POLITICAL CAREER AS AN OUTSIDER REINFORCED THE LESSONS OF HIS EARLY LIFE.
DEVAL PATRICK GREW UP ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO, A GIFTED KID WITH A UNIQUE FIRST NAME.
MR. PATRICK: MY FATHER WAS A JAZZ MUSICIAN, THEY SPLIT WHEN I WAS FOUR.
MY FATHER WAS A VERY OFTEN GUARD MUSICIAN, SAME THING WITH HIS LIFE.
MY MOTHER AND FATHER HAD A DEAL THAT SHE WOULD GET TO NAME THE FIRST AND SHE WOULD GET TO NAME THE SECOND.
SO, MY SISTER RHONDA WAS NAMED AFTER AN ACTRESS, RHON FLEMING?
AND THEN MY FATHER WANTED TO NAME -- I WAS THE SECOND, SO IT WAS MY FATHER’S TURN.
HE DREAMT UP THIS NAME, MY MOM SAID WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
I’M SURE I’M PARAPHRASING THE CONVERSATION BUT IT WAS IN THAT NATURE.
HE SAID LOOK, THIS WAS THE DEAL SO HERE I AM.
I USUALLY GET IS IT PATRICK DEVAL, OR DEVAL PATRICK?
ADAM: THERE WERE HARD LESSONS LEARNED IN THOSE EARLY YEARS.
MR. PATRICK: AS I SAID, GREW UP IN CHICAGO, LOT OF THAT TIME ON WELFARE WITH MY GRANDPARENTS AND MY MOTHER AND SISTER.
I WENT TO BIG, BROKEN, OVERCROWDED URBAN SCHOOLS.
I HAD FABULOUS TEACHERS.
TEACHERS WHO WERE AMAZING IN THE CLASSROOM AND IMPORTANT IN MY LIFE.
MY SIXTH-GRADE TEACHER TOOK US TO A NEW MOVIE THAT WAS OUT OF THE TIME CALLED THE SOUND OF MUSIC.
SHE USED US TO TEACH ABOUT THE RISE OF THE NAZIS AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
I DESCRIBED HER AS THE FIRST PERSON WHO HELPED ME IMAGINE WHAT IT MIGHT BE LIKE.
I THINK IT IS A GIFT FOR ANY KID, ESPECIALLY FOR US.
ADAM: HIS PROMISE AS A STUDENT HELPED HIM LAND A SPOT AT THE PRESTIGIOUS MILTON ACADEMY IN MASSACHUSETTS.
MR. PATRICK: I LANDED THERE THE NIGHT BEFORE CLASSES BEGAN, AND THEY HAD A DRESS CODE IN THOSE DAYS, THE BOYS WORE JACKETS AND TIES TO CLASSE MY GRANDPARENTS WHEN THE
CLOTHING LIST ARRIVED SPLURGED ON A NEW JACKET FOR ME TO WEAR TO CLASS.
A JACKET ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO IS A WINDBREAKER.
I COME BY MYSELF, NEVER SEEN CAMPUS THE NIGHT BEFORE.
THE NEXT MORNING THESE BOYS ARE PUTTING ON THEIR BLUE BLAZERS, I HAD MY WINDBREAKER, AND I THOUGHT HOO BOY I’VE GOT A LOT TO LEARN.
ADAM: HE WAS A QUICK STUDY, RISING FROM MILTON ALL THE WAY THROUGH HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, AND TO THE NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND.
>> BEING A LAWYER, YOU’VE HAD A LOT OF FASCINATING CASES, WHICH IS YOUR FAVORITE?
MR. PATRICK: THERE IS MORE THAN ONE.
>> TELL US ABOUT IT.
MR. PATRICK: SO I MENTIONED EARLIER I WAS HEAD OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION.
THIS WAS IN THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION.
I MET PRESIDENT CLINTON WHEN I SUED HIM WHEN HE WAS GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS.
THE ELECTION COMMISSION IN ARKANSAS IS CONSTITUTIONALLY CHAIRED BY THE GOVERNOR.
THE OTHER OFFICERS AND THEN THE COUNTY CLERKS WERE ALSO PARTIES TO THIS CASE.
THIS IS WHEN I WAS AT THE LEGAL DEFENSE FUND IN NEW YORK.
WE SUED HIM ON A CASE HAVES IT DO WITH ACCESS TO THE BALLOT.
THE COUNTY CLERKS IN A LOT OF SOUTHERN STATES ARE VERY POWERFUL.
THEY HAVE A LOT OF CONTROL OVER HOW YOU REGISTER, WHEN YOU REGISTER, HOW SIMPLE OR COMPLICATED IT IS.
HE AND I WORKED OUT THE TERMS OF THE SETTLEMENT TOGETHER.
ADAM: PATRICK BECAME A GOVERNOR HIMSELF, ELECTED TO LEAD THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS IN 2006.
>> WHAT WERE THE BEST AND WORST THINGS ABOUT BEING GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS?
MR. PATRICK: WELL I’LL TALK ABOUT THE BEST AND THEN FOR THE WORST WE CAN SHUT OFF THE CAMERAS.
I HAVEN’T RUN FOR ANYTHING BEFORE.
OUR DYNAMIC IN MASSACHUSETTS IS LESS DEMOCRAT-REPUBLICAN THEN IT IS INSIDER-OUTSIDER.
IT IS VERY INWARD LOOKING POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT.
I WASN’T A PART OF IT.
I THINK IN SOME WAYS THE THING I’M PROUDEST OF IS THAT WE REMEMBERED WE HAD IT WITHIN US TO DO BIG THINGS.
AND TO DO THEM TOGETHER.
IT WASN’T ALL ABOUT LEGISLATION, JUST ABOUT COLLABORATION.
I FEEL GREAT ABOUT THAT.
I THINK THE WORST DAY, THE WORST DAY YOU KNOW ABOUT WAS THE DAY THE BOMBS WENT OFF AT THE MARATH IN SOME WAYS THAT WEEK WAS VER POWERFUL FOR US, BECAUSE THAT’S
THE KIND OF OCCASION ALL THE INGREDIENTS FOR THIN GOING WRONG, FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY AND ANGE ALL THE THINGS WE COULD GO SIDEWAYS EASILY, DIDN’T, WE
ASKED THAT WE TURNED TO EACH OTHER RATHER THAN ON EACH OTHER.
FOLKS JUST BROUGHT THEIR BEST.
THE FIRST RESPONDERS, THE LAW ENFORCEMENT, REGULAR CITIZENS, THE KINDNESS THEY SHOWED TO RUNNERS AND VISITORS.
I THINK ALL OF THAT CONTRIBUTED TO FINDING THESE TWO TERRORI NEEDLES IN A HAYSTACK IN A HUNDRED PLUS HOURS.
ADAM: PATRICK HAS A SOFT SPOT FOR STORIES OF PEOPLE FINDING UNITY THROUGH ADVERSITY.
AT THE CAFE TABLE HE RECOUNTED THE HOLOCAUST SURVIVAL STORY OF STEVE ROSS, A BOSTON MAN WHO IN THE SPRING OF 1945 WAS A TEENAGER, STARVING AND NEAR DEATH AFTER BEING LIBERATED FROM
A CONCENTRATION CAMP.
MR. PATRICK: AND HE SAID THERE WAS A MAN ON A TANK, AN AMERICAN GI ON A TANK WHO WAS HAVING HIS RATIONS.
THIS YOUNG MAN WHO PROBABLY WAS 19 YEARS OLD JUMPED DOWN AND HANDED THE BOY HIS RATIONS.
HE TALKED ABOUT HOW HE FELL DOWN ON HIS KNEES AND STARTED KISSING HIS BOOTS.
IT WAS THE FIRST ACT OF GRACE HE’D BEEN SHOWN IN A VERY LONG TIME.
HE SAID THE G.I. PICKED HIM UP AND COMFORTED HIM, HE GAVE HIM THIS TINY AMERICAN FLAG.
WHEN I MET HIM, IN HIS 80’S, HE WAS STILL CARRYING.
I THINK I’M SENSITIVE TO IT BECAUSE I KNOW HOW MANY ACTS OF GRACE MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR ME TO COME FROM THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO TO THE EXPERIENCE I HAD.
I THINK THE AMERICAN DREAM IS