Presidential Press Conference

Theodore Roosevelt was the first President to utilize the privately owned press as a means of frequent communication with the public. Wishing to make his office a “bully pulpit,” he pursued influence over news as one means to that end. Theodore Roosevelt was the first to initiate close and continuous ties with reporters, and may be accurately called the founder of presidential press conferences. He brought the press into the White House literally as well as figuratively. The tale goes that he looked out his window one rainy day and saw a group of reporters manning their usual post by the White House gates. Their purpose was to question those coming and going from the White House and in that way to gather news or leads. When T. R. saw them miserable, wet, and cold, he ordered that there be a room in the White House set aside just for them.2 In doing so, T. R. granted them a status they had never previously enjoyed and would subsequently never lose.

 

The presidential press conference under T. R. was firmly in his control -- he made all the rules. He made “off the record” statements, meaning that what he said could not be quoted or alluded to in any way. This stricture held even if the reporters received the same information from another source.3 T. R. used “off the record” remarks to educate the reporters. He hoped to foster what he considered to be more accurate (and sympathetic) reporting; he also wished to flatter the correspondents by taking them into his confidence. Moreover, T. R. would “leak” information by allowing a story to be printed which did not reveal the source.4

 

As the first President to engage the press, T. R. enjoyed all the opportunities available to one who works without the constraint of precedent. T. R. picked and chose those he would allow to attend these sessions; he used the conference as an occasion for reward and punishment, screening out the reporters who were the least likely to be sympathetic to his policies.5 The meetings themselves were also one-sided. T. R. talked (usually while under the blade of his barber’s razor) and the press listened. It was more of a lecture than an exchange of questions and answers.6 Although T. R. had called the press in from the cold, he did not allow the reporters to forget that they were the President’s guests.