MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Imagine having a job interview over dinner with a big-shot media mogul and his movie star girlfriend, but you get sick, spend most of that dinner in and out of the bathroom, and later, you admit to the big-shot mogul you struggle with depression. Now, this is actually the beginning of a success story as told by Tom Johnson. He did land that job to become the president of CNN, and he helped lead the network's ascent in the 1990s. He's out now with a new memoir titled "Driven: A Life In Public Service And Journalism From LBJ To CNN." And I'll note that the book and this conversation do discuss thoughts of suicide.
Tom Johnson, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
TOM JOHNSON: Thank you. I'm delighted to be here with you.
KELLY: That job interview, I should clarify, was with Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, and the movie star that went on to become his wife, Jane Fonda. But just not - we already, from the subtitle of your book, gather that before you got to that dinner, you'd had roles as a top aide in LBJ's White House. You were the one who alerted him to reports on Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination...
JOHNSON: Yes.
KELLY: ...I read. Wow. You went on and became publisher of two major newspapers. Just briefly, what drew you to all this, to a career, a life in media and politics?
JOHNSON: I fell in love with journalism at a young age. I was able to get a job at age 14. At that point, labor laws in the state of Georgia permitted you to work below 16 at a grocery store or at a newspaper. I tried a grocery store, and sacking groceries was not exactly a career I thought was made for me. So I applied for and received a job as a sports stringer, bringing in high school sports scores.
KELLY: Favorite high school sport to cover?
JOHNSON: Almost always football.
KELLY: Yeah.
JOHNSON: And probably I had my first byline, which was important. They didn't give out bylines just easily. But I really did discover my profession, and along the way, discovered also the importance of public service.
KELLY: It also tracks - this memoir - I nodded to your battles with depression...
JOHNSON: Yes.
KELLY: ...And I want to dig in on that. Do you remember when, like, the first time, the first moment you thought, I may have something I need to address here?
JOHNSON: In my mid-30s, I was beginning to show some signs of it, and I just found myself as though I was moving into a darkness, that I wanted to withdraw from my normal activities. But I felt just down, and my whole life had been great achievements, tremendous success. And I was increasingly becoming almost to the point of considering taking my own life. My wife, Edwina, insisted that I see a psychiatrist, in that case, at UCLA. And I should tell you that the meds at that time were very different. Today, there's no doubt that depression is a treatable illness. There are new meds, new therapies that work. And I believe - and I've had a lot of work in the field - I really do believe that most people - maybe not all, but most people can get better if they get a very good professional to work with them. And sometimes it's trial and error to find a right med, and that was certainly my case.
KELLY: I'm so glad that you are in a better place. I'm sorry to hear of how dark some of those moments were. You write in the book about - from where you were clearly really struggling, not able to talk about it outside your immediate family. And then you came to know that friends of yours, William Styron...
JOHNSON: Yes.
KELLY: ...Art Buchwald...
JOHNSON: Yeah.
KELLY: ...Mike Wallace...
JOHNSON: Yes.
KELLY: ...Other big...
JOHNSON: Yeah.
KELLY: ...Names.
JOHNSON: Yeah.
KELLY: You not only could talk about it and compare notes, but y'all organized - you called it an evening with the blues brothers.
JOHNSON: The blues brothers - they named themselves that. And the audience was really almost all depression sufferers or family members. They named themselves the blues brothers, and they told their stories. And they also made it clear - as I want to do in this book - that again, new treatments that work. And I also discovered CNN was this exciting new career. And Ted Turner - I said, Ted, before you hire me, you need to know that I battle depression. He said, hell, Tom, let me tell you about me. Because Ted had battled it as well. And I think in the business world, it's sort of a stigma - really serious stigma that needs to be erased further. You can talk about a broken arm or a broken leg, but talking about a broken mind - which is what depression is - it's tough to do.
KELLY: Apply some of this to this moment. You're a news junkie, Tom Johnson.
JOHNSON: Oh, yeah.
KELLY: Self-described.
JOHNSON: Yeah.
KELLY: I feel like everyone I talk to is telling me, I need to check out from the news. I can't take it. It's too much. Whatever my politics, it's too much. It's an onslaught. How are you figuring out how to balance being a news junkie, following what's going on and mental health?
JOHNSON: I have a strong recommendation for you and for people like you and me. Do not become a workaholic, as I did. And the news profession is full of workaholics. We are so much in love with what we do. I mean, news junkies have very interesting days. They're usually quite informed about the issues of the time. But also, many of them are - as I was, and I think I may still be - driven. Driven to succeed. And journalism enabled me to get there.
KELLY: Yeah.
JOHNSON: And I must tell you, it remains despite all of the difficulties of today. Particularly, people who are trying to really take away the protections of our First Amendment and our ability to really speak out frankly and honestly about the conditions that we see.
KELLY: Would you want your old job back...
JOHNSON: Yes.
KELLY: ...In these strange times?
JOHNSON: I only want my job back when I see it really hitting the fan, news really hitting the fan. And then I just know that I could be doing a better job. I mean, I'm just confident with it.
KELLY: You like the challenge.
JOHNSON: But I don't call the now-president of CNN or people that have succeeded me unless they would like to know my thoughts on something. But it's really tough. And I've just devoted my life now to trying to help others - help people who have depression, help people who have mental health problems, help people who are alcoholics. I want my eighth inning and a ninth inning - if there is one - to be remembered not for my golf handicap, but remembered for what I can do and do it as quietly, as privately as I can do it.
KELLY: It's so interesting to hear you talk about you want your legacy to be, in part, helping people who fought some of the same battles you fought with mental health, for example, which is something you didn't even want to talk about publicly...
JOHNSON: I didn't want...
KELLY: ...For many years...
JOHNSON: ...Anybody to know.
KELLY: ...Of your career. And now here you are.
JOHNSON: Now - no. I didn't want anybody to know. My wife said, until you can talk about it, you'll never be free. I mean, you would just be constantly telling people, I don't feel very good today, or I can't come to work today, or change my calendar so I can take a nap under my desk if necessary. I'm convinced there are people out there that need somebody to help pull them out of the ditch.
KELLY: Yeah.
JOHNSON: But I have this sense when I do something, something good seems to happen in the lives of the people I'm helping too that makes me feel, you know, that's important. That's more important than any title you've ever had.
KELLY: Tom Johnson, it's been a pleasure speaking with you.
JOHNSON: Thank you. It's been a pleasure being with you.
KELLY: His new memoir is titled "Driven: A Life In Public Service And Journalism From LBJ To CNN" is out now. And if you or someone you know is in crisis, you can call or text 988 to reach the suicide and crisis lifeline.
(SOUNDBITE OF MENAHAN STREET BAND'S "TIRED OF FIGHTING") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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