Featured Photograph by Pete Linforth
(Here at Precocious Life we hope that you will read the entire speech for it stands among his greatest but if not here is our “Precocious Cliff Note” version, a 2-minute read)
Visceral combativeness between the Press and the President has become commonplace in our world today to the point that it seems impossible for a Chief Executive to achieve anything significant (except for issues like relief for the Hurricane Harvey victims). So, we here at Precocious Life couldn’t help but ask ourselves;
Is this really necessary? Could this perhaps have been avoided?
Short Answer – No and Yes
Which President has had the best rapport with the press? This one isn’t even a close call, it’s JFK. Not only did he win the Election because of the first Presidential televised debate but he understood the power of the media.
After all, his brother in law, Peter Lawford was a Hollywood Movie Star and in his earlier days he spent much time there as a single Bachelor rubbing elbows and it never ended.
So, he understood perhaps better than any other President before him the critical necessity of getting the media endeared to him and on his agenda. He had none of the issues with the media that Presidents do today but neither has any other President approached them the way he did.
But what we want to highlight here is the ingenuity and the incredibly intelligent way he went about this. Take a look at how he accomplished this right after being inaugurated as President.
Everyone knows what a great and Powerful speaker John F. Kennedy was but how did he win the media over so decisively and effectively? Strategy – Plain & Simple
(1) Don’t wait for the media to come to you – Go to them Entertain them and put them at ease
(2) Appeal to their sense of Journalistic Professionalism and make them feel responsible
(3) The two most powerful words in the English language – “Help Me” – Yep, he even included that
(4) He told them that he not only expected their criticism but that he Welcomed it!
Don’t wait for the media to come to you – Go to them
So here is the way he went about this. He goes to the media and accepts an invitation before the American Newspaper Publishers Association, New York City in April 1961 just a month after becoming President.
“My topic tonight is a more sober one of concern to publishers as well as editors.”
Entertain them and put them at Ease
Here he becomes an incredible storyteller and shares a story about how Karl Marx was once a Journalist for the New York Herald Tribune and but for not getting a mere $5 raise he would have remained there.
And it was because of not getting a paltry $5 raise that he turned to Social Activism (or Socialism) and he receives a hearty laugh at this little-known factoid.
“If only this capitalistic New York newspaper had treated him more kindly; if only Marx had remained a foreign correspondent, history might have been different. And I hope all publishers will bear this lesson in mind the next time they receive a poverty-stricken appeal for a small increase in the expense account from an obscure newspaper.”
“It is true that my predecessor did not object as I do to pictures of one’s golfing skill in action. But neither on the other hand, did he ever bean a Secret Service man.”
Appeal to their sense of Journalistic Professionalism and make them feel responsible
“You bear heavy responsibilities these days and an article I read some time ago reminded me of how particularly heavily the burdens of present day events bear upon your profession.”
“I want to talk about our common responsibilities in the face of a common danger.”
“But I do ask every publisher, every editor, and every newsman in the nation to re-examine his own standards, and to recognize the nature of our country’s peril.”
“Our way of life is under attack.”
“But I am asking the members of the newspaper profession and the industry in this country to reexamine their own responsibilities, to consider the degree and the nature of the present danger, and to heed the duty of self-restraint which that danger imposes upon us all.”
“Every newspaper now asks itself, with respect to every story: “Is it news?” All I suggest is that you add the question: “Is it in the interest of the national security?”
“And that is our obligation to inform and alert the American people–to make certain that they possess all the facts that they need, and understand them as well–the perils, the prospects, the purposes of our program and the choices that we face.”
He sets the Guidelines
“The only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution–not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply “give the public what it wants”–but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate…”
The Two Most Powerful Words in the English Language – Help Me!
“But I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed.”
“And so it is to the printing press–to the recorder of man’s deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news–that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.”
He told them that he not only expected their criticism but that he Welcomed it!
“I not only could not stifle controversy among your readers–I welcome it. This Administration intends to be candid about its errors;” We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors; and we expect you to point them out when we miss them.”
And He Closes with Historic Eloquence
“And so it is to the printing press–to the recorder of man’s deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news–that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.”
And so there you have it. JFK won this battle right out of the gate and until his untimely tragic end. This my “precocious Ladies & Gentlemen” is how a President wins over the media!
You can read JFK’s full speech here or, listen to a sound recording here, or watch it here.
