Political cartoonist Pat Oliphant chides Anderson’s 1972 journalistic gaffe, the unsubstantiated accusations of Missouri Senator Thomas Eagleton’s drunk driving (a story that Anderson retracted with a personal apology).
Special Collections, Gelman Library

A sheet of Anderson doodles, circa 1985.
Special Collections, Gelman Library

Cartoons As an unexpected (and amusing) counterpoint to his decades of expository muckraking, Jack Anderson took an active interest in cartoons during the later part of his career. Anderson worked with a variety of illustrators to develop a number of characters for both political and youth-oriented features; he scripted the syndicated cartoon Kilroy is Back with illustrator Doug Cohn.

Anderson's shorthand notes notes on ABSCAM, a United States FBI sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that targeted stolen property trafficking and public corruption, circa 1983.
Special Collections, Gelman Library

Shorthand A dying art today, Jack Anderson relied on his shorthand to quickly transcribe conversations and interviews into usable notes. A skill he first developed at the Salt Lake City Tribune, it is a modified version of standard Gregg shorthand, peppered with proper nouns for easy reference.

Press kit promotional picture for Jack Anderson Confidential, 1981.
Special Collections, Gelman Library

Beyond the Page As Anderson’s fame grew in the early 1970’s, he explored numerous media outlets, adding millions of additional viewers and listeners to his readership. These experiments transformed Anderson from a household name to an instantly-recognizable public figure.

• He was a featured commentator on ABC’s Good Morning America for nine years.
• His self-produced TV show Truth featured public figures interviewed while hooked up to a polygraph machine (a “lie detector”). Anderson cited the show as a personal favorite, but its potentially revealing format scared off would-be guests.

Other TV shows and appearances:

• Jack Anderson Confidential on ABC
• Insiders with Jack Anderson on FNN (Financial News Network)
• Inside Edition as special investigative correspondent

TV Documentaries:

• American Expose: Who Murdered JFK? (1988)
• Target: USA! (1989)
• Investigative Reports: Jack Anderson and the Howard Hughes Double (1994)
• Investigative Reports: Jack Anderson: JFK, The Mob And Me (1994)

Radio show:

• Watch on Washington

Index Card file, POS – REC. Each topic card is updated as additional facts are discovered; cards entries range in date from 1948 to 1989.

The Art of the Index Card The Jack Anderson Collection contains his complete index card collection, with an estimated total of over 60,000 cards in 40 densely-packed drawers—typewritten on both front and back.

Anderson, first alone and then with his Merry-Go-Round reporters, amassed this wealth of information to enable thorough (if not easy) tracking and cross-referencing of innumerable topics. Politicians’ activities and voting records, governmental programs and agencies, international leaders, private firms, scandals both big and small: Almost nothing escaped Anderson’s notice.