President John F. Kennedy calling on a reporter in his first live TV press conference. He won the room and the home audience, at that time of day in the early '60s mostly stay-at-home wives and mothers.
On January 25, 1961 John F. Kennedy held his first live national broadcast press conference setting a lofty precedent for those who came after. The latest have failed the test.
In his first occupancy of the Oval Office Donald Trump ditched formal press conferences when he found himself challenged and often being bested in sparring matches with reporters from the “Fake News” media. He held joint press appearances with visiting foreign dignitaries where he would often take the bait of off-topic questions and babble embarrassingly off-script. Later he appeared for a while at daily press briefings on the Coronavirus sharing the podium with his medical experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci, hack political appointees, and Vice President Mike Pence who was put in charge of the Covid-19 Task Force. That pretty much ended when he suggested ingesting bleach as a treatment. He went “over the heads” of the media to use Twitter to stir up his followers, In the end most of his exchanges with the press were sometimes shouting answers to questions yelled at him as he boarded Marine One.
Trump in one of his daily Coronavius press conference. His attempt to portray himself as active and in charge ran off the rails when he advised people to drink bleach as a cure.
Joe Biden’s incoming administration immediately reinstated routine daily briefings by his Press Secretary Jen Psaki, which his predecessor had abandoned entirely for months at a time before a Fox News-like blonde was brought on to calmly lie. In the beginning Biden went before the microphones and cameras daily as he announced his Cabinet appointments and policy initiatives often reversing Trump fiats and fiascos, usually taking at least some questions. He promised to conduct a transparent administration and the White House Press Pool was assured that he would also conduct full-blown press conferences.
That was not to be. Over his term he had an average of only 9.25 formal news conferences a year, down significantly from his three predecessors who each had more than 20. Biden’s media advisors found that press conferences were no longer big events with live broadcasts by the TV networks. At best a 30 second clip or two might make it the evening news or float around the internet. It was easier to manage sound bite nuggets in more limited press interactions. In the long form Biden had more time to ramble and reminisce, more opportunities for gaffes which seemed to blow up from minor ripples to endless late night TV bits. As his term wore on and he seemed to be steadily declining long events were just too tiring leaving the door open to more kerfuffles.
Late in his Presidency Biden struggled in a press briefing referring Kamala Harris as "Vice President Trump and seemed exhausted and in distress.
After his disastrous debate with Trump, he stepped up events and announcements meant to showcase him as confident, able, and in charge. They did not and Biden seemed to fade out as a Saturday Night Live sketch.
In the early days of his return Trump’s compulsive need to be on camera and the star of his own show was gratified by almost hourly egregious executive orders, announcing a parade of incompetent and ethically challenged appointments, making bellicose international threats, and taking time to poke his enemies. He gauges his success by the level of outrage it raises in those who he hates. Since he hates hostile questions he will limit the opportunity to ask them. He may bring back a trick from his first maladministration—trying to revoke White House press credentials of supposed enemies and giving them to friendly alternative media—bloggers, pod casters, right wing radio, etc. He will continue to antagonize the mainstream media and speak over their heads directly not to Americans but to his own base.
An angry Trump in his first term scolding an irritating reporter in one of his increasingly
rare press conferences. In this photo note the reporter using a cell
phone to record--or perhaps even live--stream the session.
Both and Trump are old enough to remember President John F. Kennedy’s adroit use of the televised press conference to speak to the American people. On January 25, 1961 JFK had the first live TV press conference at the State Department auditorium where there was ample space for the more than 200 reporters then covering the White House. Kennedy’s good-looks, wit, and charm and a bantering style with his questioners made the broadcasts some of the original must-see-TV and helped cement the image of Camelot.
Kennedy’s press conferences were so masterful and well-remembered that many people think he invented them. Not so. Presidents have been meeting with White House press corps since at least the Woodrow Wilson administration. Before that chief executives occasionally sat for interviews but mostly communicated in speeches with the press not allowed to ask questions.
From Wilson to Harry Truman’s early presidency, press conferences, as they came to be called, were conducted around the President’s desk in the Oval Office. Other than still photographs no recordings were made. The sessions were held under the rule “for background only” meaning that the President could not be quoted directly without his permission. In fact, by tacit agreement if the President inadvertently stuck his foot in his mouth, reporters often help him craft a more tactful response. According to an article on the White House Historical Society web site:
President Truman, for example, was able to back away from a comment about Senator McCarthy that he made in a March 30, 1950, press conference. Truman said: “I think the greatest asset that the Kremlin has is Senator McCarthy.” When one of the reporters commented that the president's observation would “hit page one tomorrow,” Truman realized he had better soften the statement. He “worked” with reporters and allowed the following as a direct quotation: “The greatest asset that the Kremlin has is the partisan attempt in the Senate to sabotage the bipartisan foreign policy of the United States.”
Reporters jammed arout President
Roosevelt's Desk during an off-the-record press conference. Note the
martini shaker on the President's desk--he often held these at the
cocktail hour, good for the morning papers, not so good for afternoon
dailies.
During this period it may come as a surprise that not-so-silent Calvin Coolidge conducted by far the most of these sessions—521 or an average of 93 a year. But he seldom approved direct quotes. Franklin D. Roosevelt cultivated warm relationships with the rapidly growing press corps of the Depression and World War II often calling reporters “Boys” in an affectionate congenial way not as an insulting put-down. And of course they were, with rare exceptions, all male.
During the Truman administration the press sessions outgrew the Oval Office and the President moved them to the Indian Treaty Room in the East Wing of the Old Executive Office Building now known as Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The ornate and formal room with marble floors and vaulted ceiling had previously been used as a library for the War and Navy Departments. Initially the same off-the-record rules applied in the new venue.
Under Dwight Eisenhower the press conferences officially went “on the record.” The old informality and familiarity was replaced with more structure. The President had to prepare himself much more carefully for each encounter to avoid embarrassing misstatements or errors resulting in a dramatic reduction in how often they were conducted.
Eisenhower held the first press conference to be filmed on January 19, 1955. He announced the event as an “experiment.” It was filmed and segments were aired that evening on the short 15 minute network TV news programs and more extensive clips were sometimes shown on the Sunday morning news programs. Newsreels, which were still a staple at movie theaters also showed clips.
On January 19, 1955, photographers had their equipment set up at the back of the room as reporters take their places for President Dwight Eisenhower’s news conference. It was the first conference at which full picture coverage was permitted.
After his success during his debates with Richard Nixon during the 1960 Presidential campaign Kennedy felt both confident and comfortable on TV. He moved his first press conference from the over-crowded and noisy Treaty Room to the State Department auditorium and opted for a live broadcast. He read a prepared statement on a famine in the Congo, the release of two American aviators from Soviet custody, and impending negotiations for an atomic test ban treaty. Then he opened the floor for questions from reporters, answering on a variety of topics including relations with Cuba, voting rights, and food aid to impoverished Americans.
His successors all tinkered with the format and location.
The program broadcast during the day—and later sometimes in the early evening—was such a success that Kennedy repeated it about every two weeks, a more frequent schedule than any of his successors. Presidents Nixon and Ronald Reagan cut back the number of press conferences to approximately one every two months. They were moved to the more “Presidential” location of the East Room of the White House. And they were often held in the evening to attract a larger audience. But that annoyed viewers and outraged network executives who lost lucrative prime time advertising revenue. During the administration of Bill Clinton the networks rebelled and refused to broadcast the evening press conferences unless they were assured spectacular news would be made. Chief executives turned more and more to prime time addresses from the Oval Office in times of crisis and found multiple other ways to communicate with the press. The number of formal press conferences declined administration by administration.
Barack Obama often chose the more intimate White House Press room for his pressers. He nearly matched Kennedy's mastery of format.
The last President to seem fully at ease in the press conference format was Barack Obama, who closely studied Kennedy’s.
The press also changed. In addition to traditional print and broadcast media, alternative web-based outlets, including those with heavy political bias on both the left and right became more important and demanded to be added to the official press pool.
As for Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout we daily await our invite to the pool party.
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