Word: nessen
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...there was the vague feeling back in Washington, even in the White House, that none of this would cure the new malaise very much. At the Vail branch of the White House, Ron Nessen, the President's press secretary, attributed the problem to dog days, and indeed, Sirius the Dog Star, which governs this temperamental season in mythology, seemed to have an unusual hold on the affairs of state...
Shortly after Hersh's CIA story, White House Press Secretary Ron Nessen called Clifton Daniel, the Times Washington bureau chief, and told him that invitations were being sent for an "informal" lunch with the President. On Jan. 16, seven top Timesmen were ushered into a small dining room in the East Wing for lamb chops with Ford, Nessen, Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld, Economic Adviser Alan Greenspan and Special Consultant Robert Goldwin. The gathering was cordial, though Ford occasionally interjected "Now this is off the record" and "This is not for public." Talk eventually turned to the Rockefeller commission...
Ford's Concern. Afterward, the editors gathered in Daniel's office and agreed that since the lunch was off the record, the Times could not print the President's disclosure. When Daniel tried to get Nessen to relent and put the quote on the record, the press secretary stood firm. A day or two later, Daniel chatted with Reporter Hersh about the CIA's possible role in foreign assassinations, but Daniel says he did not reveal the President's mention of the subject; in any case, Hersh kept busy on the story's domestic...
...assassination trail? Government and corporate officials occasionally try to "lock up" news organizations with strategically placed not-for-publication disclosures. In the President's case, it is unlikely that he spoke out of guile. "I don't know how devious the President is," answers Ron Nessen, "and I'm not going to ask him." Managing Editor Rosenthal sees no skulduggery in the President's remark. Says he: "How did he know that we would respect the off-the-record part...
...Nessen, LL.D., White House press secretary...