he made it clear that he comes where he is invited.
“I use to crash parties but I don’t anymore,” Donaldson said. “If I can leave you with a thought or two that I’ve learned over the years, usually stolen, having original thoughts is very very difficult, I enjoy doing that.
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