policy - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
Nixon preferred to have a summary of the news prepared for him. Increasingly
throughout his presidency, Nixon turned away from press conferences
in which he answered questions from representatives of the news media to
presic,%ntial speeches in which he could appeal "directly to the American
people." 49/ Nixon developed a style and format for these presentations
that proved highly effective in deaiing with his political opposition in
the Congress during his presidency and throughout the Watergate crisis of
1973-1974. 50/
Nixon's rigid approach to the media culminated in a series of
direct assaults on his perceived enemies in the news media, especially
against the television news commentators. The first salvo of the atta,:k on
the media came from Vice President Spiro Agnew in November 1969 -.t the time
of the Vietnam Moratorium march in Washington. Agnew maintained that:
As with other American institutions, perhaps it is time
that the networks were made more responsive to the view
of the nation and more responsible to the people they
serve. 51/
Concerni.ig the news coverage of one of Nixon's speeches on Vietnam, Agnew
argued:
When the President completed his address - an address
that he spent weeks preparing - his words and policies
were subjected to instant analysis and querulouis
criticism.
The audience of 70 million Americans - gathered to
hear the President of the United States - was inherited
by a small band of network commentators 6nd selfappointed
analysts, the majority of whom expressed, in
one way ur another, their hostility to what he had to
say.
It was obvious that their words were made up in
advance. 52/
The attack on the network commentators was part of a White House
plan to counter adverse media coverage of the Nixon administration. 53/
The assault was renewed in the summer of 1971 with efforts that centered on
an FBI investigation of CBS correspondent Daniel Schorr.
Again, after the
3-20
iVi;J• 5