"Determined not to let the press shape the public's view of his presidency, Richard Nixon established the White House Office of Communications soon after his inauguration in 1969. The media's grim portrayals of Vietnam, coupled with Nixon's own personal grievances against the press, led him to charge the new office with the task of controlling the information flow from the executive branch. Although the composition and jurisdiction of this sophisticated public relations agency have fluctuated with each administration, every president since Nixon--Democratic and Republican--has used the Office of Communications to put a favorable "spin" on presidential news. In Spin Control, John Maltese chronicles the development of this powerful White House office and its pivotal role in molding our perception of the modern presidency.

The Office of Communications manages the news, ensuring consistency from the executive branch by determining a "line-of-the-day" to be followed by members of the administration, clearing the appearance of public officials on talk shows, and staging presidential appearances to create "photo opportunities" and "sound-bites." Using up-to-the-minute polling data, the office also targets messages to particular constituencies. For instance, it provides local television stations with satellite interviews of administration officials and distributes op-ed columns, press releases, and camera-ready graphics to specialized media markets. In so doing, the office has become an effective vehicle for building presidential power. Maltese concludes that the history of the Office of Communications illustrates how the public side of the presidency has become increasingly stage-managed.

Presidents can now subtly orchestrate the symbolic spectacle of politics, set the terms of political debate, and more rapidly adjust their policies to changes in public sentiment. Drawing upon thousands of revealing archival documents and candid interviews with a wide range of White House officials including Gerald Ford, Dick Cheney, Larry Speakes, Ron Ziegler, and Charles Colson, Maltese exposes a distinctly modern form of presidential control."--Jacket.