Show D lil L U. U S. S Presidents Respect i t Members of Fourth Estate l Y I By BAUKHAGE k News Analyst and Commentator I WASHINGTON In In this post-election post calm which has settled over the domestic political scene many a vest shirt blouse or slip in the capital conceals a palpitating heart What about my government job after the glad 1 New f Year f- f The regular classified civil servants haven't much to fear They cant can't be fired without cause and no matter how thorough a new administrations administration's admin admin- housecleaning may be most of ot the furniture lands right back where It was be before ore although here and and- there you may at first fail tail to toJ J 7 recognize an old friend in hi a new slipcover f Long ago most per cent New Dealers in high places displayed the wisdom which they felt was the f W Y 1 it better part of j x 1 valor and va va- vaI I Others assumed new col col- colI col- I ors Some S om e who had not been too 1 L care careful ul previously previous previous- ly to keep the Tr I right right hand from b. b f knowing what the left hand was doing doing doing do do- ing gradually began began be be- gan grin to grow ambidextrous ambidextrous ambidextrous am am- and so soon n were able to Baukhage write the lesson I on the blackboard without exposing the wedding ring finger There is however one class of permanent Washingtonians which goes on like the brook But even individuals in this class may find the nature of their dally daily tasks differing dif di- di- di i fering slightly as administrations r change I refer of course to the Fourth Estate which now includes commentators since radio newsmen news- news men as well as newspapermen are eligible to the National Press club 1 thus establishing at least a minimum minimum minimum mini mini- mum standard of merit Naturally we who cover the White House always wonder what manner of man we are arc going to have to handle While Thile a new Incumbent is learning the art of getting his his name I favorably inserted into a WashIngton Washington Wash Wash- ington dispatch or broadcast we v have a chance to learn the care and feeding of the source of news which feeds the news to toV i V se US ns Once Dewey had a bad reputation reputation reputation tion in this regard But then most candidates are suspect before they start since it is taken for granted that they all are subject to the disease disease dis dis- ease case of which affects victims differently Coolidge for instance was perhaps perhaps per per- haps least afflicted with this malady that attacks the strongest individual individual ual when he walks under the white white- pillared portico of 1600 Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Pennsyl Pennsyl- vania avenue to stay for at least four tour years And Coolidge was about as rich in hi front page material of his own making as the clam he sought to emulate I remember a remark William Hard now an editor of Readers Reader's Digest once made to me Cal never seemed to suffer from Hard invented the word I believe believe he he is is' the thc only occupant of the White House I know of who when he lay down to take his daily siesta didn't think when he awoke that the world had gone to pieces No newsman except toward the last could complain about Franklin Roosevelt's news con con- Regardless of what one might think of his views his bis news was always alwa's printable It will be hard to produce another another another an an- other such The heavy majority of those who traveled with Dewey on his campaign campaign campaign cam cam- trips had nothing but praise I But a few of those who had experienced ex ex- ex- ex f f t his s press conferences Ii and had enjoyed enjoyed or or otherwise otherwise his his t press relations in earlier days were cynical Wait Walt they said until the honeymoon is over I I found it hard to get concrete It t predictions I myself had seen a avast 1 vast improvement in Deweys Dewey's press relations over the years since his first campaign And I see no reaSOn reason rea rea- 0 son why a person cant can't and doesn't learn On the train whenever he could I and md that is the way most of the correspondents described it it- it could not would Dewey vent went into the press car attached to his train chatted individually r r with the fellows learned to connect t names with new faces answered I questions and at least appeared t to tobe tobe be frank and free with his off of th the record remarks concerning Republican Republican Re Re- publican doubts and fears real imagined im im- or assumed He sometimes sometime S took time for a game of chess ches S with the boys There was however much less informality in the atmosphere atmosphere atmosphere atmos atmos- phere of his entourage than there was in Tho The Dewey affair moved so smoothly smooth smooth- ly that a creak or two would have been welcome Like the farmer in the poem so even ran his course of life liCe the neighbors neigh Ih bors hors thought it odd There was one man who made mad e press relations on the Dewey campaign campaign cam can train a Joy well joy well two mci men a. a t O Oie was Jim Hagerty trained r reporter re rc e- e porter himself himsel who is expected I to b be e the public relations secretary I in n the White House The other was wasa a man who probably wont won't be in Washington at all all Deweys Dewey's Deweys veteran p political adviser Edwin Jaeckle There was no conflict between the t two wo a rare situation indeed Jaeckle s supplemented Hagerty ss This would seem to contradict the s sharp harp charges of W Warren Moscow a author of Politics in the Empire S State tate which came out this fall Moscow one of New York City's t top rank political reporters who a also covered Albany claims that Dewey shut down news sources during during dur dur- J. J ing ng his governorship in an attempt t to o thwart any criticism That he heven e even ven tried to lay down a press conference conference con con- f ference rule that a question was off off the record thus covering up the fact that an answer had been g given iven not to be made public or had hadeen b been een refused Moscow asserts that Dewey wanted to be the oracle the thene theone theone o one ne and only the sole source of what should be reported If It that was true earlier in Deweys Dewey's c career the dapper New Yorker w who ho has been widely touted of late for f or being able to take advice and andor f for tor or being able to pick people who k know now how to advise has had some g good advice If It he should revert to methods such as Moscow describes t two wo things would happen first he would suffer second he would fail i in n his attempt and the effects of t the he effort might be permanently d disastrous Some presidents have tried to conduct government by dis ills disturbing disturbing the checks and bal bal- bal bal- ances It never works long and the freedom of the press is one of the checks checks checks-a a principle principle principle prin prin- ciple that is part and parcel of the American concept of government A notable example of how the v very ery weight of the news legitimate n news breaks through any wall was the he t case of the financial conference called c bj bY President Hoover just before before be be- f fore ore the end of his regime regime 1931 1931 to tobe tobe toe b be e exact Hoover had no intention whatever of deceiving the public He simply didn't understand that you couldn't have a gathering like t that hat without making an adequate e explanation of some kind At any rate just a bare announcement wa war i issued Free Press I Is Best Check The next day at the White House news conference Hoover said he would not comment on the meeting though the notice had appeared in i n the papers and that he considered considered consid consul ered it it- the duty of the press not to print anything which was only partially partially partially par par- true or else incomplete Richard of ot the New York Times one of the most beloved beloved be be- l loved oved and respected correspondents who ever covered Washington and an outstanding leader made a t tp typically typically p dignified but very emphatic protest then and there He said it was out of the question to ask the reporters not to get as complete a astory astory astory story as they could It was pointed out by another well known reporter that the press would have to havethe have havethe havethe the story and the reporters would have to get it regardless of the Presidents President's wishes The President refused at first but the reporters insisted Finally he agreed to give out an official statement statement statement state state- ment after the conference I have ha known other examples of short-lived short gag rules One which Secretary of the Treasury Treasury Treasury Treas Treas- ury l tried to establish establish lish on ou the treasury lie He issued an order that none of the treasury treasury treasury treas treas- ury officials could talk with newsmen He lie might as well have told reporters not to read the market quotations It failed Legitimate news vs continued to bo reported as it always bad had been Franklin Roosevelt had at one onetime onetime time at least 80 per cent of the newspapers against him He knew he couldn't change their editorial editorial edi edi- tonal views by giving out news to tc their representatives He also knew P that if he tried to withhold news the American people would be far fai farless less likely to support him And because because be be- cause he understood the meaning of the freedom of the press he wouldn't have thought of trying And he knew how to make it appear as favorable as possible The most effective check in a democracy is not the first second or third but the fourth estate An unenlightened public conceivably might elect a totally bad president and a totally bad congress which would establish a totally bad supreme supreme su suo su- su preme court but unless the press is gagged the public In a democracy cannot be democratically unenlightened lightened |