Speaker 1: I'm JAPISPINNI glrad you with us in this third in
Speaker 1: hour of today's program. We've been trying to squeeze an
Speaker 1: eighty pounds show into a forty pound bag.
Speaker 2: We're getting it in there.
Speaker 1: Let's see we can squeeze in two more conversations in
Speaker 1: this hour. On the backside of this hour, actor and
Speaker 1: musician Michael v. Epps aka Mikey talks about the end
Speaker 1: of the highly acclaimed series The Shy where he played
Speaker 1: Jake Taylor. So we'll talk to Michael Vipps about the
Speaker 1: shot speaking of Curtis Mayfield in the city of Chicago.
Speaker 1: A nice little I like that. That was nice, Miles,
Speaker 1: very nice. So we'll talk about that on the backside
Speaker 1: of there. In a moment, we'll be joined by Lynn Sweet,
Speaker 1: former Washington d c Bual chief and now special correspondent
Speaker 1: for the Chicago Sun Times. Let her explain how her
Speaker 1: lighthearted search for President Obama's tan suit as we opened
Speaker 1: a serious debate about the consequential effect of that twenty
Speaker 1: fourteen press comments where he donned that haberdasury and was
Speaker 1: talking about foreign policy in how all of the impacts
Speaker 1: his foreign policy legacy all these years later amazing what
Speaker 1: a suit can do.
Speaker 2: If you saw many of you did.
Speaker 1: You watched the opening of the Obama I guess it's
Speaker 1: not a library Presidential Center.
Speaker 2: I guess they call it.
Speaker 1: If you saw the opening of that carried by sea,
Speaker 1: spanning other networks, then you saw the jokes being made
Speaker 1: about the tan suit.
Speaker 2: There are a number of people who showed up.
Speaker 1: David Letterman, and I think David Letterman and Stephen Colbert
Speaker 1: and the MC of the program, Obama's longtime friend all
Speaker 1: had on tan suits. And so the tan suit jokes
Speaker 1: were in full force on the day of the opening
Speaker 1: of the Presidental Center. So we have still not moved
Speaker 1: past the jokes and the commentary about the tan suit
Speaker 1: back in twenty fourteens. We'll let Lyn explain how she
Speaker 1: got what her on rant was to the tan suit,
Speaker 1: and again a discussion about his foreign policy. Before I
Speaker 1: do any of that, here's a funny clip from Larry
Speaker 1: David show. It's called Life Larry in the Pursuit of Unhappiness.
Speaker 1: Little Larry David skate here about the tan suit all
Speaker 1: these years later. Take a listen, Hey, you know what,
Speaker 1: I got an idea that just might interest you.
Speaker 2: What's your idea.
Speaker 1: I think you should wear the tan suit to the
Speaker 1: press conference.
Speaker 2: For this press conference.
Speaker 3: Yes, why well, first of all, it's a gorgeous.
Speaker 2: Suit, and that's why I'm taking to turn. There's a
Speaker 2: daytime event. It's outdoors a little more casual, and this
Speaker 2: is casual Friday. Hi, Brian, the Boss wants to try
Speaker 2: on the Tan suit. I do love this suit. It's
Speaker 2: perfect casual and it's in the briefing room. Is that
Speaker 2: the east room? Thank you? Oh it is a great suit.
Speaker 2: Oh boy, oh boy, I think this is the move.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna try that. See how it looks. Oh, let's
Speaker 2: foldle you down. You'll thank me.
Speaker 1: All these years later, still jokes, including Obama himself leaning
Speaker 1: in on the Tan suit line.
Speaker 2: Sweet could do your voice? How are you today, Tavis?
Speaker 3: It's an honor to be with you today. Thanks for
Speaker 3: having me, my pleasure.
Speaker 1: I've got two minutes right now to sort of set
Speaker 1: this up, two or three minutes when we come forward.
Speaker 1: We'll spend the rest of the half hour sort of
Speaker 1: unpacking it. But tell me about, as I said, your
Speaker 1: lighthearted search for this Tan suit and how that has
Speaker 1: led to yet another serious conversation a consequential conversation about
Speaker 1: his foreign policy.
Speaker 3: And we could all have both in one You know,
Speaker 3: we could all do a few things at one time, lighthearted, serious,
Speaker 3: in a nutshell. When I went to a press preview
Speaker 3: on the Obama Center opening, the question came up from
Speaker 3: a reporter to one of the executives, what do you
Speaker 3: wish was here that you don't have? And Michael strattonan
Speaker 3: has said the Tan suit. And then Valerie Jarrett, the
Speaker 3: CEO of the Obama Foundation, shocked us when she said
Speaker 3: Obama gave it away when he was cleaning out his closet.
Speaker 3: That was my starting point for this project.
Speaker 2: Tell me a bit more about the project.
Speaker 3: So I'm supposed to find the Tan suit. Now, as
Speaker 3: I say, to quote myself, I could find you a
Speaker 3: needle in a haystack tablet, but I don't even know
Speaker 3: where the haystack is on this one. I've been in
Speaker 3: the business one hundred years. Here, Yeah, I could find stuff,
Speaker 3: but give me a clue here. It's like you know
Speaker 3: which grain of sand on the beach are we're talking about.
Speaker 3: But I also understood that sometimes in a project, the
Speaker 3: journey is the destination. The anniversary of the Tan suit
Speaker 3: press conferences next week August twenty eight. And it's not
Speaker 3: just me thinking there's interest in the suit. Martin Nesbud,
Speaker 3: who you mentioned, even Colbert, who actually asked Obama when
Speaker 3: he was at the museum before a show ended, wears
Speaker 3: the tanned suit and then lo and behold the Larry
Speaker 3: David spoof with Obama happy to play himself in that
Speaker 3: tan suit. And so everyone understands, I'm looking for the
Speaker 3: real Tan suit, the Tan suit, and that HBO show
Speaker 3: is a replica.
Speaker 1: So I love that Lynn Sweet is in a search
Speaker 1: to find the real Tan suit. I'm just laughing at
Speaker 1: the fact that the anniversary of the Tan suit is
Speaker 1: August twenty eighth. You know what else happened on August
Speaker 1: twenty eighth, Think about it, Think about it, think about it.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that though at that part when we
Speaker 1: come forward. But of all the things that happened on
Speaker 1: August twenty eighth in this country historic date, August twenty eight,
Speaker 1: we're still talking about the tan suit that he wore
Speaker 1: on August twenty eighth. That's how we do it here
Speaker 1: on Tavis Smile does Indeed, with Lynn Sweet, former a
Speaker 1: DC Real chief now I'm a special corresponding for Chicago
Speaker 1: Sun Times. She's been on a project. She is trying
Speaker 1: to find that tan suit that Barack Obama wore back
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen at a press conference when the Obama
Speaker 1: Center opened. There were all kind of jokes about the
Speaker 1: tan suit. We just played a clip for you in
Speaker 1: case you tuned in you missed it. Obama played himself
Speaker 1: in a clip a spoof on Larry David's show Life
Speaker 1: Larry in the Pursuit of Unhappiness, Obama shows up playing
Speaker 1: himself in a joke about the tan suit. You heard
Speaker 1: Lynn Sweet say that next week, August twenty eighth is
Speaker 1: the anniversary of Obama wearing the tan suit in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1: But the minute she said that, you know, being a
Speaker 1: history buff, my mind went to that same date. Here's
Speaker 1: what else happened on August twenty eighth, and I'll get
Speaker 1: back to Lynn. In nineteen fifty five, they killed Emmitt
Speaker 1: Till on August twenty.
Speaker 3: Eighth, Oh my god.
Speaker 2: In nineteen sixty three, the March on Washington. I have
Speaker 2: a dream.
Speaker 1: The speech from Doctor King happens on August twenty eight.
Speaker 1: On August twenty eight, two thousand and eight.
Speaker 2: I was there.
Speaker 1: Barack Obama accepts the nomination for President of the United
Speaker 1: States at the Democratic Convention in Denver. That was August
Speaker 1: twenty eight, two thousand and eight. Then he wears the
Speaker 1: Tan suit on August twenty eight, twenty fourteen. Before I
Speaker 1: go any further, Lynn, what do you make of that
Speaker 1: history on August twenty eighth?
Speaker 3: Oh whoa, thank you for reminding me, because I'm going
Speaker 3: to do another I have some other stories to do
Speaker 3: and I will that will run on the twenty seventh
Speaker 3: or twenty eight. And Tavis, I am grateful that you
Speaker 3: told me that, and certainly, being a Chicago reporter, I
Speaker 3: well know the story of Emmett Till. Oh yeah, and
Speaker 3: the great effort now to keep Emmett Till's story alive
Speaker 3: with the establishment of a National Historic Park in the
Speaker 3: city and other ways of making his history a living
Speaker 3: a living history for the people who are alive now.
Speaker 3: So no, but thank you. I was there too in
Speaker 3: Denver in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, A lot happened on that date, August twenty eighth,
Speaker 1: and so when LeAnn reminded me that next week is
Speaker 1: the anniversary of the Tan suit.
Speaker 2: My mind immediately went to all.
Speaker 1: The historic things that happened on that particular date. So
Speaker 1: there's that take it and run with it as you will.
Speaker 1: So let me get back to your search for the
Speaker 1: Tan suit. So when Valuidjera says the President gave the
Speaker 1: suit away, I assume we believe that Validera was being
Speaker 1: truthful about that. So what does your search take you? Like,
Speaker 1: where do you begin trying to locate the Tan suit.
Speaker 2: So so.
Speaker 3: Now it turns out, by the way, that in June third,
Speaker 3: when she briefed reporters, she knew that the replica suit
Speaker 3: existed for the show because they taped that HBO show
Speaker 3: in December. But if they had the original suit, and
Speaker 3: I'm going to be talking to people from the show
Speaker 3: hopefully tomorrow, and if he had the original suit in
Speaker 3: the closet, they wouldn't have had a costume designer recreate
Speaker 3: one for the show. So I have also learned that
Speaker 3: he gives away suits he cleans out of closet. Now,
Speaker 3: maybe this is a Tan suit. One Obama World insider,
Speaker 3: and this is a hypothesis, thought he threw it away
Speaker 3: because he didn't want to wear it again. Because if
Speaker 3: everyone's just going to make a fuss about it, like, oh,
Speaker 3: he wore it again today when he gave a speech
Speaker 3: about whatever you know, just do it. But here's what
Speaker 3: I do know about the suit. I may not find it,
Speaker 3: but when I don't know how a story ends, I
Speaker 3: think it is my responsibility to tell you how his
Speaker 3: story starts. So when I poked around, here's how the
Speaker 3: story starts. Who made the suit a foundational question. And
Speaker 3: it turns out that the man who made the suit
Speaker 3: his name is Martin Greenfield. He died in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 3: famous Taylor in Brooklyn. Martin Greenfield sewed his first stitches
Speaker 3: as a prisoner in Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp. He
Speaker 3: was wearing the shirt of an SS soldier. Now he
Speaker 3: learned to become how to really become a tailor when
Speaker 3: he got to the United States. But this is a
Speaker 3: story of a man who survived Aschwitz and Brukenwald, the
Speaker 3: worst of the Holocaust, that horror, came to the United
Speaker 3: States and made suits not only for Obama but other presidents.
Speaker 1: M that's a great backstory, and that's why that's why
Speaker 1: you are an award winning columnist and writer. Now specially
Speaker 1: correspondent for The Sun Times. Linn knows how to tell
Speaker 1: the story. And if you don't know how he ens, well,
Speaker 1: if you can't find the suit, give me the backstory.
Speaker 1: The backstory for me is this audience nose is always
Speaker 1: the most fascinating part of any story.
Speaker 2: Anyway, I love the backstory. Lind's I'm glad you.
Speaker 3: Here's another bed.
Speaker 2: Give it to me, Give it to me.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna tell you everything about that suit. By the way,
Speaker 3: listeners out there, if you're a forty long and about
Speaker 3: thirty three waists and you're wearing a suit that has uh,
Speaker 3: the lining is made of a fabric called Bamberg bamburger
Speaker 3: it is. It is made out of a bamboo. It
Speaker 3: is better than silk. So if you picked it up anywhere,
Speaker 3: then I will, okay, then I will have to tell you,
Speaker 3: you know, call me and maybe we could get something. Uh,
Speaker 3: you know, we could get we could get something done.
Speaker 3: But that is just another backstory to know about this.
Speaker 1: So I can see because of the all of the
Speaker 1: drama that surrounded his wearing that suit, and we'll get
Speaker 1: back to the actual press conference that day and what
Speaker 1: he was talking about it and why in fact, there
Speaker 1: are consequential conversations to be had about that press commerce
Speaker 1: as it relates to his foreign policy legacy.
Speaker 2: That's what Lim was saying. Hearder, we can have some
Speaker 2: fun with this.
Speaker 1: But there's a serious dollog to be had about the
Speaker 1: way his foreign policy has been critiqued born of that
Speaker 1: press commerce that day where the world was clearly getting darker.
Speaker 1: But we didn't talk about the press commiss We talked
Speaker 1: about the suit. So we'll come back at that in
Speaker 1: a moment, I promise. But I can see the president
Speaker 1: perhaps giving the suit away again. He does giveaway suits.
Speaker 1: After a while, I do the same thing, so I
Speaker 1: can see him giving the suit away. I can see
Speaker 1: him either actually maybe back up. He gives suits away,
Speaker 1: as do I. I can see him burning the suit,
Speaker 1: getting rid of the suit because of all the hype
Speaker 1: about it. But I can't imagine him giving that suit away,
Speaker 1: particularly if if the person who has the suit knows
Speaker 1: what it is. Now, when suits are custom made, I
Speaker 1: know lous something something about this. Typically on the inside
Speaker 1: of the suit there is stitched the name of the owner.
Speaker 1: So wherever that suit is, I got money, that says
Speaker 1: somewhere on the inside of that lining there is the
Speaker 1: name stitched Barack Obama present, Barack Obama.
Speaker 3: Tell you about that?
Speaker 2: What do you know? What do you know?
Speaker 3: His name was there in the pocket. But it was good.
Speaker 3: But believe me, can you imagine if you go to
Speaker 3: some you know, secondhand, closed place and you see Barack
Speaker 3: Obama's name in a suit, and so you know, I'm
Speaker 3: just gonna get it altered. But here's the thing. I'm
Speaker 3: told that when he gave away suits, his staff at
Speaker 3: the White House or the or the either the ballet
Speaker 3: or the house staff that worked with him, they knew
Speaker 3: enough to cut the name out. This is without the
Speaker 3: famous suit. And when I talked to Jay, you know
Speaker 3: who is the son of Martin Greenfield who made the suit,
Speaker 3: who was actually the guy who went to the White
Speaker 3: House to measure him. Uh, there there was a way
Speaker 3: in the pocket. I think it looked like something that
Speaker 3: you could kind of rip out with that ripping flat pocket.
Speaker 3: Any event, even if they no matter where his name was,
Speaker 3: his people knew to look for it and get rid
Speaker 3: of it. They're giving it away.
Speaker 1: There goes that I'm figuring somebody's wearing that suit with
Speaker 1: his name on the inside.
Speaker 2: But I take your point. That's why lean again is
Speaker 2: doing the reporting on this.
Speaker 3: I'm just look in the pocket. If anyone is listening, though,
Speaker 3: look in the pocket and see if it looks like
Speaker 3: a little label might have been ripped off of it.
Speaker 3: See now, maybe the label Greenfield is still there. And
Speaker 3: if there's really great hand stitching and you got it
Speaker 3: around the Washington area, call tabs, call me. We have
Speaker 3: a special email, you know, email me at tan suit
Speaker 3: one word at sometimes dot com. Even if you have
Speaker 3: some ideas what this suit means to you, what it
Speaker 3: meant in twenty fourteen, what it means now. Also you
Speaker 3: could read the stories and stuff that's coming up at
Speaker 3: sometimes dot com slash tan suit. Let me repeat that,
Speaker 3: may I sometimes dot com slash tan suit.
Speaker 1: What would it mean for you? I mean, I'm thinking
Speaker 1: of all the brilliant stuff Leanne. I've read your stuff
Speaker 1: for years. I'm thinking of all the brilliant stuff you've written.
Speaker 1: What would it mean for you to actually find to
Speaker 1: track this suit down at this point in your career?
Speaker 3: Well, okay, and everyone who's listening, what Tavi is talking
Speaker 3: about is that I've been in this business one hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty years and I've done all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 3: You know, my main work has always been connecting events
Speaker 3: to Chicago. But I you know, I've gotten around. If
Speaker 3: I found this thing, I would I would have to
Speaker 3: put it in a separate bucket of professional achievement. Maybe
Speaker 3: not because of it, just it is the ultimate scavenger hunt.
Speaker 3: And it is a challenge that I don't take lightly
Speaker 3: because you know, my boss tell me to find it,
Speaker 3: so I have to look. I make you laugh, my
Speaker 3: day is made. But as I say in my column,
Speaker 3: which I hope people read it sometimes dot com slasht
Speaker 3: hand suit, I can't say yet I haven't found it
Speaker 3: because I haven't looked hard enough. And one of the
Speaker 3: reasons I'm very grateful to be on this show is
Speaker 3: I have to get the word out. Maybe somebody knows
Speaker 3: somebody who's something or whatever or worked in the second
Speaker 3: handst in Washington, and they say, you know, we got
Speaker 3: these elegant suits that were forty long and thirty three ways.
Speaker 3: I always wondered where they came from. Well, give me
Speaker 3: a call, maybe we could figure this out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got just about five minutes left here. Let
Speaker 1: me let me pivot now. Now we talked about the
Speaker 1: suit and your search for it, this ultimate scavenger hunt.
Speaker 2: I love that man, But here's the real backstory.
Speaker 1: He wore this tank I remember it well as does
Speaker 1: Lynn during a press conference about war. So part part
Speaker 1: of the critique was it was the wrong color, but
Speaker 1: also the wrong color.
Speaker 2: For that occasion. War is a serious issue.
Speaker 1: You got this light, you know, bright summer suit on,
Speaker 1: but you're out doing a press commerce about war.
Speaker 2: He was.
Speaker 1: You know, it was clear that the country was getting
Speaker 1: to be an even scarier place. One could even argue
Speaker 1: that his press commerce was foreshadowing the world getting more
Speaker 1: dangerous in advance of Donald Trump coming in and again
Speaker 1: just doing all sorts of nonsense. But none of that
Speaker 1: got talked about then, and frankly, it hasn't even talked
Speaker 1: about in retrospect because the focus is on the suit.
Speaker 1: And I'm not suggesting that we can't talk about the
Speaker 1: suit and have some fun.
Speaker 2: With the suit.
Speaker 1: But but but talk to me about the consequential effect
Speaker 1: of that press conference as it relates to his foreign
Speaker 1: policy legacy.
Speaker 3: Well, just talk about traumatic for shuttering. He talked about Ukraine, yep,
Speaker 3: touch about Iraq, talked about isis you know, trying to
Speaker 3: even back then in twenty fourteen, there were issues with
Speaker 3: Ukraine and Russian aggression. Now, so what happened in Ukraine
Speaker 3: wasn't a surprise, but it also shows if we're kind
Speaker 3: of looking at the arc of history here, it's an arc.
Speaker 3: So the president also, as far as I know in
Speaker 3: my reporting and I'm triple checking, this came to work
Speaker 3: that day in the tan suit, and the press conference
Speaker 3: was planned at the last minute, and it was in
Speaker 3: the briefing. It wasn't one of the real big ones
Speaker 3: in the East Room, it wasn't in prime time. And
Speaker 3: I hope to be talking to the former White House
Speaker 3: Press secretary at the time and nailing this detail down.
Speaker 3: But they just decided to do it the last minute.
Speaker 3: And probably I'm guessing no one thought to say, President Obama,
Speaker 3: you ought not to wear a tan suit to a
Speaker 3: press conference. I also, who would have to say that
Speaker 3: to him except for a Larry David type of character
Speaker 3: in a comedy.
Speaker 1: Maybe Michelle. Michelle is no shrinking violet. She ain't no snowflake.
Speaker 3: Now. Oh and by the way, the connection to Martin
Speaker 3: Greenfield was made through one of Michelle Obama's fashion advisers.
Speaker 1: Oh, got it, got it, got it. So now you
Speaker 1: got me thinking. This is why I love talking to
Speaker 1: Lynn Suite. She always makes me guess my brain working here.
Speaker 1: So now that we know that the press comference was
Speaker 1: not pre planned, that it came up, Yes, it came
Speaker 1: up in the during the day, he's already in the
Speaker 1: Oval office wearing the tanned suit. Nobody says changed clothes.
Speaker 1: He doesn't think the change clothes. It is a nice suit.
Speaker 1: It's tailored for the president. So it's wrong with the
Speaker 1: suit itself. It's just the people thought the color was wrong,
Speaker 1: the choice was wrong. But if he's already in the
Speaker 1: office wearing the suit, and then the press commerce gets called,
Speaker 1: he walks to the White House briefing room and does
Speaker 1: what he does, and now you got an international crisis
Speaker 1: because of the president woor a tan suit. I wonder
Speaker 1: if in retrospect, and I would love to ask him,
Speaker 1: I wonder if in retrospect he wishes he had changed
Speaker 1: suits before he.
Speaker 2: Went into the briefing room. He just lives upstairs.
Speaker 1: It's just about getting on the elevator, going upstairs to
Speaker 1: the to the private quarters, changing suits, coming back down.
Speaker 1: We would never have this story and I wouldn't have
Speaker 1: had this half hour of fun talking to you. But
Speaker 1: I wondered then if he could have done all over again,
Speaker 1: if he might have gone and changed that suit.
Speaker 3: I am glad you asked that question, because when I
Speaker 3: talked to the former White House secretary, press secretary and
Speaker 3: another deputy press secretary, I'm going to pose it to them. Here.
Speaker 3: Here is my guess that Obama is all about no
Speaker 3: drama and no fuss. And if he thought what he
Speaker 3: was wearing would detract, yeah, and the way it did,
Speaker 3: he I'm guessing go upstairs and change calls. He had
Speaker 3: many from my reporting, blue and charcoal gray suits. He
Speaker 3: even had I think, like a gun plaid or so
Speaker 3: it's some kind of plaid one. So I mean, just
Speaker 3: think if you're making a public appearance at the last
Speaker 3: minute and you were kind of a casual jacket and
Speaker 3: you realize people are going to talk about that I
Speaker 3: showed up wearing a baseball jacket to give a serious speech,
Speaker 3: you would probably go put on a suit coat, wouldn't you.
Speaker 3: That's what people do.
Speaker 2: I think about it all the time. I think about
Speaker 2: all the time.
Speaker 1: I had to go to an event yesterday and I
Speaker 1: looked down at the shoes I was wearing. They're comfortable shoes.
Speaker 1: I like them, but the shoes didn't fit where I
Speaker 1: was headed. So I literally changed my shoes. Just yesterday.
Speaker 1: My outfit was fine, but I and I'm not a
Speaker 1: woman octually I changed my shoes because I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: I can't walking.
Speaker 2: In with these shoes on.
Speaker 1: So no, these things do occur to us, but he
Speaker 1: is the president of the United States. Was a lots
Speaker 1: on his plate, a lots on his mind, and we
Speaker 1: can give him a pass, I guess for not thinking
Speaker 1: about it in that moment.
Speaker 2: Nobody around him thought about it.
Speaker 1: But obviously I can tell you in retrospect to your
Speaker 1: brilliant point about him being no drama Obama, if he
Speaker 1: had known all this was going to be another side
Speaker 1: of wearing that suit. I got money that says he
Speaker 1: would have changed clothes. I digress for now. Lynn sweet
Speaker 1: is in search of the tan suit. She told you
Speaker 1: how to get in touch of there at the suntimes.
Speaker 1: If you know anything about it, anybody might have it.
Speaker 1: We're trying to find the tan suit that Obama wore
Speaker 1: on twenty fourteen August twenty eight that anniversary is next week,
Speaker 1: but so much other stuff happened on that date. But
Speaker 1: I'm delighted to have Lynn Sweet back on this program
Speaker 1: one more again. Lynn, thanks for your insights. We'll do
Speaker 1: it again.
Speaker 3: Hey, thanks for having me much appreciate it.
Speaker 2: My pleasure more tavished by when we come forward.