Word: ziegler
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That leaves reporters with Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler, 30, whose approach to disseminating information is as conservative as Barry Goldwater's politics. Twice daily, Ron Ziegler faces 40-odd questioners in the crowded White House briefing room. His aim is the straightforward presentation of the news that the White House wants presented -no more, no less. That usually means explaining that a program is under discussion, a decision has not yet been made, an event is being planned. The reporters want to know why, what it all means, who said what to whom. Ziegler rarely tells them. Last week...
...sample-and all too typical-of Ziegler dialogues...
...expect him to leak secrets," says one correspondent. "But he doesn't explain when he could, or give the feel of things he sat in on." Ziegler's performance is due in part to the tight leash that leads from his neck to the Oval Office. As sometime policymakers themselves, Eisenhower's James Hagerty and L.B.J.'s Bill Moyers were allowed latitude in talking to the press. But this is Ziegler's first big Government job. He left a Los Angeles advertising firm to work on the campaign and after Nix-en's victory...
Some reporters claim that Ziegler has become overcautious because he fears repeating past mistakes. Often, the errors seem due to the fact that officials do not keep him well enough informed. Once deciphered, his B-52 answer proved to be a denial that there had been a decision to start bombing again. Five minutes later he had to reverse himself. Last May, hours after he denied knowledge of a meeting between Attorney General John Mitchell and Chief Justice Earl Warren to discuss the Abe Fortas affair, the Justice Department released news that the two had talked...
That Grin. A certain distance between reporters and the press secretary is probably inevitable. "There can never be a total meshing," says Ziegler. Yet he is personally popular with newsmen, who consider him a decent fellow in difficult circumstances. As a technician in planning the care and feeding of reporters on presidential trips, Ziegler is rated four stars. The smallest details-down to what sort of wardrobe is necessary-are handled with the smoothness that characterized the Nixon campaign...