Podcast
The NPR Politics Podcast
The episode highlighted the book as a tribute that explored both the public achievements and private kindness of the celebrated journalist, emphasizing how her legacy inspired generations of women. The author explained that the central message was to apply Cokie's everyday acts of generosity to listeners' own lives, encouraging them to ask "what would Cokie do?". The discussion conveyed a strong endorsement of the title as a source of inspiration and moral guidance.
Episode: Remembering NPR Political Reporter Cokie Roberts
The book explored both the public and private sides of Cokie Roberts, highlighting her professional achievements and personal acts of kindness, and conveyed the central message of asking "What would Cokie do?" in everyday life.
Steve is the author of Cokie, A Life Well Lived.
The earlier one is a story about how so many young women for a generation heard her on public radio or watched her on TV and said, I can be that smart. I can be that strong. I could be myself. And that was a marvelous legacy. But that was the public Cokie, the private Cokie, which Nina knew very well, was a woman who did something good for somebody else every single day of her life. And it was these private acts of friendship and charity and loyalty that in some ways, as I did the book, became even more important to me.
And for a very simple reason, not everybody can be a TV star or radio star like Cokie or Tamara or Nina, but everybody can be a good person and everybody can learn something from Cokie's private life that they can apply to their own.
And that's really the main message I wanted to convey in the book. I think a day doesn't go by that I don't think what would Cokie do?