"A Wonderful Institution"

Except when advertising for a cook. George Washington shunned contact with the press until he was ready to quit the presidency. Then he called in the editor of the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser and asked him to run the text of the Farewell Address. Not until Woodrow Wilson did a President establish the formal, regular White House press conference. Last week, just 43 years after Wilson launched it. President Eisenhower gave the conference his blessing as "a wonderful institution.''

For all his idealism in founding the conference as a vehicle for "the precious freight of opinion," stiffly academic Wilson never grew to feel Ike's enthusiasm for it. Within a year, after newspapers began speculating on whom his daughter Margaret might marry, Wilson soured on the press, lectured his conferences on invading his family's privacy. Finally he gave up the sessions, pleading the pressure of his World War I duties.

Off the Record. Warren Harding, who was once a newspaper man himself, resumed the conferences but did most of his talking on an off-the-record basis. When an on-the-record blooper brought him into collision with Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes, Harding also clammed up. Thereafter, he demanded that all questions be submitted in writing well in advance, and answered only those he chose. The same technique was used by Calvin Coolidge, who was allergic to direct quotations and usually insisted on having even his indirect quotations attributed to "a White House spokesman." Herbert Hoover also required written questions, and almost abandoned conferences altogether toward the end of his term. Franklin Roosevelt was the first President to master the press conference, and was its alltime king of repartee as well. Harry Truman tried to use the same methods, though his off-the-cuff answers often landed him in trouble. But F.D.R. and Truman rarely let themselves be quoted directly, and both cooled noticeably toward the conference as their years in office lengthened.

When he first took office, it looked as if Ike might return to the Hoover pattern. As a candidate, he met the press with plain misgivings, and his election sparked widespread speculation that he might go back to written questions and answers. It took him almost a year to overcome his distaste for the sharp questioning at the conference. Since then, his enjoyment of press conferences--like his skill in handling them--has grown steadily.

Unlike his predecessors, Ike rarely invokes a flat "no comment." More often, in declining to answer a question, he adds, "but I will say this--," thereby usually giving the newsmen something they can print. The President's growing confidence led to broadcasting the sessions on radio and TV from film and tape, thus putting the President's words to the press on public record in direct quotes for the first time. While Presidential Press Secretary James C. Hagerty reserved the right to snip pieces out of the tape or film, he has rarely used it.

Congratulations, Last week Ike told the 194 correspondents how much he has come to enjoy the conference. Said he:

"While I have seen all sorts of statements that Presidents have considered it a bore and it is a necessary chore to go through, it does a lot of things for me personally.

For one thing, at least once a week I have to take a half hour to review in my own mind what has happened during that week, so that I don't make errors just through complete inadvertence and failure to look them up. Moreover, I rather like to get the questions because frequently I think they represent the kind of thinking that is going on. I congratulate you, and I hope you continue another 43 years."

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