For much of our history as a nation, the first
140 years to be precise, there was no formal position as White House Press
Secretary (WHPS). However, over the past 88 years, 12 Administrations, and 15
Presidents, we have had 30 people, and counting, serve in that capacity, plus at least two people who served as Acting, or De Facto in the job. Twenty-three of
those, twenty-five if you count the interims, served during my lifetime. One,
James Hagerty, who held the position during the entire Eisenhower
administration, stands out for having had the longest tenure on record (8
years, or two entire Presidential terms).
The WHPS is a senior White House official whose principal job is to serve in the role of
spokesperson for the executive branch of the United States government
administration, particularly for the President, senior executives, and for
policies articulated by the administration. Key responsibilities of the office
include collecting information on matters taking place within the administration,
and articulating the administration’s reactions to events and developments worldwide. The WHPS
regularly interacts with the media, typically including daily briefings with
the White House
press corps.
The individual occupying the position serves by
the appointment and at the pleasure of the President. This position does not
require the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate. Despite this distinction, the position is
considered a very prominent post.
Chart Listing White
House Press Secretaries
#
|
Officeholder
|
Term
start
|
Term
end
|
President
|
|
1
|
March 4,
1929
|
March 16,
1931
|
|||
2
|
March 16,
1931
|
March 4,
1933
|
|||
3
|
March 4,
1933
|
March 29,
1945
|
|||
4
|
March 29,
1945
|
May 15,
1945
|
|||
5
|
May 15,
1945
|
December
5, 1950
|
|||
|
Acting
|
December
5, 1950
|
December
18, 1950
|
|||
6
|
December
5, 1950
|
September
18, 1952
|
|||
7
|
September
18, 1952
|
January
20, 1953
|
|||
8
|
January
20, 1953
|
January
20, 1961
|
|||
9
|
January
20, 1961
|
March 19,
1964
|
|||
10
|
March 19,
1964
|
July 8,
1965
|
|||
11
|
July 8,
1965
|
February
1, 1967
|
|||
12
|
February
1, 1967
|
January
20, 1969
|
|||
13
|
January
20, 1969
|
August 9,
1974
|
|||
14
|
August 9,
1974
|
September
9, 1974
|
|||
15
|
September
9, 1974
|
January
20, 1977
|
|||
16
|
January
20, 1977
|
January
20, 1981
|
|||
17
|
January
20, 1981
|
March 30,
1981/
January
20, 1989
|
|||
|
Acting
|
March 30,
1981
|
February
1, 1987
|
|||
18
|
Acting:
1987–1989
|
February
1, 1987
|
January
20, 1993
|
||
|
De
facto
|
January
20, 1993
|
June 7,
1993
|
|||
19
|
Dee Dee Myers2, 3
|
January
20, 1993
|
December
22, 1994
|
||
20
|
December
22, 1994
|
August 4,
1998
|
|||
21
|
August 4,
1998
|
September
29, 2000
|
|||
22
|
September
30, 2000
|
January
20, 2001
|
|||
23
|
January
20, 2001
|
July 15,
2003
|
|||
24
|
July 15,
2003
|
May 10,
2006
|
|||
25
|
May 10,
2006
|
September
14, 2007
|
|||
26
|
September
14, 2007
|
January
20, 2009
|
|||
27
|
January
20, 2009
|
February
11, 2011
|
|||
28
|
February
11, 2011
|
June 20,
2014
|
|||
29
|
June 20,
2014
|
January
20, 2017
|
|||
30
|
January
20, 2017
|
Present
|
It goes without question,
the WHPS
is, and has always been, a challenging job. In contemporary parlance, the party
in question must be comfortable and adept at spinning. Surely, he or she must
do so on a daily basis. Spinning is an art.
Dee Dee Myers, Bill Clinton’s first WHPS (he had four), said of the
practice:
“Spinning
is not lying, but rather marshaling the facts in service of an argument.”
She is not the only
practitioner to address the subject. Larry Speakes, who held the position under
Ronald Reagan, framed it thusly:
“Spinning
aims to minimize the damage by surrounding bad facts with context and good
facts.”
That’s all well and good, but at
some point, one almost has to resort to using the tactic to describe it
effectively. The Late Tony Snow, who performed the function under President
George W. Bush, said at one point:
“If it got to the
point where I thought it would cost me my credibility, I would have no choice
but to walk away.”
That was a decade or more
ago; might as well be calculated in light-years. That was
pre-Obama. Don’t underestimate the importance of that timeline marker.
Virtually everything that highlights the bright line of demarcation between the
ideological poles was heightened and super-sensitized after the 2008 Election. The
opposition slowly, surely, and systematically turned off all filters over the
course of the Obama Administration. Fast forward to today, and we see that fake news is a thing, one that has been normalized, no less, and the concept of alternative facts has been invented. Both concepts seem to have permeated
the day-to-day communications strategy of the current administration.
That leads us to the here
and now. There has been a dizzying song and dance about the propensity, and
arguably the wisdom of either taking the leader of this administration and of the
free world, literally, but not seriously, or seriously, but not literally. I
personally don’t think that nonsense even qualifies as spin. Rather, it is both
seriously and literally bullshizzle! But that’s just me. (Or is it?)
Yesterday marked Day 60 of
the current President’s first term. In those two months it’s perfectly fair to say, no
matter what the WHPS’s salary is, he
underpaid. He has unquestionably had to clean up more crap than a circus
attendant. Laying Mr. Snow’s perspective to the side, I’ve seen no indication
the incumbent has given any thought to walking away. Chances are, he’ll be
asked to leave before he decides to do so.
Two months have been more
than enough time for questions of credibility to arise. In fact, a number of
sources have suggested that Mr. Spicer has pushed the envelope hard enough and
often enough that reasonable people are within bounds to question whether this WHPS
has fractured, ruptured, or flat out obliterated even the thinnest strain of
credibility. No doubt some would suggest, and I concur, that he has not one
scintilla (of credibility) remaining.
Here is an abbreviated list
of (10) assertions Sean Spicer, in his role as Press Secretary, has made that
numerous fact checking organizations found to be patently false allegations,
including:
·
The 2016
Presidential Inauguration crowd size was the biggest ever
·
14% of the 2008 Presidential
Election voters were non citizens
·
Paul Manafort
played a very limited role in the campaign for a very limited time
·
Philip Bilden is
100% committed to becoming Naval Secretary (after CBS reported he would
withdraw, which subsequent to Spicer’s comment, he did)
·
Obama
used the British to tape Trump (After American Intelligence agencies said there was no evidence American Intelligence Agencies had done so), sparking an international incident. After that claim was also debunked, Spicer
said it was silly to equate quoting a news story to support for that story.
·
45 won more
Electoral votes than any Republican since Reagan
·
CNN retracted
statements questioning Kellyanne Conway’s Credibility
·
There was no
concern expressed about President Obama’s criticism of the Supreme Court
·
The ban (which supposedly is not a ban) was always about specific countries, rather than about Muslims (though
throughout the campaign, we were promised a Muslim Ban)
·
The Jobs Reports
were fake, but they are real now
Since most of the items
above are downright laughable, I will not spend any extra time relating the
details or timelines that refute the lunacy. I intentionally omitted the item
that kicked off the most recent kerfuffle, though I included a related incident.
Saturday before last, Mr. Spicer’s boss rendered a tweet accusing President
Obama of wiretapping him (at Trump Tower). While the FBI and the other
Intelligence Agencies have dismissed this as something that simply didn’t
happen, Mr. Spicer repeatedly indicated that his bossed “believed” it happened.
Considering his boss also believed (until mid-September 2016) President Obama was not American, and that
he saw thousands of Muslims cheering in Jersey City in the wake of 9/11, there
is obviously no accounting for what he “believes.” Having said that, I must pivot
back to my opening premise, “The 30th WhiteHouse Press Secretary: When Spinning Spun Out of Control!”
I’m done; holla back!
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Consult the links below for more
detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:
https://mediamatters.org/research/2017/01/24/renowned-liar-sean-spicer-lied-about-lying-press/215111
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