What is your idea of perfect happiness? Waking up in the morning is as perfect as anything gets.
What is your greatest fear? The greatest fear I can remember is coming back from WW II and being amazed that I was more afraid to audition for a job than I was flying 52 missions.
On what occasion do you lie? Every time I relay my weight.
What do you dislike most about your appearance? The part that makes me look my age.
Which living person do you most despise? The person who most admires Donald Trump.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? The rare moment I don’t believe in myself enough.
What is the trait you most deplore in others? Dishonesty and insincerity.
What is your greatest extravagance? I may be a little more extravagant than I should be in my affections.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Hi.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue? A good personality with little behind it.
Who are your heroes in real life? Ben Bradlee and Muhammad Ali.
What is your greatest regret? That I can’t age downward for the next 20 years.
What or who is the greatest love of your life? My wife, six children, and four grandchildren.
If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be? I would have them all living closer.
When and where were you happiest? I was the happiest every time we landed in Foggia, Italy, after a bombing mission during World War II.
Which talent would you most like to have? I’d like to have sung like Pavarotti.
Which historical figure do you most identify with? The political journalist I.F. Stone.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Not being true to one’s word.
How would you like to die? Of record-breaking old age.
What is your favorite occupation? Laughing.
What is your most marked characteristic? Being true to my word.
What do you most value in your friends? The same thing.
Who is your favorite writer? Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Who is your favorite hero of fiction? As a boy, Frank Merriwell.
What is it that you most dislike? Anything and anyone phony.
What is your current state of mind? I’m looking forward to my 100th year.
If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be? I’d like to come back as a boy to do it all over again.
What is your motto? Over and next. When something is over, it is over, and we are on to next, and if there was a hammock in the middle of those two words, that would be the best definition I know of living in the moment.
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