Word: reston
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...admires Nixon for refusing to yield. In the same column, he wrote, "You can't blame a man for trying to save his honor and his life, and this is now obviously what [Nixon's] trying, and trying with some success, to do." Reston approaches the issue of impeachment with great reluctance. One can envision him sitting in front of his typewriter shuddering at the thought of what impeachment might do to the fragile presidency...
Obsessed with preserving the institution of the presidency, Reston pays too little attention to the fact that Nixon's presidency is not worth saving. Reston's fascination with powerful men, especially American presidents, goes back to his early reporting days. He respected Roosevelt and the way he ran the war, he admired Truman's straight-forwardness, he regarded Eisenhower as a light-weight. He both praised and criticized Kennedy, Johnson confused him, and Nixon confounded him. But while Reston could vilify the man, he maintained his awe of the office...
...women who write for The Times, none has as great a reputation as Reston. He commands the respect of his newspaper's staff and publisher; his columns are read in congressional offices, the White House, and foreign capitals. It therefore is especially disturbing that he should take it upon himself to withhold news from the American people, to decide that he knows what constitutes the public's right to know...
...most flagrant instance of Reston's selfcensorship came in April 1961. Ten days before the Bay of Pigs invasion, Times reporter Tad Szulc put together a detailed story describing the training of Cuban refugees in Miami and the imminence of an invasion. But before the first edition came off the presses, Times publisher Orvil Dryfoos--on Reston's advice--ordered several changes. The story was moved from the lead column eight position to column four, and the headline was reduced from four columns to one column. All references to the imminence of the invasion were eliminated, and information linking...
Kennedy reportedly said in 1962 that if The Times had printed all it knew, the United States would have been saved from a "colossal mistake." But Reston has maintained that disclosure would not have prevented the invasion, and that publication would have endangered the lives of the invading Cuban refugees...