The South Bender chronicling generations of Indiana politics
Behind the byline: Jack Colwell has covered Bobby Kennedy, Pete Buttigieg, and everyone in between.
Mentioned in this email: Pete Buttigieg, Mike Pence, Ethel Kennedy, Todd Young, Joe Donnelly—and more.
It will be remembered as one of the biggest scoops in the history of Indiana journalism.
On a gray and bleak day in December 1963, the South Bend Tribune headline would change a city forever:
The cub reporter who broke the story was on a brief leave from the Army, raring to make a name for himself: Jack Colwell.
Six decades later, Colwell, a native of Ottawa, Illinois, has covered every major politician in the state, not to mention 20 Democratic and Republican national conventions.
“Jack Colwell is the greatest single journalist in the history of the community and the newspaper,” said Jack Powers, former managing editor of the South Bend Tribune. “Surely many of his other colleagues would agree. He made us all look good. He still does.”
Colwell covered the early days of Pete Buttigieg, even earning mention in Buttigieg’s political memoir: “Jack…is gentle and disarming….he has a way of looking at you as if you are about to say something very interesting and important,” Buttigieg wrote in 2019’s Shortest Way Home, “which of course makes you want to oblige, rather than stick to your talking points.”
In an interview with IMPORTANTVILLE, Colwell reflects on a life in journalism, dishes about riding in the campaign car with the Kennedys, and predicts when Pete Buttigieg will next run for president.
How did you get into journalism?
It started when I was a junior in high school. I had a journalism class with a very great teacher. And he encouraged me to go into journalism. I had never thought about journalism until I took a course. And after that, I never thought about anything else.
How old were you when you got the Studebaker scoop?
That would’ve been Dec. 9, 1963. I had started at the Tribune at the very end of 1960. I actually was still in the Army. I had two weeks of vacation or leave time. So I was so anxious to get into a real job in journalism that I actually started during those two weeks of leave time.
And you got the scoop before anyone else—how?
It was, of course, good sources. And the difficult part of it was that none of the sources would be quoted by name. So it was a tough call. But the sources were very good. So I remember being called into the publishers office—that was Franklin Schurz—and he and Jack Powers, the managing editor, and I went over the sources for what we knew. And we all agreed: could be a tough call. But I knew we were right. Mr. Schurz turned to Powers and said, “Are you satisfied? We should go ahead with this.”
That was the middle of the morning. It was a p.m. paper at that time. I went out to my typewriter and got to work.
Do you remember what kind of typewriter?
I think it was a Royal.
[Here’s Colwell’s lede:]
“Studebaker Corp. will end 61 years of automotive production in South Bend and shift all auto assembly operations to the corporation’s Hamilton, Ont., plant in Canada.”
“An official announcement of the end of car production here has been scheduled on Tuesday morning in New York, But The Tribune learned this morning of the nature of the announcement.”
What were you feeling after you filed? I imagine it must have been a mix of both elation for having got the scoop, but also doom for what it meant for the town that you were covering.
It was a sad day. I mean, 6,000 or 7000 employees were still there—way down from what it had been before. Still, 7,000 people lost their jobs. That was terrible for the city.
What’s the most interesting storyline you’ve covered?
It was the 1968 Democratic presidential primary. Bobby Kennedy. [Former Indiana Gov.] Roger Branigin. [Former Minnesota Sen.] Eugene McCarthy. My God. Branigin didn’t come by so much, but it seemed like McCarthy and Kennedy were there every day.
I was privileged to ride with with McCarthy and also with many times with Kennedy in the same car. I always remember: It kind of was getting toward the end of the campaign. And I was in the car with with Kennedy, his wife, Ethel, and the driver. Just the only ones in the car. And they were going from St. Joe County over to LaPorte. I think somebody from the LaPorte paper or somebody else was gonna get in. So the car stopped. And I was prepared to jump out. Everything was fast paced.
And at that point, Ethel [Kennedy] leaned over and kissed me.
Kennedy said to me, “You've asked me many questions on our rides. Could I ask you one?” “Certainly,” I said. I (The Indianapolis Star wouldn’t even print stories about when Kennedy was coming to town.)
He said, “Could I ask what you think?”
And I told him very honestly, and I had no reason not to, I said, “you will win in this part of the state. You will win very big. McCarthy will come in second. And Branigin will be a poor third.”
And at that point, Ethel leaned over and kissed me.
You’ve been kissed by Ethel Kennedy.
A reporter doesn’t want to be kissed by the wife of a candidate. But I mean both of them were just elated.
And were you right?
Yeah.
Did you go to Dyngus Day with Kennedy that year? That must’ve been wild.
I did. I rode in the car with him also. That was the wildest reception I have ever seen for a candidate. Sen. Vance Hartke and I rode in the car with him there from the courthouse. As his speech there was ending, Kennedy’s aides rushed me and Hartke to the car, and we literally had to get on the floor of the car, because people were reaching out to touch Kennedy, fans to get an autograph. It was just dangerous.
Flash forward a few decades. On Dyngus Day in 2019, another Democratic presidential candidate you covered—Pete Buttigieg—also drew a crowd. How did it compare?
Nothing compares with Kennedys. I mean, Pete was popular. But it was just total adoration for Kennedy.
It’s hard to imagine the 2nd Congressional District receiving a Democrat like that today. Will a Democrat ever again represent the 2nd?
Well, I don't see any possibility for the rest of this decade.
Do you think Mishawaka’s Joe Donnelly might come back from the Vatican and run for governor or Senate in 2024?
No, I don't.
If you had to place a bet on the year that Pete Buttigieg next runs for president, what year would that be? And why?
My best guess would be in 2028.
Assuming that it’s going to be Biden in 2024, Pete’s time would come in ‘28. And I think he probably would run then. Because you can’t wait around for a long time for a potential chance when when it’s there. You better take it.
What do you remember about covering Buttigieg in the early days?
When he ran for state treasurer [in 2010], I didn't really know him. I saw him. I probably said hello or something.
When he ran for mayor, I got to know him quite well.
In all his years as mayor, he always spoke to my Notre Dame journalism class. Seven out of the eight years. The last year, 2019, I remember talking to him, and I said, "Pete, I understand you're gonna be pretty busy this year. I'm not going to ask you to talk to the class. And he said, “Thank you. Because I would’ve had to say no, and it would've broken my heart.”
What do you know about Pete that you feel like others nationally don’t?
I think a lot of people would have the perception—even some maybe in South Bend— that he’s anxious to have power and I don't think that is the motivating factor.
I think he wants the power not just to have the power—for personal glory or something. He likes to do things, solve problems. And I think that’s why he would want to be president.
You’ve stayed in journalism even as others ducked out for a different profession.
I had a lot of offers from people in politics to be a press secretary or various things. I never really wanted to do that. And there were some people that I admired.
Can you name names?
No.
Your career overlapped with the late Sen. Dick Lugar. What are your impressions of one of his former staffers, Republican Sen. Todd Young?
He clearly is in the [Former Indiana Republican Sen. Richard] Lugar mold. Very interested in foreign policy, and also willing to work in a bipartisan way. That is not the way a lot of Hoosier Republicans want things to work these days.
What is the next year you think a Democrat will be elected to statewide office in Indiana?
I don’t know. It’s gonna happen. Things are gonna swing back that way.
What do you think of Mike Pence’s presidential chances?
His main problem is that people in the Trump base will never forgive him for not simply throwing the election to Trump. I don’t see how he could win the nomination.
What do people on the coasts get wrong about Indiana?
They take Indiana for granted as part of the flyover country. And that is probably one of the reasons why Democrats are doing poorly, because the national Democrats don’t do a thing really to help Democrats in Indiana. If there’s going to be a comeback to a two-party system, then the national Democrats are going to have to get involved and help provide some financing. And Republicans neglect it, too: Except they just hit it hard to collect funds. I think the big problem is that it’s just kind of neglected by both parties.
