What Makes Ted Run?

By midafternoon, his reservoir of nervous energy is nearly gone. They are here now; he can sense them inside this room. He muffles a yawn, rubs his eyes and calls for coffee, then rises to talk and to walk quick circles. Silence and stillness are the enemy. They must be driven far away.

He passes shelf upon shelf gleaming with trophies from his triumphs as a sailor, past plaques and shellacked magazine covers from his victories in business, past walls covered with paintings of armies slaughtering armies upon land and navies destroying navies at sea, past his five swords and three rifles from the Civil War, past the little doll of his hero, Lord Nelson, its right sleeve hanging limp. His eyes darting about the walls of the office he calls the War Room, darting from one reminder to the next of men killing, men dying, men conquering.

Explaining, as he moves, his plan to bring the world peace.

Well shy of the 74 consecutive circles his executive vice-president once counted, Ted Turner stops.

"I'm the only man on the planet ever to fly on Cuba's Air Force One with their president and on America's Air Force One with our president," he says, pulling out a photo album of his 1982 hunting trip with Fidel Castro in Cuba. "Look, this shows what I'm talking about. People are not all that different—all this killing and arms race is for nothing."

He points to photographs of Castro. "Here's the great Commie dictator we're so worried about—having a hot toddy! Ha! And look, here's the great Commie dictator in his bare feet!"

He points to one of Turner and Castro in camouflage outfits. "Here's us hunting. Twenty-two attempts on his life by the CIA and I'm sitting next to him with a loaded rifle! Can you believe that? ...I could've shot him in the back!"

He points to one of a blonde about to burst from her bathing suit. "That's the little girl I took to Cuba with me."

And he points to one of Castro and him kneeling before a large gathering of ducks. All 153 are dead.

"He gave me the award for shooting more than anyone he'd ever hunted with," Turner says. "Good pictures? They're great pictures!" He snaps the album shut and begins to circle again, explaining his plan to bring the world peace.