February 16, 1968
Page 3231
GOVERNMENT PRESS SECRETARIES
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, an appreciation and understanding of how the world learns about many of the important news developments at the White House, Department of State, and the Department of Defense is extremely valuable today.
In an era of fast-breaking, crucial news stories, the capacity of individual citizens to interpret for themselves the significance of each story is essential to the strength of our Nation.
News correspondent Donald R. Larrabee recently described the men who speak for the President, Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of State, in a feature story for the Portland, Maine, Sunday Telegram.
Mr. Larrabee profiled Presidential Press Secretary George Christian, the State Department spokesman, Robert McCloskey, and the Defense Department spokesman, Phil Goulding. Mr. Larrabee's description of these men's jobs and the sensitivity of their work is especially significant today, and I ask unanimous consent that Mr. Larrabe's article appear in the RECORD at this time.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
DON LARRABEE TAKES YOU BACKSTAGE IN CRISIS NEWS
WASHINGTON. – In the White House at high noon last Monday, after a weekend in which the crisis over the USS Pueblo had gotten no better or no worse, George Christian, 41, the rotund, pleasant, impassive presidential press secretary, held his regular briefing with reporters. He said virtually all that anyone in government would say – officially at least – that day.
Christian's is a powerful voice because it is the voice of the President and, indeed, the Administration. He speaks with authority and he never speaks without the President, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense knowing generally what he will say, on matters of global importance.
Before he enters the room to face the regular White House reporters – and the dozens of others who are attracted to the Executive Mansion by an international crisis – Christian has already:
Spent vital minutes with the President himself, possibly in his bedroom, reviewing the latest intelligence reports and the current status of our Korean involvement. He has a thorough understanding of the President's purpose and the Government's posture.
Conferred with Richard Moose, foreign service officer, borrowed a few months ago from the State Department to work with the President's national security adviser, Walt Whitman Rostow.
Moose has talked with high-level officials at the State and Defense Departments, going over the existing situation point-by-point and laying the groundwork for the "policy line" that will be voiced throughout the Government during the day.
Checked with the official spokesman at the Defense Department, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Phil G. Goulding, and the State Department's official press spokesman, Deputy assistant secretary Robert J. McCloskey. These men decide on where the responsibility will rest for making certain statements. The important point is that Goulding and McCloskey know basically what the White House will tell the world when the regular late-morning briefing is held. There will be one voice and one policy position and McCloskey, in his routine 12:30 briefing with State Department correspondents, and Goulding, in his more informal chats with the Pentagon reporters, will not deviate from it.
When the "briefing" call is sounded at the White House, especially in a time of crisis, one word can be important – and world capitals are listening. The press corps knows the cautious, taciturn Mr. Christian will not open his mouth unless he has the word straight from the President.
Cape Elizabeth's Harold (Hal) Pachios, who was part of the White House press staff until a few months ago, put it this way: "Every word attributed to the President is significant. Every sentence will be taken apart and put together again 15 times, not only by the press in this country but also by intelligence forces of foreign countries."
On this particular Monday, after a grim uncertain weekend, Christian has in his hand a carefully-prepared statement which he will either read or use as a basis to answer questions. He begins by calmly stating that he expects the President will be meeting off and on during the day with senior advisers on the Pueblo situation ... just as he has been over the weekend and for the past few days. The President has talked with McNamara, Rusk, Rostow and others by phone.
"Can you characterize where it stands now?" a reporter asks.
Christian glances down at his notes and proceeds, without emotion: "We're continuing our efforts to reach a peaceful solution. The security council is meeting again this afternoon. There are a number of other channels available to us which are active at this time. It wouldn't be desirable to discuss these. The International Committee of the Red Cross is attempting to contact the North Korean Red Cross to get information on the crew and the identity of our casualties. We've heard nothing further on this since the request was made to the Red Cross last Friday."
"Has the president been in contact with (Soviet) Premier Kosygin?"
Christian repeats that there are some things that can't properly be discussed. He then moves on to an obviously prepared text. He emphasizes the United States is engaged in a "prudent, orderly and limited deployment" of its forces in the area. He calls attention to the President's remarks of the previous Friday that these moves are "precautionary". He reiterates that these matters will not be discussed in specifics at the White House briefings.
A reporter says he heard former Under Secretary of State George Ball predict on a television show that the Pueblo's crew would be released in two weeks. Christian gives no credence to the thought that there is any official timetable. He smiles when the reporter says Ball was willing to bet $10 the men would be released. "I hope he wins," says Christian.
"Do we know where the men of the crew are?" he is asked.
"I would hesitate to speculate," Christian replies.
That's it – and the reporters move out to file stories which they can attribute to the White House.
The quotes are those of George Christian, Press Secretary. But the office of the President of the United States stands behind them.
Christian' a 41-year-old native Texan who began his newspaper career as a sports writer in Temple, Tex., came to the White House via professional political press chores for two Texas governors, including the current one, John Connally. He moved into his present job when Bill D. Moyers left the President about two years ago.
Although many reporters find him difficult to take, since he seemingly has so little to give in the way of hard news, Christian is probably the ideal spokesman for a man like Lyndon Johnson. They now understand Christian is entitled to be present whenever and wherever there's a "happening" involving his boss.
To gather new material for this Telegram article. I saw George Christian in his office after the briefing last Monday. Christian unwound slightly and explained his role and his approach to the job of chief information coordinator for the most powerful government in the world:
"Normally, I talk to the President at least twice a day in advance of my morning and afternoon press briefings. But, in reality, we keep a running dialogue all day long. The main protection I have is that I attend everything the President attends. Anything he does, I have a right to be there. If you're oblivious to what's going on, you're helpless."
Our talk was interrupted by a call from State's Department spokesman Robert McCloskey who had just completed his noon-hour briefing of the press. Christian confirmed that he had voiced the official line for the day. McCloskey said there had been nothing untoward at his briefing. He had answered a question clarifying our Vietnam position on a bombing halt. Christian had not been asked the question. If he had, the White House Press Secretary was prepared to give the very answer given by McCloskey.
Christian said, with an audible sigh, that things had gone well around town since the Pueblo crisis erupted. The lines of communication with the Pentagon and State Department now seem well established. But Christian lives in fear that there will be a breakdown.
"The magnitude of it causes the whole thing to wobble some times," he remarks, recalling the uproar last June during the Middle East crisis when McCloskey told his "briefing" that the United States was intent on being neutral in thought, word and deed.
"It didn't take us long to realize that what he said had been construed rather hard," Christian recalls. "He didn't mean it quite the way it sounded, as if the United States was above assuming any responsibility in the situation.
"I didn't want to leave the White House and McCloskey in complete conflict: But I’m afraid I did an inadequate job of trying to explain the difference between neutrality and non-belligerency. Finally, I prevailed on Secretary Dean Rusk, who was at the White House, to see the press as he left the building. He drew the proper distinction and it helped. After all, Rusk was someone to quote who overrode both me and McCloskey."
M'CLOSKEY
Aside from a crisis situation of the current variety, Christian likes to operate with a "minimum of overlay" in relation to his counterparts at State and the Pentagon. He admires and respects McCloskey and Goulding, both former newsmen who have proven their good judgment. Bob McCloskey, who joined the Department as a foreign service staff officer some 12 years ago, has been in the Bureau of Public Affairs since 1957. He worked for a paper in Bethlehem, Pa. and with the Associated Press before entering government service.
Christian says he feels the State Department, generally speaking, ought to be the spokesman on foreign policy "and I want to keep the White House out of any detailed discussion of things that ought to be handled in State Department briefings."
The White House Press Secretary adheres to the view that the State Department is more closely in touch with developments, moment to moment, and in a better position to keep conflict at a minimum if there's not too much White House involvement.
GOULDING
By the same token, he would rather leave detailed discussion of military leaders in the expert hands of the very affable and capable Goulding who, while on the job for only about one year, had been a deputy to former Pentagon Press Chief Arthur Sylvester for about two years. More importantly, Goulding spent 15 years in Washington for the Cleveland Plain Dealer where he specialized in military and defense coverage.
Goulding, incidentally, has two deputies who know their way around the Pentagon which is both a mental and physical feat. They are Richard Fryklund, long the respected military editor of the Washington Evening Star and Dan Z. Henkin who covered the Pentagon for the Journal of the Armed Forces.
Old Pentagon hands see not much difference between a crisis situation and the day to day operations in the long corridor that separates the regular Defense Department press corps and the civilian brass.
"Goulding sees the Secretary every morning and throughout the day, as necessary. He's kept up to date. He can get special briefings from anyone when he needs to. He keeps in touch with the State Department and the White House at the public affairs level. He's very close to McNamara (and presumably will be with Clark Clifford, the incoming Secretary).
"When Goulding gets ready to drop around to the press room to give one of his irregular briefings, he might pick up the telephone and call McNamara to tell him what he proposes to say – just to be certain he's in line. Goulding's office is pretty much open all day. He runs an informal shop," one of his close associates explained.
BACKGROUNDERS
When Christian, McCloskey and Goulding speak at their formal briefings, they are usually quoted in their capacities as official spokesmen. But no examination of Washington news coverage would be complete without at least a cursory glance at the way news is developed from the unofficial sources who must not be identified, except as "Defense officials" or "high government sources" or "usually well informed sources." There are a variety of attributory expressions which are supposed to lend authenticity to the views.
In the Pueblo crisis – as in all others – newsmen are desperately trying to get something more than what is being offered by the official spokesmen. They seek out the known workhorses in the State Department and the Pentagon, the advisers and the experts who help to shape decisions.
They may not learn any real secrets but they quite possibly will obtain clarification so that an interpretative article can be written, stating that "The real meaning of today's events is . . . etc.”
In this context, a Defense Department news officer referred to the Pentagon as a "five-sided sieve". He hastened to assure me that military men are not leaking defense secrets willy-nilly but he indicated that many are willing to talk privately within their area of competence.
This is not necessarily bad, if it helps a reporter's understanding of a complex defense development. But the situation can get a bit sticky when a man, like Gen. William Westmoreland comes to town and agrees to visit a few newsmen for an off-the-record "backgrounder."
The General last Fall attended a private party at the home of the Baltimore Sun's military writer Charles Corddry. He agreed to talk without any of the reporters present attributing the remarks to him. Westmoreland made news at the dinner and some of the reporters who were not present were able to report the source of the information on our plans to turn over more of the fighting to the South Vietnamese.
The "backgrounder" is, in fact, a journalistic ritual in Washington nowadays. Almost every Thursday, Secretary McNamara meets with a little band of Pentagon journalists to talk over weapons, budgets, strategy and politics. Usually, the American people learn next day about what U.S. officials think. They are not told that the thinking is that of the top U.S. defense official.
A similar performance takes place at the State Department, usually around 6 p.m. on Fridays. Secretary Rusk's remarks may appear as coming from a "high official", "people in a position to know" or "government experts."
There is a danger, the critics say, that reporters may swallow the material that arises from backgrounders, without realizing that some people use them to promote pet projects and policies.
George Christian indicated that the White House often gets trapped by a remark made by a foreign diplomat which can't be refuted easily but which tends to lend credence to the "credibility gap" charge.
"We're defenseless against this sort of thing," he said.
There have been instances, though, when newsmen have been contacted by diplomatic representatives of other countries to become intermediaries with the Government. The most notable recent publicized incident was that of ABC's John Scali who was picked by the Soviets to play a key role in diplomatic negotiations at the height of the Cuban missile crisis.
During the Kennedy years, Press Secretary Pierre Salinger deliberately set out to coordinate all important news of the executive branch because of the embarrassment of the Eisenhower Administration in the U-2 incident. Salinger said the Administration's response to that incident in 1960 was an "information catastrophe". Within hours of the time Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Communist Armenia, four different Washington press officers put out four different stories. We appeared to be lying in our teeth, as Salinger put it.
And so Kennedy's press officer formalized the clearance of top-level information at the White House level. He felt strongly that the President had a right to expect that his Administration would speak with one tongue and in support of his policies.
Christian told me he has abandoned the coordinating committee and holds no such meetings. He himself, is part of the important "Tuesday lunch" at the White House where top officials of the State and Defense Departments, CIA Director Richard Helms and one or two officials on the security staff may well reach some of our most important life-or-death decisions. Because he is part of this inner circle, Christian is not operating in a vacuum when he speaks.
Presidents Kennedy and Johnson have been more accessible to reporters than any of their predecessors. They have met with them privately and tossed their ideas around with the clear understanding that the views were not to be attributed to the President. Generally, this sort of thing does not happen in a period of crisis, however.
Ted Sorensen says Kennedy's general experience, particularly with the State Department and the Pentagon, was that those who knew, didn't tell and those who told, didn't know. Sorensen, who was Kennedy's right hand man, recalls that the late President's general rule was to say relatively little to a newsman in confidence, even off the record, that he could not afford to have published. President Johnson has followed the same practice.