was Cater a pussy ? Ike ? Seven years later, Carter was almost as scathing about the reporters. Publicly, press secretary Jody Powell said the president was tired and not feeling well. In Carter’s diary, he offered a different reason. “Jody’s begging me to speak to the White House Correspondents’ banquet. My preference is not to do so,” wrote Carter on April 25, 1978. “They are completely irresponsible and unnecessarily abusive. I see no reason for us to accommodate them every time they want me to provide entertainment for a half hour.”Four days later, Carter again wrote about the dinner, noting that there had been newspaper criticism of his decision. He was undeterred. “I was determined not to go. They almost exert blackmail on me to attend, but I am not going to do it in the future. I don’t see how the White House press could be any more negative under any circumstances and I’d rather show a sign of strength.”
President Dwight Eisenhower had displayed no similar hostility to the press. His frequent no-shows more reflected his disinterest in Washington social events, particularly on weekends. He wrote about it in his diary on Jan. 18, 1954. Members of the press, he wrote, “are far from being as important as they themselves consider, but, on the other hand, they have a sufficient importance … to insure that much government time is consumed in courting favor with them.” He added in parenthesis, “For example, I am right now scheduled to go to a cocktail party—something I have not attended in twenty years—for the Washington press corps. … I am to drop in for the purpose, I suppose, of showing that I am not too high-hat to do so.” A friend in the press corps wrote that rather than donning a tuxedo and spending a night with reporters, Ike’s preferred night would be just him “and Mrs. Eisenhower eating on trays before the television screen, for they are both fans.” |
