The Presidents vs. The Press Professor Harold Holzer Spring 2021 Course Description The tension between presidents and journalists is as old as the republic itself. George Washington, upon seeing an unflattering caricature of himself in a local newspaper “got into one of those passions when he cannot command himself,” according to then Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Since the founding era, almost everything about access and expectation, literacy and technology has changed. At the same time, the office of the president has grown increasingly powerful. This course chronicles the eternal battle between the core institutions that define the republic, revealing that the essence of this confrontation is built into the fabric of the nation. Course Readings 1. Buhite, Russell D., and David W. Levy, eds. FDR’s Fireside Chats. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. 2. Holzer, Harold. Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014. 3. Holzer, Harold. The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle between the White House and the Media—From the Founding Fathers to Fake News. New York: E.P. Dutton, 2020. 4. Mock, James R., and Cedric Larson. Words That Won the War: The Story of the Committee on Public Information, 1917–1919. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1939. 5. Woodward, Bob, and Carl Bernstein. All the President’s Men: The Greatest Reporting Story of All Time. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012. Course Requirements ● Contribute to nine discussion boards ● Complete five short papers (1–2 pages) ● Participate in at least three Q&As ● Complete a 15-page research paper or project of appropriate rigor Class Schedule Week 1: February 4: “Malignant Industry”: George Washington Readings ● Holzer, The Presidents vs. the Press, xiii–xix and Chapter 1 Assignments ● Discussion Board One Week 2: February 11: Toothpicks out of Pens: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson Readings ● Holzer, The Presidents vs. the Press, Chapters 2 and 3 ● Thomas Jefferson to John Norvell, June 11, 1807, Library of Congress, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-5737 Assignments ● Discussion Board Two ● Short Paper One due February 17 o Write a response paper - You can respond to the prompt created by your section professor, or to one of your own design. Q&A Session One: Thursday, February 18 - 8:00-9:30 p.m. ET Week 3: February 18: The President vs. the “Aiders and Abettors of Treason”: Abraham Lincoln Readings ● Holzer, The Presidents vs. the Press, Chapter 5 ● Holzer, Lincoln and the Power of the Press, Chapter 11 ● Abraham Lincoln to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mal.4233400/?st=text ● Statement to freed African Americans at the White House, August 14, 1862, University of Michigan, https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln5/1:812?rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;sort=o ccur;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=August+14 ● Abraham Lincoln to Erastus Corning (and others), June 12, 1863, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mal.2399500/?sp=1&st=text Assignments ● Discussion Board Three ● Final Paper/Project Question due February 24 o In roughly 1–2 pages, outline the question your final project or paper will attempt to answer. This should include a description of the paper or project you are proposing, some background information and historical context on your topic, a brief description of your research plan, and a justification for why your particular project or paper is worth pursuing. Week 4: February 25: The White House as News “Foundry”: Theodore Roosevelt Readings ● Holzer, The Presidents vs. the Press, Chapter 6 ● Theodore Roosevelt, “The Man with the Muck-Rake” (1906), American Experience, PBS, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tr-muckrake/ Assignments ● Discussion Board Four ● Short Paper Two due March 3 ○ Write a response paper - You can respond to the prompt created by your section professor, or to one of your own design. Q&A Session Two: Thursday, March 4 - 8:00-9:30 p.m. ET Week 5: March 4: Access, Control, and Secrecy: Woodrow Wilson Readings ● Holzer, The Presidents vs. the Press, Chapter 7 ● Mock and Larson, full text ● Optional readings o Stewart Halsey Ross, Propaganda for War: How the United States was Conditioned to Fight the Great War of 1914–1918 (2009), especially 216–265 o Alan Axelrod, Selling the Great War: The Making of American Propaganda (2009), Chapter 5, especially 88–89 o Committee on Public Information, “What the Government Asks of the Press,” in The Activities of the Committee on Public Information (1918), 6–7, Google Books, https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Activities_of_the_Committee_on _Publi/lINEAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 Assignments ● Discussion Board Five ● Revised Question and Proposed Bibliography due March 10 1. Revise your initial proposal to incorporate your section professor’s feedback, AND 2. Create an annotated bibliography containing at least five sources. Each of these sources should be followed by a short paragraph describing the source and what it will contribute to your final paper/project. Week 6: March 11: The “Best Showman”: Franklin D. Roosevelt Readings ● Holzer, The Presidents vs. the Press, Chapters 8 and 9 ● Buhite and Levy, Fireside Chats, focusing especially on 3–9, and specific radio address transcripts: o Chat of March 12, 1933 (11–17) o December 29, 1940 (163–173) o December 9, 1941 (197–205) o January 11, 1944 (282–293) o pre- and post-D-Day chats: June 5, 1944 (294–299) and June 12, 1944 (300–305) o Note: Audio versions of these chats can also be accessed via the website of the FDR Presidential Library, Hyde Park: https://www.fdrlibrary.org/utterancesfdr. Transcripts of all FDR’s news conferences are also online at the FDR Library website—we recommend the initial, March 1933 transcripts for further reading. Assignments ● Discussion Board Six ● Short Paper Three due March 17 ○ Write a response paper - You can respond to the prompt created by your section professor, or to one of your own design. Q&A Session Three: Wednesday, March 17 - 8:00-9:30 p.m. ET Week 7: March 18: Into the Television Age: Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy Readings ● Holzer, The Presidents vs. the Press, Chapter 10 ● John F. Kennedy, News Conference 1, January 25, 1961, JFK Library, https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-press- conferences/news-conference-1 ● John F. Kennedy, Address before the American Newspaper Publishers Association, New York, April 27, 1961, JFK Library, https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other- resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/american-newspaper-publishers-association- 19610427 Assignments ● Discussion Board Seven ● Short Paper Four due March 24 ○ Write a response paper - You can respond to the prompt created by your section professor, or to one of your own design Week 8: March 25: Presidents at War (with the Media): Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon Readings ● Holzer, The Presidents vs. The Press, Chapter 11 and 12 ● Woodward and Bernstein, full text, especially Afterword to the 40th anniversary paperback edition, 347–357 Assignments ● Paper/Project Preview due March 31 o Paper: Turn in a rough draft of the first five pages of your final paper. o Project: Submissions of the project preview will differ from project to project according to type. Determine an appropriate portion of your final project to turn in with your section professor. Q&A Session Four: Thursday, April 1 - 8:00-9:30 p.m. ET Week 9: April 1: “Zero Interest in Issues”? Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter Readings ● Holzer, The Presidents vs. the Press, Chapter 13 Assignments ● Discussion Board Eight ● Short Paper Five due April 7 ○ Write a response paper - You can respond to the prompt created by your section professor, or to one of your own design. Week 10: April 8: On Message: The Press and Ronald Reagan Readings ● Holzer, The Presidents vs. the Press, 305–325 Assignments ● Rough Draft due April 14 o Paper: Turn in a rough draft of the first ten pages of your final paper. o Project: Submissions of the project rough draft will differ from project to project according to type. Determine an appropriate portion of your final project to turn in with your section professor. Q&A Session Five: Wednesday, April 14 - 8:00-9:30 p.m. ET Week 11: April 15: Shock and Awe: Bush 1, Clinton, and Bush 2 Readings ● Holzer, The Presidents vs. the Press, 325–330, Chapter 15 and 16 Assignments ● Discussion Board Nine Week 12: April 22: Veneration and Vituperation: Barack Obama and Donald Trump Readings ● Holzer, The Presidents vs. the Press, Chapter 17 and 18 ● Ken Auletta, “Non-Stop News: With Cable, the Web, and Tweets, Can the President— or the Press—Still Control the Story?” The New Yorker, January 17, 2010, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/01/25/non-stop-news ● Ruth Marcus, “Obama’s Dumb War with Fox News,” Washington Post, October 19, 2009, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/10/obamas_dumb_war_with_f ox_news.html ● James Risen, “If Donald Trump Targets Journalists, Thank Obama,” New York Times, December 30, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/30/opinion/sunday/if- donald-trump-targets-journalists-thank-obama.html ● Michael Conway, “Trump’s Public Attacks on the ‘Enemies of the People’ Echo Nixon’s Private Press War—and More,” NBC News online, November 20, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-public-attacks-enemies-people- echo-nixon-s-private-ncna938481 Assignments ● Final Draft due April 28 .