How Many ‘Great Communicators’ in the White House, Anyway?

In journalism, fabricating a quote brings dismissal. In education, using another’s words merits a failing grade. But at the White House, making up a direct quote and attributing it to the President is perfectly acceptable, as long as the nation’s Chief Executive approves its dissemination.

That appears to be the message from former press secretaries and White House staffers in the wake of l’affaire Speakes, a scandal of uncertain significance that has enraged the White House and enlivened the launch of an otherwise enervating kiss-and-tell memoir, “Speaking Out,” by Reagan’s former spokesman Larry Speakes, who admits he manufactured quotes for Reagan without the President’s knowledge during the 1985 Geneva summit.

Putting words in the mouth of an otherwise articulate President is part of a press secretary’s job, explained Ron Ziegler, spokesman for Richard Nixon who now presides over the National Assn. of Chain Drug Stores. “The staff often submits quotes to a President,” he said. “But to release an attributed quote without the President’s knowledge is historically invalid.”

Nancy Reagan’s former press secretary, Sheila Tate, has little sympathy for her former colleague, who compounded his mistake of not getting Reagan’s approval by mentioning the lapse later on. “Not getting a direct quotation approved is inexcusable,” Tate said. “It’s just plain wrong.”

It certainly wouldn’t have happened under Lyndon Johnson, said George Christian, an Austin, Tex.-based political consultant who served as Johnson’s press secretary from late 1966 until the January, 1969, inauguration of Richard Nixon. “We’d have feared for our lives if we’d ever released an unauthorized quote,” he said. “Nothing went out over Johnson’s name, not even press releases announcing an appointment, without him approving it first.”

Most Presidents aren’t so fussy. In truth, a wide variety of letters and statements from the President are never seen by the chief executive. Congratulatory letters, announcements of most federal job appointments, and statements upon the deaths of most heads of government are released in the President’s name.

Ironically, the most frequent recipient of manufactured presidential quotes are journalists. Few of the 1,700 accredited White House correspondents ever see the President, yet all periodically supply their organizations with “interviews” based on a press aide’s response to written questions.

None of the direct quotes or “interviews” given to foreign publications, weekly newspapers or small-town dailies with a capital stringer ever come from the President, said Jody Powell, press secretary to Jimmy Carter.

“The quotes come from a press aide who’s careful not to break any new ground,” Powell added. “Usually the press secretary doesn’t even bother to approve the responses.”

Nobody, of course, expects politicians to write everything they say. Unsung ghost writing is as American as, well, Thomas Jefferson, who was the real author of George Washington’s Farewell Address. Though John Kennedy copped the Pulitzer, his book, “Profiles in Courage,” in reality was written by staff assistant Theodore Sorensen.

In a recent article on Washington-style plagiarism, the New Republic noted that few observers were surprised or offended when, after a campaign speech in 1972, Hubert Humphrey put away his prepared text and added with a smile, “And now for a few words of my own.”

Presidents seldom have the time or ability to craft deft prose, Christian said. When Lyndon Johnson in 1967 pondered the notion of not running for a second term, he asked Texas Gov. John Connally to put his thoughts into words. Together with Christian, Connally spent an entire afternoon writing a rationale for Johnson’s return to Texas that could be inserted in the upcoming State of the Union address.

Delayed His Decision

Johnson liked Connally’s statement, but delayed his decision, Christian recalled. In the end, after having the passage rewritten repeatedly, Johnson bowed out of politics using his own words.

If Presidents tend to be programmed in advance, it’s because extemporaneous or hastily prepared comments usually prove embarrassing. During a visit to China in February, 1972, Nixon visited the Great Wall outside Beijing armed only with remarks thrown together at the last moment. When asked what he thought of the massive structure, Nixon’s rambling response, when boiled down in the following day’s newspapers, was “I think that you would have to conclude that this is a great wall and it had to be built by a great people.”

Gerald Warren, editor of the San Diego Union, who served as deputy press secretary in the Nixon White House from 1969 to 1974, said a President’s response to the death of a head of state usually is prepared by his staff.

“When (Gamal Abdel) Nasser died, Nixon was visiting an aircraft carrier outside of Naples,” Warren remembered. “In a case like that you draft a release, then ask the President for elaboration or approval.”

No Unauthorized Quotes

During the final months of the Nixon Administration, Warren became the de facto press secretary after Ron Ziegler stopped briefing journalists. Despite intense pressure for the President’s direct response to the mounting Watergate charges, Warren said no unauthorized quotes were ever released. “We were dealing with issues of impeachment and constitutionality,” he recalled. “Even if you were ethically bereft you couldn’t manufacture a quote since it could end up in a judicial proceeding.”

In tampering with history, was Larry Speakes unethical?

Perhaps not, said George Reedy, press secretary in the early days of the Johnson Administration who now teaches journalism at Marquette University. “The role of the press secretary changes with every new President,” he said. “The press secretary owes his job to one man. He’s a convenience, not an elected official. It’s hard for me to generalize because Speakes worked for a President who is very different from the one I knew.”

Within the confines of the job, each press secretary tries to adopt his own style. For Ron Nessen, a Washington journalist for 18 years prior to becoming Gerald Ford’s press secretary, it was reporter-in-residence.

“I saw my job as that of a reporter inside the White House,” Nessen said. “I saw the President every morning and took notes at the meetings as if I were covering a story. Then I went back to the press corps and gave my report.”

‘Reflection of His Background’

A press spokesman’s performance, Nessen said, is determined by his relationship with the President and past job experience. Prior to coming to the White House, Nessen was a correspondent for UPI and NBC news. Speakes was a publicist for Hill & Knowlton. “That he looked at the job as public relations is just a reflection of his background and outlook,” Nessen said.

Now a vice president for Mutual Broadcasting, Nessen quickly added that the main factor determining job performance is a personal relationship with the Chief Executive. “Some press secretaries are allowed into the meetings, others scramble for second-hand information. Based on what happened, I don’t think he (Speakes) had that personal relationship.”

Former White House staffers confirmed that Speakes, who became the Administration spokesman in 1981 following the shooting of Press Secretary James Brady, was initially kept outside the inner circle by Michael Deaver in order to encourage Brady’s belief that eventually he would resume his duties.

Though Speakes’ access had improved by 1985, he still was unable, his colleagues said, to see the President on short notice.

“Larry had to fight to get access,” one former staffer said. “He probably couldn’t get the quote approved quickly enough.”

In the rarefied atmosphere of the White House, where staffers are encouraged to think like the President, it’s often easy to also act on his behalf.

“We called it Potomac Fever,” another West Wing veteran said. “Because people treat you like a star if you work in the White House, it’s easy to start behaving like one. You’re mentioned in talk shows and written about in books. Before long some start to feel as if they actually are a little President.”

‘A Kiss-and-Tell Book’

Though past White House employees understand why Speakes issued comments as though they were the President’s, they are surprised by his now writing about it while Reagan is still in office. “Regardless of the author’s motivation, a kiss-and-tell book always appears to be self-serving,” Warren said.

The real damage, Nessen said, is to the credibility of the institution. Future Presidents who’ve read “Speaking Out,” he said, are unlikely to be very candid with their press secretaries. “Speakes’ actions can only complicate the job of future press secretaries and raise doubts about their believability.”

Despite the Speakes controversy, the demand for bon mots will continue. “You don’t have time to talk about anything complicated on TV,” Powell said. “Communication today depends on well-honed one-liners.”

Perhaps, George Reedy added, it always has. “Everybody loves a cute one-liner,” he said with a laugh. “What about ‘Nothing to fear but fear itself.’ ”

Everyone knows who said it, Reedy said. But who remembers its author?