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SHOP AT HOME DIRECTORY" with John's style and approach. Sometimes I had to put a firecracker under him." As an anchor, Hart lacked star quality. Because he believes that journalists should not be" part of the story, he reined in his emotions. As such, his delivery was wooden, his demeanor downright mournful. It would be hard to picture him breaking into a smile and using Tom Brokaw's cutesy "I'll see you tomorrow night" sign-off.

"He was too good a journalist to be a star," muses Linda EHerbee, "In some ways, he was too good for the job. When you don't see the world in simple terms, it's not likely to make you as popular as TV anchors who do. Walter Cronkite used to say, That's the way it John Hart would say, 'That's the way some of us saw a few of the things that went on Revealed religion is frequently called the "history of salvation." It is the record of God's interventions in the world of man. This quality of history distinguishes revealed religion from the natural religion of paganism, which tries to find religious values in nature and reason alone. Paganism is not, of course, always evil, but it is always inadequate.

Only in revelation does God make Himself known to us personally and fully. But how has God made Himself known? Do we mean by revelation that God has actually spoken to certain people at definite times in history? And if so, has He appeared in human form and used human language? A consideration of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, takes up these questions as well as the more important ones like "What does God say of Himself?" and "What does He say about us?" Write today for your free copy of "The Lessons of Genesis." No one will call on you. "This is my life," says Hart, "and I don't want to share it. I'm not a personality." correspondent, was livid when he learned he had been passed over. Gordon Manning, then the vice president of news at CBS, told Rather he had selected Hart.

But Rather refused to accept the decision. He continued to lobby Bill Small, then the Washington bureau chief for CBS News, saying what a good soldier he had been and reminding him of all the Christ-mases and children's birthdays he'd missed. Eventually, Rather wore down his superiors, who, wanting peace in the news division, gave in to the more aggressive newsman. In the book Who Killed CBS? by Peter J. Boyer, a former TV reporter for The New York Times, the author recounts the story and concludes: "Hart never knew what hit him." What did Hart do to advance his own case? "Nothing," recalls Manning.

"He's not a political animal. Life is selective; it's the survival of the fittest John is uncomfortable with self-promotion. He just likes to do his work. He wouldn't do it any other way." It's that same intellectual and moral inflexibility, that same tunnel vision, and that same inability to mix a little pragmatism with his principles that have forever consigned Hart to the role of outsider. These days, John Hart is a solitary figure at World Monitor.

He has no allies on the staff and few friends outside. Although he has lived in Boston for more than three years, he has not really become part of the community. On most weekends, he retreats to his cabin in Connecticut. "Every year," he says, "the same Canada geese I believe they're the same come down. They nest on the little island, and they rear five or six goslings and disappear after a few days down the stream.

And a mallard duck and his mate come and nest at the same time." Hart thinks of getting out of television altogether. "The fantasy is to go off by the pond and try to write a book," he says. "Grow a beard, buy a dog. Maybe teach newswriting and ethics once a week." Leaning back in his office chair, he closes his eyes and clasps his hands behind his head. "I think that the news is leaving me," he says.

self," says SahL "At the network, he was a fish out of water. Van Gordon Sauter a former president of CBS News loved to run around with Rather. Brokaw maneuvers a lot. John is too probing and reflective. He would never be at ease with those guys." Indeed, it's difficult to find anyone in the television industry who has an unkind word to say about Hart.

"If there is such a thing as a class act in this business, it's John Hart," says Linda Ellerbee, who occasionally worked with Hart on Overnight, the '80s cult news program produced by NBC. "John is an elegant writer, a world-class journalist, and probably the most complicated man in television." Paul Greenberg, a 30-year veteran of CBS and NBC who is now the executive producer of NBC News' Expose, anchored by Tom Brokaw, speaks glowingly of Hart's ability to marry words and visual images. One Nightly News story, reported by Hart from Poland during the height of the Solidarity uprising, included a shot of a Polish man walking across a large square with a Christmas tree. "That piece was so brilliant, the newsroom just stopped," says Greenberg. "The newsroom is usually noisy with people telling jokes.

Hard-bitten newsmen sat in their chairs. It was a moment I'll never forget" Greenberg bristles when asked to compare Hart with CBS' Bob Simon, one of television's most literate correspondents. "I don't think Bob Simon can carry John Hart's typewriter. John Hart is the real thing." Nevertheless, as the years wore on, Hart's stock fell at the network. In December 1987, 13 years after joining NBC News, he abruptly resigned, signing with World Monitor a few months later.

He had little to say at the time. But certain things were clear. His very strengths as a journalist had become liabilities in the Sound Bite Age. His thoughtful intelligence and attention to detail made him poky. "He was a slow, deliberate worker," says Gordon Manning, a 26-year news veteran with CBS and NBC who is now a consultant to NBC News.

"The pace of television news wasn't always compatible FREE Mail Coupon Today! Please send Free Pamphlet entitled MG 21 "The Lessons of Genesis" This offer is limited to one free pamphlet. Name Address City -Zip. CATHOLIC INFORMATION SERVICE of.COLEIHIOUS P.O. Box 1971. New Haven, CT 06521 In 1979, Hart was replaced on the Saturday-night an-, chor desk of the NBC Nightly News by a blond bombshell named Jessica Savitch (who was subsequently killed in a car accident).

Later, he was replaced on Sunday nights by the more youthful-looking Chris Wallace. "He was such a good hard-news guy," says Andrew Freedman, former spokesman for NBC News, who now heads his own PR firm in New York. "But he was out of place, out of time. He should have been reporting on radio with Edward R. Murrow during the blitzkrieg." Several years ago John Chancellor, who worked with Hart at NBC, mused, "John suffers from what was known in the 19th century as melancholia." Nor was his position helped at the networks by his distaste for political infighting.

In 1969, for example, the anchor job for the Sunday edition of The CBS Evening News, a plum for rising correspondents, was open and about to be given to Hart. Dan Rather, then a White House BATHROOM KITCHEN oa WOfMOUNOICAUWrni OFF 0070 HUM UOOEL NUUtiH COLO fancpt 1-80O444-5783 OUTLET XoMmAiMrican SunduMMt WANT YOUR MAIL WEATOERVANES More than 25 styles, la pol-Ished or antique finish from ORDER AD TO APPEAR HERE? 1 i4v. uiuc in ana see our many unique gifts. Call for catalog. 174 Roue Dcoait, MA 02638 U2NoiySt Bonoe, MA021K 1-800-253-GUST CALL(61 7)929-21 05 I Ask for Tony Meola I 60.