The Press and the Presidency; From George Washington to Ronald Reagan

New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. viii, 583, [1] pages. Footnotes. Sources. Index. John Tebbel (1912-2004) was an American journalist, editor, educator and media historian. Among other achievements he is know for his A History of Book Publishing in the United States, a 20-year effort published in four volumes from 1972 to 1980. In 1935 and began his career as a writer and newspaperman, serving as city editor for the Isabella County, Michigan, Times-News. He wrote for Newsweek magazine and worked as a reporter for the Detroit Free Press. In 1941 he became managing editor of the American Mercury. Two years later, he joined the Sunday staff of the New York Times, became an associate editor of the publishing firm E. P. Dutton & Co., and acted as an associate in journalism at Columbia. He served as chairman of the Journalism Department at New York University, and in 1958 was named the first director of their Graduate Institute of Book Publishing. Tebbel was a regular contributor to the Saturday Review and other magazines. Derived from a Kirkus review: A scholarly dissertation on the historically-troubled relations between presidents and their contemporary journalists. Both coauthors are professors of journalism in New York. Starting right in with George Washington, the press assumed its adversarial role, limited in its criticisms only by the sheer august reverence with which Washington was held by the populace. But even with its limits, the press still managed to get under Washington's thin skin enough to cause him to insert an admonitory paragraph in his Farewell Address. John Adams will always be remembered for his Alien and Sedition Acts, which clamped the lid on press criticism in a manner that would be considered downright imperial were it attempted by a modern president. No president was immune to discordancies with the Fourth Estate. In ending their survey with Reagan, "the great communicator," the authors suggest that manipulation, if not checked by journalists, will cause a resurgence of the Imperial Presidency. Condition: Very good / Very good.

Keywords: U.S. Presidents, Press and Politics, U.S. Politics and Government, Journalists, News Media, James Blaine, Francis Blair, Censorship, Charles Dana, Horace Greeley, Newspapers, Theodore Roosevelt, Joseph Pulitzer, Thomas Richie, William Allan White

ISBN: 019503628X

[Book #78906]

Price: $45.00