Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-11-02
Washington
Spotlight
BY Louis Lautier

vary uCtle IN form regardless OF
who the White House incumbent
is. The questions change from con-
ference to conference as the public
interest shifts from one issue to
another. A President like the late
Franklin D. Roosevelt may add
pungency to these conferences by
presenting an Iron Cross to a news
papel man like John O'Donnell of
The New York Daily News or by
telling some reporter to put on a
Ounce cap and go sit in corner.
The idea that Harry McAlpin
was the first colored newspaper
man to be admitted to White House
press conference is erroneous. When
Calvin Coolidge was president, G.
Bascom Slemp, his secretary, ar
ranged for the admission of the
first Once. Lucian Skinner. Skin
ner attended the conferences for
awhile and later joined him.
Rules for admission to White
House press conferences in those
days were virtually the same as
they are now and virtually the same
as those governing the Senate and
House Press Galleries. Skinner
was not a bona fide newspaper
man, and when the White House
Correspondents Association wanted
to get rid of Skinner, it simply in
voked the rules, with which neither
of us absolutely complied at the
time. George Durno, correspond
.ent for the International News
Service, was the president of the
association. Durno now is a major
in the Army and was assigned to
handle public relations for Presi-
dent Roosevelt on his visit to Afri-
ca, which included a stopover in
Liberia.
In the days of Coolidge, the only
credentials necessary for admission
to the White House press confer
ences was a letter from the secre-
tary to the president. Nowadays
after your application is submitted
and approved by the Presidents
press secretary, the Secret Service
checks you. When you are told to
pick up your credentials, you are
fingerprinted.
Of course, to get into the White
House grounds, you must present
your White House pass at the outer
gate. You present it again at the
outer door of the Executive offices.
The newspaper and radio reporters
they're the cream of the profess
sion-gather in the lobby and chat
ter until they're told the President
is ready. AS you go into the Presi-
dents office, you must show your
pass twice.
There is now none of the leger-
domain of the Harding and Coolidge
Administrations when no statement
was to be attributed to the Presi-
dent but statements of the Presi-
dent had to be attributed to ghost,
commonly referred to in the news
papers of those days as "a White
House spokesman" Nor do ques-
lions now have to be submitted in
writing prior to the conference
with the President exercising his
privilege of answering or ignoring
them entirely. The President ans
wers or sidesteps it, as he chooses.
President Truman answers ques-
lions without any hesitation. Some
of his well wishers fear that this
may get him into difficulties. The
impression he gives is one Of hon
esty and sincerity. A studied ans
wer might be more tactful, but the
American people are entitled to
know just what goes on in their
government and newspaper folks
appreciate an executive who does
not hedge.
The Senate and House Press Gal
leries have not yet been cracked
by any colored newspaper man. But
now is as good time as any to do
it. Every rule can be complied with.
The Negro Newspaper Publishers
Association is ready to make the
fight.