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ELMER E. CORNWELL, JR.
BrowrnUniversity
ThePresidentialPressConference:
A Studyin Institutionalization
s Transcript,
RooseveltLibrary.
Note thatthissame periodis used below for furtherstatistical
analysis.
376 ELMER E. CORNWELL,JR.
fromdifferences thetwomeninpersonality
between andtechnique,
and the formalchangesin pressconferenceformatand apparatus.
Note, however,thatnothingwas done eitherinitiallyor later to
shiftin any major way the balance as betweenthe privateand
public aspects of the President-reporter encounters.There was,
thatis to say, no seriousthoughtof a returnto writtenquestions
or the " White House spokesman" of the earlierera. Nor was
theremorethana minorshiftin the directionof puttingmore of
the processinto the public record. The changeswhich did come
were withinthispre-existing framework.
There seemsno doubt thatthe interpersonal relationsbetween
the new Presidentand the reporterswere informaland friendly.
There was the same sort of banteraround the President'sdesk
beforetheconferences began,thesameinclinationto call reporters
by theirfirstnames,and to give themback as good as theysent
whenthe questioninggot pointed. In fact,if one were to charac-
terizetheTrumanconferences, the friendlyand good naturedbut
unmistakable fencingwould standout. The Presidenttook delight
in his abilityto fieldthe balls thrownto him. This competitive
aspect of the encounterswas rathermore in evidenceafter1945
thanit had been before,and efforts to take the reportersinto the
President'sconfidenceor to structurethe net conferenceoutput
were lessin evidence. The repliesto questionswere briefer,more
likelyto be of a yes or no type,and the reporterseekingWhite
House intentor motivewas usuallyreferredto the textof a pre-
vious messageratherthangiven an extemporaneous explanation."6
Mr. Truman made virtuallyno use of the off-the-record or
backgroundcategoriesin the Rooseveltianmanner.This was less
significantin itselfthanthe generallack of detailedpolicy exposi-
tionflowingfromtheconferences.As one observernoted," What
Mr. Trumanhas neverbeen able to do is use the pressconference
to explain, elaborate,and interpret,to give broad outlines of
Administration policy in languagethe people can understand." 17
EISENHOWER'S
PRESSRELATIONS
Needlessto say,important as theTrumaninnovations hadbeen,
therewasmuchroomleftforhissuccessor to makefurther changes
in thesamedirection.Initially therewas talkof thereluctance of
Mr.Eisenhower to holdanypressconferences. Thoughin theory
freeto do as he chose,it was perfectly clear thathe would
abandonthemat hisperil.2'In any event,he heldhisfirstpress
conference on February17, 1953,nearlya monthaftertaking
office.He displayed theneitherlack of knowledgeof pasttradi-
tionor an initialdesireto changetradition,forhe didmostof the
talkinginsteadof givingoverthetimeto questions fromthefloor,
and terminated theconference himself,notleavingthisup to the
seniorwireserviceman. Verysoon,however, he reverted to the
Trumanprecedents.
The mostsignificant thingabout the earlyEisenhowercon-
ferences was thefactthatby and largehe pickedup wherehis
predecessor leftoffso faras format,settingandgroundruleswere
concerned.True, nothingwas said aboutbackground and off-
the-record categories, and the conferencesbecameevenlessfre-
quent,butotherwise therulesremained thesameconcerning the
prohibition on directquotation.An apparentinnovation began
withEisenhower's firstconference in thatunofficialtranscripts
were publishedin the press,whichrenderedreporter questions
verbatimbut presidential repliesparaphrased.Since the last
Trumanconference had appearedin similarformin the New
YorkTimes,25 thiswasnota whollynewdeparture, butitdidindi-
catetheextent to whichfeeling abouttheconference hadchanged
sinceRooseveltdays. By 1953whathad beena privatemeeting
held ostensibly forthe benefitof reporters, and only indirectly
forthepublic,was now viewedas itselfpublicproperty.Para-
phrasesoonmergedinto" indirectdiscourse " as transcripts
con-
tinuedto appearregularly.In otherwords,the fewestpossible
changesweremadein therecording of thePresident'sanswers-
forthemostpartthesubstitution ofthethirdforthefirst person.
2' Note discussionof this pointby Douglass Cater in " The Presidentand the
Press,"Reporter,8 (April 28, 1953), 26.
2 New York Times, January 16, 1953.
THE PRESIDENTIAL PRESS CONFERENCE 383
attack.30In previousadministrations,
in theorytherewas no official
White House spokesmanotherthanthePresidenthimself(save the
mythicalone of the Coolidge-Hooverera who was in realitythe
President). Now the press secretaryis cited as authorityfor a
statementor quoted verbatimalmostdaily in the press.
SUMMARY
The presidential
pressconference,likeotheraspectsofthepresi-
dency,hasrapidlydeveloped inthelasttwodecadesfroma highly
informal,
semi-privateencounterbetweentheChiefExecutiveand
the workingpressintoa formalized publicinstitution.Among
otherchangesthuswroughthas been the diminution of the
" mediating
" roleperformed by thereporters and theincreasing
extentto whichthePresident now speaksdirectlyto thepublic
fromthisforum.Institutionalizationhasnotsubstantiallyreduced
theusefulnessof thedeviceto thePresident, at leastas measured
by frontpage newsin theNew York Timesthusgenerated.It
may have reducedits usefulness in termsof someof the more
subtlebenefits
to be reapedbythePresident fromintimate contact
withreporters. Finally,institutionalization
maywell have made
of thepressconference a communication vehiclesubstantially
less
dependent upon accidentalfactorsof personality thanhas ever
beenthecase in the past.37
3 Obviouslyit could be arguedthattelevisionhas increasedthe dependenceon
personalityin one sense. The pointis that,giventhe institutionalized
presscon-
ferenceof today,it is hardto imaginein the futurea sharpcontrastin technique
and approachlike thatproducedby changesin administration heretofore.