A Historical Comparison of the Mass Media and its Relationship
to the U.S. Presidency, Present
(Richard “You Won’t Have Me To Kick Around” Nixon)
and Past (Abraham “Grotesque Baboon” Lincoln)
Part I: Richard M. Nixon
by Evan Mills for MCO418
INTRODUCTION
In a 1977 interview with Jody Powell on PBS’ WETA in Washington, D.C., President Carter’s
press secretary agreed, “I think, for the most part, honeymoons with presidents are over.” The
interviewer, Martin Agronsky, suggested that crises (like Vietnam and Watergate) changed the
way a president could relate to the press forever. “They’re sort of a thing of the past,” Powell
continued. “The basic relationship between president and press or president and Congress has
changed over the past decade. It will never be what it was.”
Until then, the press had (as Grossman and Kumar put it in their article “The White House and
the News Media: The Phases of Their Relationship” published in Political Science Quarterly,
1979) an alliance with the White House and served as a “conduit” of information. To be
completely honest, a blissful courtship between Richard Milhous Nixon (thirty-seventh President
of the United States, 1969-1974) and the press never really existed, partially due to his own
demeanor. But before we look at Nixon’s volatile association with the mass media just prior to
and during his presidency, it’s important to first examine his rise to power and the foundation set
by journalist Drew Pearson nearly twenty years earlier.
NIXON’S NEMESIS
Drew Pearson, a muckraking syndicated columnist with print and radio access to tens of millions
of Americans, was a loyal Democrat who wrote speeches for their candidates and relished in
releasing negative attacks on Nixon for nearly two decades – preferably just prior to an election.
Besides scathing articles on Nixon’s communist campaigns, connections to organized crime and
association with political extremists, Pearson also played a part in uncovering a personal slush
fund reported to secretly hold a portion of Nixon’s campaign contributions. Prior to the 1952
presidential election during the now famous “Checker’s” speech, Nixon conveyed to a national
TV audience that the dog was a gift his daughters loved and wasn’t going to be given back. Even
his wife Pat wore “a respectable Republican cloth coat” and not a mink. Public support was so
great that Dwight Eisenhower decided to keep Nixon on the ticket as his Vice President and was
elected into office. This event was also an early indication of Nixon’s prowess with television
and the ability to convey well-orchestrated messages through a visual medium.
But Nixon was on Pearson’s radar far earlier, mentioning the freshman Congressman in a
column criticizing sixteen of his colleagues in 1947 after being elected a few months earlier to
the House of Representatives. Nixon wrote a memo to the others mentioning that the character
assassination delivered by Pearson would only improve their status among peers. Apparently
Pearson had heard of the rebuttal but took no action, convinced that the ramblings of an obscure
junior politician held no weight.
Nixon received Pearson’s full attention, at that of the nation, by the end of his first term through
the investigation of Alger Hiss, a former official at the State Department. Hiss, both a friend and
source of information for Pearson, was charged with Communist espionage and eventually
thrown in jail for perjury. Pearson was one of very few journalists of his national stature to
denounce Nixon’s probe and Communist hysteria during the McCarthy era. Still fuming, Pearson
wrote a scathing column in 1948 during Nixon’s re-election suggesting that numerous
congressmen, including Nixon, had accepted bribes from real estate interests to deny public
housing. Pearson even suggested that these same real estate lobbies were allowed to write a “no
stings attached” statement for him on the matter. According to a Nixon biographer who asked
about the article, he was furious at Pearson’s smear campaign caused, in Nixon’s opinion, as a
result of his primary role in the Hiss investigation. But in general, Nixon enjoyed typically
positive remuneration from the press while in Congress, particularly from the a conservative
L.A. Times in his home state of California.
Still, Pearson persisted – particularly during Nixon’s run for Senate in 1950. Running against
Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas, Nixon was promoting his own smear campaign that
accused his competition of being a liberal communist sympathizer. Nixon gave her the nickname
of “The Pink Lady …right down to her underwear” while she coined the famous nickname
“Tricky Dick” that never went away. Nixon won the election, but only after Pearson discredited
him by pointing out that Nixon was casting votes to aid Socialist Korea and supporting the
creation of NATO, seeking a photo of Congresswoman Douglas with connections to “Moscow”
and was offering newspapers $1,000 in print ads for their endorsement.
But as mentioned above, Pearson’s real impact was felt in 1952 – both through Nixon’s secret
slush fund (that indicated bribery from wealthy GOP supporters in California as far back as
1946) but also through a public pledge of support for Republican presidential hopeful, and fellow
Californian, Governor Earl Warren. Unknown to Warren, Nixon had agreed to a deal that would
deliver California’s numerous delegates to Eisenhower instead of Warren in exchange for
nominating Nixon as Vice President. After the deed was done, Nixon received his nomination
and the deal was made public, one writer stated that many in the Warren camp would, “…forever
consider Nixon’s name roughly synonymous with treachery.”
THE AGONY OF DEFEAT
The previous point is particularly important in two ways; first, it showed Nixon’s true character
which would be magnified by the media in the years to come, and second, Nixon’s uncanny
ability to utilize mass media and the political system to advance his career would eventually be
the root cause of his downfall. As Senter and Reynolds point out (in their article “The Presidency
and the Print Media: Who Controls The News?” published in Sociological Quarterly, 1986),
Nixon often had an adversarial style when dealing with the public, perhaps due to his early law
career, which the media returned in abundance during the Watergate scandal. The era of trust
enjoyed by presidents prior Nixon was gone and presidents immediately following Nixon, such
as Ford, Carter, or even Clinton twenty years later, felt the effect of an open door, investigative
press.
But before Nixon dismantled nearly 200 years of presidential history in 1972 with a scandal and
the media’s help, he showed a unique ability to bounce back from adversity and break ground
that was previously untouched. For example, Nixon was an expert at using his platform as Vice
President, which was a mainly powerless position at the time, to increase his visibility both with
the GOP and the media on a global scale. For eight years under an ailing Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Nixon was able to make the office of the Vice President a legitimate method of gaining the
presidency after years of examples to the contrary.
Because of this fact, Nixon ran for President against the Democratic contender from
Massachusetts, Senator John F. Kennedy in 1960. Kennedy represented new blood in American
politics and a change from years of stagnant Republican policy and a sputtering economy.
Nixon’s campaign was based on his years of experience that kept him ahead in the polls
throughout most of the campaign. Most experts agree that a new political media, the televised
debate, was the cause of Nixon’s downfall. On the radio, most would agree that Nixon did just as
well or better than Kennedy. But on television, Kennedy looked polished and composed while
Nixon (without makeup, looking tired and sporting a five o’clock shadow) came across as rigid
and nervous. These first debates were a major turning point in the history of politics because
television was now a major factor in the election of a President. In addition, President
Eisenhower did little to support Nixon’s campaign, saying, “Give me a week and I might think of
one,” when asked what specific administration policy Nixon had contributed. The election came
down to the wire, decided by the Electoral College that went to Kennedy (303 to 209), although
the popular vote was within one-fifth of one percent. There were also accusations of voter fraud
by Nixon in eleven states with none being upheld except Kennedy’s challenge of Nixon’s win in
Hawaii that was overturned. Besides Bush/Gore in the 2000, there has never been a closer
presidential election in American history.
During a period of unemployment, Nixon wrote a book that was published in 1962 and based on
major events during his political career. This was a new form of media for the former Vice
President, a biography called Six Crises that was well received – even by Mao Zedong when he
used the book as reference to prepare for Nixon’s visit over ten years later. If you’re curious,
there are currently 22 copies of Six Crises available on Amazon.com starting at just 90 cents
each.
But a crisis Nixon didn’t anticipate later that year, which his associates apparently did when they
urged him to reconsider, was an unsuccessful run for Governor of California against Edmund
Gerald “Pat” Brown. Brown was popular sitting Governor and Nixon was defeated easily. In yet
another famous Nixon reference, he stated in a press conference, “For 16 years, ever since the
HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alger_Hiss"Hiss case, you've had a lot of - a lot of
fun. You've had an opportunity to attack me and I think I've given as good as I've taken. But as I
leave you, I want you to know - just think how much you're going to be missing. You won't
have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.”
Many considered the California defeat to be Nixon’s last run for political office, but fate proved
otherwise. After the loss, Nixon relocated to New York and practiced law for four years until the
Congressional elections in 1966, helping Republican candidates while increasing his own base.
The earlier assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 laid the
groundwork for a tanned, rested and ready Nixon to reappear.
Nixon appealed to voters through a campaign crafted to appeal to socially conservative
Americans he dubbed a “silent majority” wary of hippies and war demonstrations. The media
message caught on and Nixon narrowly won a three-way race with Hubert Humphrey and
independent candidate George Wallace. And once he took office, our class text (Anthony R.
Fellow, American Media History, 2005) refers to Nixon’s strategy as a “scheme to manipulate,
intimidate, control, and evade the press” to his obvious advantage. In short, the press was given
the a lot of harmless material to cover but the real meat and potato issues were delivered directly
by the president through numerous prime time television appearances. It was successful until
1973 when Judge Sirica read the McCord letter in open court, noting political pressure and
perjury, which exposed White House lies and eventually led to Watergate.
As the administration collapsed around him, Nixon referred to journalists as either “clowns who
write for the media” or the eloquent “sons of bitches.” There were accusations, resignations and
lawsuits in the months prior to Nixon’s impeachment in August of 1974. But as Grossman and
Kumar suggest in The White House, News and Media, there was a cooperative relationship
between Nixon’s deputy press secretary (Gerald Warren) and director of communications
(Herbert Klein) even in the final days of the Nixon administration. For example, David Broder of
the Washington Post (the paper that broke the Watergate scandal) had full contact with White
House representatives even when their boss was attacking the publication. Particularly in the
case of reporters assigned to the White House who are close to their subject matter, there are
typically phases of their relationship; Alliance (within the first few months of an administration),
Competition (usually by the end of the first year in office), and Detachment (which is in relation
to the major events of the day) in which they stop trying to change the other’s behavior.
In Nixon’s case, the detachment phase might have been earlier and harsher than anyone else
before or after. Of perhaps a more recent example (such as William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton, 42nd
President of the United States), would be an interesting mass media case study for two important
reasons: 1) To see if the media’s reaction to scandal has changed over the years, and 2) To see if
the press would act differently toward a “popular” president during a scandal. I’m looking
forward to making the comparison in Part II and I sincerely hope you’re just as curious too…
Part II: Abraham Lincoln
“Accused of changing the rationale for 'his' war, and hounded for mismanaging it. Derided as
an uninspiring public speaker. Belittled as an idiot. Blamed for dividing the nation. Charged
with incompetence in his administration. Accused of trampling on the Constitution. Engaged
in censorship and manipulation of the press. Mockingly compared with HYPERLINK
"http://www.primates.com/"lower primates. Pressured for a key Cabinet Advisor's
resignation. Of course, we're referring to Lincoln.”
- from the blog ‘Mister Snitch’, August 2005
INTRODUCTION
Unlike Abraham Lincoln, President Nixon hasn’t been treated kindly by history. He’s still the
subject of jokes, exaggerated Halloween masks and a glaring example of all that could go wrong
with a presidency (with the possible exception of Bill Clinton). Both Nixon and Clinton left
office after deeds thought to be unbecoming the highest public office in the country, if not the
world. But I’m not shedding any light on the subject because it’s part of our recent shared
history. Everyone knows that countless media outlets expressed both their opinion and the
public’s outrage, taking a shot at both presidents whenever possible.
But when John Wilkes Booth took a shot at President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, it was
fatal. Yet when Lincoln is mentioned now, the first thing that pops into one’s head is the iconic
imagery that represents one of history’s best …ever. From monumental statuary to the currency
in just about everyone’s pocket, Honest Abe is often portrayed as the face of America itself –
perhaps second only to George Washington.
Because of the passage of time and generations of unexamined history, most don’t know two
important facts, 1) that the press was as harsh or harsher on Lincoln in the 19th century then any
20th century president has experienced, and 2) a lot of what Lincoln was accused of at that time
can be compared to President George W. Bush today. In the following pages, we’ll tackle both
issues by examining the mass media’s handling of news then and how presidential history is
repeating itself through the press now.
LINCOLN & THE MEDIA: EARLY YEARS
He was born in a one-room log cabin on February 12, 1809 to uneducated farmers, Thomas and
Nancy Lincoln. Both saw financial hardships, often due to proving land ownership claims, which
might have been a primary reason for their son eventually studying law. With only 18-months of
formal schooling, their son Abraham was mostly self-educated but possessed an unquenchable
thirst for knowledge. Lincoln read countless books over his lifetime with The Life of George
Washington being his favorite. At 23-years of age, he ran unsuccessfully for the General
Assembly of Illinois in 1832 but was elected to Illinois State Legislature in 1834. Lincoln taught
himself law during his term and gained admission to the bar just three years later.
It’s important to know Lincoln’s modest beginnings and illustrate his character so one can make
a fair comparison to the press coverage he initially received as Sangamon County’s
Representative in the Illinois House, serving for four consecutive terms. But Lincoln also dished
out healthy amounts of criticism during this period, specifically toward Democrat and State
Auditor James Shields. He wrote several anonymous, scathing articles about Shields until
Lincoln was found out and challenged to a duel. Lincoln, being far taller at 6’4” and having
extraordinarily lengthy arms, selected “large Cavalry swords” as the weapon to be used. Shields
cancelled.
References
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Carwardine, Richard. 2006. "Abraham Lincoln and the Fourth Estate: The White House and the
Press during the American Civil War." American Nineteenth Century History 7, no. 1: 1-27.
Feldstein, Mark. 2006. "A Muckraking Model: Investigative Reporting Cycles in American
History." Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 11, no. 2: 105-120.
Towne, Stephen E. 2006. "Killing the Serpent Speedily: Governor Morton, General Hascall, and
the Suppression of the Democratic Press in Indiana, 1863." Civil War History 52, no. 1: 41-65.
http://mistersnitch.blogspot.com/2005/08/bad-press-for-president.html
Feldstein, M. (2004, Summer). Fighting Quakers. Journalism History, 76-90.
Fellow, A. (2005, Spring). Nixon & The Press. American Media History, 349-352.
Grossman, M., & Kumar, M. (1979, Spring). The White House and the News Media: The Phases
of Their Relationship. Political Science Quarterly, 37.
Senter, R., Jr., J., & Reynolds, L. (1986, Spring). The Presidency and the Print Media: Who
Controls The News?. Sociological Quarterly, 91-105.