Lucianne Goldberg

Lucianne Goldberg (born Lucianne Steinberger on April 29,1935 in Boston) is an American literary agent. She was a central figure behind the scenes in the Lewinsky scandal.

Career

Her career started at the Washington Post in 1957 followed by a year working at the Democratic National Committee in 1960. She became a consultant to the White House staff under President Kennedy in 1961 for two years. She set up Cummings and Associates in 1963.

Decades later, Jeffrey Toobin's book A Vast Conspiracy alleged that Goldberg claimed to friends that she had an affair with Lyndon Johnson while working in the White House. ^[1] After Goldberg threatened Random House with a libel suit, a Washington Post writer claimed he and others overheard her bragging about an affair with Vice President Hubert Humphrey as well. Goldberg denied both affairs and denied telling any such stories. ^[2]

In 1966, she married Sidney Goldberg, an editor at the news syndicate North American Newspaper Alliance and Lucianne Goldberg did occasional freelance work for the syndicate. During the 1972 presidential campaign she joined the press corps covering candidate George McGovern, claiming to be a reporter for the Women's News Service, an affiliate of NANA. In fact, she was paid $1000 a week by Richard Nixon operative Murray Chotiner for regular reports about happenings on the campaign trail. She said "They were looking for really dirty stuff...Who was sleeping with who, what the Secret Service men were doing with the stewardesses, who was smoking pot on the plane--that sort of thing." ^{[3] [4]}

Goldberg set up her own literary agency in 1972. One of her clients, celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley, sued Goldberg in 1983, charging breach of contract, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty over proceeds from Kelley's book on Elizabeth Taylor. The jury awarded Kelley $60,000, but the judge reduced the award to $40,000 and dismissed the ruling of fraud. ^[5]

She published her first book, Purr Baby Purr, in 1970, which was a critique of feminism. Goldberg started writing a column called "Footlights of Broadway", syndicated by NANA. Goldberg published her first novel, Friends in High Places co-written with Sondra Robinson, in 1979. Her first solo novel Madame Cleo's Girls, a story of three call girls, was published in 1992, followed by People Will Talk in 1994. Goldberg has also ghostwritten the steamy novel Washington Wives (1987) for Maureen Dean (wife of Watergate figure John Dean), among other works.^[6]

Clinton scandal

Goldberg met Linda Tripp in the early part of the Clinton administration while assisting an author writing a book on Vince Foster. Tripp spoke with Goldberg resulting in Lewinsky bringing the tapes to her in 1997. ^[7] Goldberg also urged Tripp to take the tapes to Kenneth Starr and brought the tapes to the attention of people working on the Paula Jones case. ^[8] She started speaking to reporters about the tapes in the fall of 1997 notably Michael Isikoff of Newsweek. ^[9] Within days of the scandal breaking on the Drudge Report, the Democratic National Committee circulated an "information sheet" to reporters with information intended to damage Goldberg. ^[10] Goldberg spoke at an anti-Clinton rally organised by the Free Republic.

Although Goldberg was deeply involved in the Lewinsky scandal, Starr never subpoenaed her to testify in front of the Grand Jury. Starr never explained why he did not subpoena her.

Commentator

Following the impeachment scandal, Goldberg has launched a conservative internet forum called lucianne.com. The forum is similar in format to the Free Republic. Though the forum does not allow "Articles from hate group sites such as KKK, Aryan Nation, American Nazi Party, etc." [11], it has been criticized for racist comments posted on its forums. Mark Lane, founder of the now defunct website LucianneWatch.com, complained about the website's content to the US Marines, prompting them to pull their advertising from the site. [12]

Goldberg also launched a talk radio program.

Family

Goldberg's first marriage, to her high school sweetheart William Cummings, lasted three years before they separated in 1960. In 1966 she married Sidney Goldberg, an executive with a New York features syndicate; he died in 2005. Goldberg is the mother of political commentator Jonah Goldberg and Joshua Goldberg. Although Goldberg is an Episcopalian, her sons were raised in their father's Jewish faith.

References

• Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2005. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2005

External references

• Official Web Site

Notes

1. ^ Jeffrey Toobin, A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President. Random House, 1999. Page 102.
2. ^ Lloyd Grove, with Beth Berselli, Washington Post, "The Reliable Source", January 11, 2000, page C03.
3. ^ New York Times, "Writer Declares She Was G.O.P. Spy in M'Govern Camp", August 19, 1973, p. 1
4. ^ US News and World Report, "An agent drawn to scandal:Lucianne Goldberg's taste for controversy", Feb 23, 1998 v124 n7 p36(2)
5. ^ Gerri Hirshey, Washington Post, "Kitty Kelley: Doing It Her Way; For the Biographer, Lawsuits, Charges Of Garbology And Tussles With Sinatra", October 31, 1988
6. ^ Judith Miller and Doreen Carvajal, New York Times, "The President Under Fire: The Book Agent; A Maverick Who Is No Friend of Bill", January 30, 1998, Section A; Page 14; Column 4
7. ^ US News and World Report, "The Monica Lewinsky Tapes", Feb 2, 1998 v124 n4 p23
8. ^ Newsweek, "The Goldberg-Tripp-Jones axis", Nov 9, 1998 v132 i19 p30(1)
9. ^ Time Magazine, "Lucianne Goldberg: in pursuit of Clinton", Feb 2, 1998 v151 n4 p44(1) (archive copy)
10. ^ Time, "The indiscreet charm of Lucianne", Dec 28, 1998 v152 i26 p126(1)

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