Evening star., 1953-10-18
Eisenhower and Press
At Odds Over Leaks
Writer Says BrowneII Made
BIunder in Warren Cuse
By Fronk R. Kent

hbSNN sNs tNGUt
One of the greatest plaques Of the
presidency is what have come to be
known as "leaks." Every President
has suffered from them and it is easy
to understand why. Probably there
is nothing about the White House
harder to bear-or harder to stop.
A leak is the means by which words,
acts, attitudes, thoughts and plans
which the President understandably
wants to keep quiet until he is ready
to make them public in his own way
Seep into the newspapers. There is
only one way in which that can hap
pen. Either the President himself or
some friend or subordinate in his con-
f1dence tells it to one or more news
papermen or tells it to some friend
who tells it to one or more newspaper
men. If the President does not want
the facts made public, it is certain he
will not leak" himself, though there
have been cases where, for reasons Of
his own, President has leaked. But
SO per cent of the leaks come from
others.
4AAAos q ACoANC1lO 10 UClC1U VI dIIy
feeling OF real security. Naturally, he
is compelled to confide in members Of
his cabinet, members of Congress and
many others whom he sees at the
White House. He never knows when
one of these is going to leak. Many of
those associated with him have per-
sonal friends among the army of WASH
ington correspondents to whom news
concerning the President is the most
important news. Sometimes these leaks
are inadvertent but mostly not. To
lot of those "close" to the President,
popularity with the correspondents
seems eminently desirable and they
are well aware that the surest way
OF making newspaper friend Is to
give him news.
This does not necessarily involve
diSloyalty to the President, but often
contributes to his discomfort. It means
that he must be on guard practically
all the time; that he never can indulge
in completely frank expression Of his
likes or dlSllkeS. He never knows whom
wholly to trust. The temptation to
leak is often irresistible on every level
OF public and political life. The execu-
tive sessions of the United States Sem
ate present fine example. At these
sessions the press galleries are cleared,
the doors closed and the understanding
clear that no Senator present will di-
vulge the proceedings Yet there have
been few executive sessions in Senate
history at which, within a few hours
OF adjournment, newspapermen were
not in possession of all that transpired.
1t has become accepted that few ad-
m1n1strative secrets can be kept very
long. The reasons for this state of
affairs are: Cd Appreciation by poll
tlcianS and public officials of the
great value of favorable publicity: (2)
certainty that every newspaperman,
while appreciating the leak, will al
ways protect his source. This situa-
tion favorS the correspondents able to
establish the necessary close personal
relations but operates against the great
majority who cannot. Under Mr..
Hoover, who thoroughly disliked press
conferences but had number of per-
Sonal newspaper friends to whom he
talked freely the bulk Of the cor
respondents were angry and aggrieved.
When Mr.. Roosevelt came in he de-
clared there would be no "favorites,"
that all members of the press would
be treated alike. He did not keep this
promise and there were times when the
press protested-but, because they were
nearly all Roosevelt, not very
vociferously.
Now. under Mr.. Eisenhower, the
press is again mad" with the Presi-
dent because of highly publicized
leak by Attorney General Brownell.
For one with reputation for shrewd-
ness Mr.. Brownell seems to have done
stupid thing. Instead of leaking the
appointment of Gov. Earl Warren as
Chief Justice to one man, which he
could have gotten away with, he called
five selected correspondents to his
home and leaked to them. That, in
evitably, became known and several
hundred correspondents not among the
chosen were naturally resentful. This
resentment fared up at the Eisenhower
press conference the day after Mr..
BroWnell leaked. The President re-
sented being cross-examined on the
subject
The result is that the relations be.
tween the President and the press are
really strained. ..