Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
Channel 26 WETA Public Broadcasting Washington D.C. logo. Card: "Special Report." Announcement of public television news special examining America's urban crisis and some of the solutions found by some cities to combat the crisis; show airs the following night at 10pm in Indianapolis where the International Conference on Cities will be underway.
Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
"Thirty Minutes With..." title superimposition. Program host Elizabeth Drew seated across from William Safire, Special Assistant to U.S. President Richard Nixon. Male announcer introduces show. Drew: "Mr. Safire, the President is rather open about the fact that he does have speechwriters. Presidents seem to vary in that respect. But we also hear an awful lot about the President's lonely hours with his yellow legal pad. Where does the yellow legal pad leave off, and where do the writers begin, or does it depend on the speech, or what?" Safire: "That depends on the speech. The President, it's pretty well known, can write a speech. He spends a lot of time, perhaps more than any President since Wilson, on speech writing. so that he doesn't feel he has to keep his writers in a closet somewhere, and pretend that he doesn't have them. We've come a long ways since the days writers were anonymous, and kept totally out of the picture. There are a few of us. We don't work in committee. Usually, the President picks one of us and says, 'You work on this speech with me.' We proceed to put in a draft. Again, depending on the speech, he'll either write on that draft, or chuck it back and say, 'I don't like the approach. Try this.' Or, one case, you can always tell when somebody on Air Force One is a writer reading a President's comments on a speech because..." Drew adds: "Air Force One is his plane?" Safire: "Yeah. The President will write across the top, down the side, along the bottom, up the other side. And so everybody is sitting there, reading whatever they're ordinarily reading, and somebody is sitting there reading this way, around and around, reading the President's comments on the speech." Drew: "So then you know who's done it. When you write a President's speech, or when you work on it with him, what is it that you try to do? What are the key points that you think about? Who's the audience? The catch phrase that everyone will pick up? How much detail you get in? What are the things that go into the thinking about a speech?" Safire: "First thing you think about is what point the President is trying to get across. He'll sit down with you beforehand and explain just what he's trying to do, and the timing of it, and the length of it. Most of us, Pat Buchanan, Ray Price, who's the chief speech writer, have been with him for 3, 4, 5 years. And we pretty much know, quickly, the length of the speech he decides on, and the general demeanor as he approaches it, the point of view to take. That's the most important thing to get, the point of view. Then we'll go out, like reporters, and gather the necessary information, lay it all out. And he'll look at it, then proceed to tear it apart."
Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
Program host Elizabeth Drew: "On the State of Union speech that you worked on, I believe, the new American Revolution, maybe we can take that as an example of key things... Who did you think you were talking to? The Congress? Or are you talking to the press? Are you talking to the public? Are you talking to all three?" William Safire, Special Assistant to President Richard M. Nixon: "I wasn't the lead writer on that, but actually the President drew from several different sources on that. A State of the Union is a different kind of speech entirely." Drew: "From a speech on the war, or the economy, or..." Safire: "Right. When you have a one subject speech, you get much more focus, and the President has more room to go deeply into one subject. When you have a State of the Union, the great temptation is to try to cover everything. In this State of the Union, the President said, 'I'm just going to talk about domestic affairs. I'm going to talk about foreign affairs in a subsequent statement.' That gave us a little more room to work, in 35 minutes. But the President's point in the State of the Union, which is about the new American Revolution, a phrase which draws heavily on Woodrow Wilson, who used that a great deal, and the President is a big admirer of Wilson. In this State of Union, it was important after two years, getting out of problems that were inherited, to start showing a kind of pattern of our approach to government making positive new programs relate, not just present them as separate package. As a speech, I think it was a worthwhile speech, and certainly one that stimulated a lot of comment."
Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
Program host Elizabeth Drew: "As a writer, and a literate man, now that you've worked with him all these years, are there certain characteristic Nixon styles that you would point out? That you have come to notice?" William Safire, Special Assistant to President Richard M. Nixon: "Yes. He comes from a legal background which means he thinks in terms of a brief often times, for a logical presentation. First he'll shake hands with the audience, establish some rapport. Then he'll follow the best guideline in the world. Tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you've told them, which is an introduction, a body, and a summary, and a structure to work in. It's a discipline. When listening to Nixon's speeches, you know where you are. When he talks about six great goals, and there you are on the third goal, and it comes to a conclusion. You don't soar off tangentially, although you're tempted to from time to time. So I think the basic thing about Nixon's style, in speech-writing, is that it's organized. It's structured, and goes somewhere. Then, within that style, he does like to present a challenge, lay out the challenge, and then meet it." Drew: "Is that the one where he says, 'There are those who say I should.' Is that what you mean?" Safire: "Exactly." Drew: "Now, was that a rhetorical flourish, or is that something in his personality, or what? Why does he do that?" Saffire: "It's clear that way. In other words, he says this is what I'm against, now here's what I'm for. And there's a great deal to be said for clarity in speeches. The most important thing a speech can do is make a point, get a point across, persuade... Where it fails to do that, where it gets all involved and convoluted in its own beauty, it fails. Wilson was a good speechwriter. F.D.R. was a good speechwriter. FDR, I think better than anyone, understood the value of analogy in speeches. And so he could explain Lend-Lease by a garden hose, and your neighbor's house is on fire. What do you do in a case like that? Certainly, you let him have the hose in your garden..." Drew: "But we're talking about another kind of device, which is to reject something that he says someone suggested. We're not always sure who did that suggesting." Safire: "Oh, usually it's fairly easy to determine. There's a body of opinion that thinks this, and therefore, here it is. Now, here's what I --- I do not agree."
Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
Program host Elizabeth Drew: "Another observation that a lot of people make about Nixon's speeches is a kind of hyperbole... Is that, too, a technique? Is that a way of getting attention? Or is it unfair to focus on that as something that is characteristic?" William Safire, Special Assistant to President Richard M. Nixon: "I don't think in Nixon speeches you find a great deal of hyperbole. Maybe in some ad lib remarks. I think you're referring to the moon landing as the greatest event since the creation of... whatever, which was an off-hand remark, not a part of a speech. I think just the opposite. Most Nixon speeches are fairly restrained in their rhetoric. That's why when you said something like the new American Revolution, people sit up and take notice because he doesn't do that every speech. So that when he does open up a little, it shows." Drew: "What about his fascination with statistics? This is the first this, since that, or this is the third time since that. Is that..?" Safire: "He's interested in history. I guess anybody who sits in the Presidential chair is concerned about men who sat there before. There was a meeting of the mayors who came to the cabinet room, not long ago. They all sat down, and the President said, 'Now, we sat Will Hays from Crawfordsville, Indiana, in the Postmaster General's chair because his grandfather sat in that chair in the Harding administration.'" Drew: "Now how do you know that?" Safire: "Somebody tipped him off. But he saw that as a way of reminding everyone that history takes place in that room. That people have roots. It was a charming moment, and a moving thing for Mayor Hays."
Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
Program host Elizabeth Drew: "I wanted to ask you about your observations about the Presidency. You've been an outsider. Now you're an insider. What do you think we've made of the Presidency these days? You know a man as a politician. In Nixon's case, he's a politician, private citizen. We don't have to talk about Mr. Nixon, exclusively. I mean, we elect him. You know the band starts playing 'Hail to the Chief', and helicopters, and planes start flying him all over, and making him, sort of a semi-monarch. We expect a lot of him. Do you think we expect too much of a President? Have we made it an unreal office?" William Safire, Special Assistant to President Richard M. Nixon: "I know what the conventional wisdom is. That we've catapulted the President to a combination of father image, and king, and prime minister, and everything. I don't think so. You look back over the Presidency, over the strong President, and before mass media came around, before Roosevelt-- your Teddy Roosevelts, your Jacksons, and your Grover Cleveland. These were all men who created great controversy. Love, hate, and great controversy. And you had these same demands on Presidency then. And just because you can speak to over 205 million people, rather than forty or fifty million, I don't think the nature of the job has changed that much in terms of what we expect from a President. We expect him to be a leader, and whatever a leader means to each individual is what you project on him." Drew: "And what you think a President can be, in terms of a leader, now? How far ahead of opinion can he be, or how much can he try to do that?" Safire: "I think he can do a great deal to mold opinion, and to lead. Look at the November 3rd, 1969 speech President Nixon made. Remember the moratorium was going on. It looked like the anti-war movement was getting up again. And the country was quite tense. In one speech, he came before the people, and I think his critics would agree, he did have a great effect on public opinion, nationally. Great impact. And that's the kind of a leadership a President should do. Not necessarily what's expected. When the polls are going one way, and you figure a President may want to run ahead of the parade, and appear to be the leader. He doesn't have to do that. He can affect the parade. That's, of course, the great test of a President."
Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
Program host Elizabeth Drew: "You were a public relations man in New York before you became involved with Mr. Nixon? What kinds of things did you do?" William Safire, Special Assistant to President Richard M. Nixon: "I had a regular public relations business. I was a reporter, and left that. I started a PR business to handle publicity for clients like corporations and financial houses, and places like that. A lot of builders." Drew: "Is public relations changing in this country?" Safire: "Oh, surely." Drew: "What's happening?" Safire: "That's a big question. People are beginning to realize that public relations is not just flackery, and press agentry, and getting your name in the paper. It's understanding what publics want, and understanding that there's no such thing as The Public. It's a conglomeration of many different publics. Each individual is a member of maybe a hundred different publics... To relate to the needs of your market is a good way to make a profit. And more and more companies are understanding that that's the way, in the future, the wave of the future, in doing business in America." Drew: "Is there some analogy between this and political public relations? Is that changing too?" Safire: "There's been a lot of attention paid lately to the robots in politics... Maybe too much attention because politics is still an art more than a science. All the techniques, and manipulations, and the so-called image merchants, and all, it's a good way of getting business if you're an image merchant... But it really isn't the way it happens in politics. Certainly your press relations are important. Certainly your advertising is important. But what you say is important, too. More important than the people who put down the public seem to realize." Drew: "And you think politics is changing what people look for in a politician, or a style that they like?" Safire: "I suppose the intelligent answer to a question like that would be yes." Drew, laughing: "Thank you. Good choice." Safire: "But I'll take a more antediluvian position, if you will. A lot of the things we saw in politics 50 years ago are re-appearing now in modern dress. I still feel that a strong leader with a good idea of what he wants to say can affect public opinion, and can get votes for himself, and can be the new politics whether it's the year 1840 or the year 2000."
Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
Program host Elizabeth Drew: "Well, let's say... someone came to you, Bill Saffire, not White House assistant, and said I'm going to make my first major race now, state race... and you can advise this man or woman on issues, and approach, and style. I'll just let you create this new politician." William Safire, Special Assistant to President Richard M. Nixon: "You can't." Drew: "What would you advise him, though. Not create him. How would you advise him?" Safire: "Go out. Get in the hustings. Run for assemblyman, or councilman, or something like that. If you feel you have to run first, first work on somebody else's campaign. Get the feel of politics. Get the understanding of your locality. Don't pick a locality that's so-called perfect to run in. It turns out it won't be. Do your homework, locally. Go out and meet people and find out what's on their minds, and start arguing with them, and discussing with them, like we are here. And then you don't have to hire any high-powered public relations firm right away. You can do a lot on your own." Drew: "Let's say he was going to run for the Senate tomorrow, or next year, or something like that. What would advise him on the mood of the country? How you would tell him the drift of things is going?" Safire: "Somebody who's not quite sure of himself, and wanted some advice on what the mood of the country was, and where everybody was going, doesn't really belong in politics. A role in politics, fine, but not a role in leadership. That you got to have some commitment for. You got to have a little fire in your eye, and we see a lot of it around, here in Washington... And then it's a spark, and then, sure, plenty of room at that point for good public relations men to come in and get the message across, get it through, set up a picture that's exciting."
Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
Program host Elizabeth Drew: "Let's go back to when you were in New York. I gather that you met Mr. Nixon in the course of your working as a public relations man for certain companies in the famous kitchen in Moscow in 1959. Can you tell me how that happened?" William Safire, Special Assistant to President Richard M. Nixon: "You remember the kitchen conference?" Drew: "Yeah. The kitchen debate." Safire: "I used to call it the kitchen conference... Call it the kitchen debate. Well, it was my kitchen." Drew: "Alright. Well, you can call it what you want, then." Safire: "As long as you got the word 'kitchen' in there. This was in 1959, the U.S. exhibition in Moscow, and my client, Allstate Properties, a home builder, built this house. Typical American house, which was one of maybe 100 different exhibits, and all the public relations people were anxious to get either Chairman Khrushchev or Vice-President Nixon into their exhibit, thereby focusing the attention of the world on them. Like all the rest of them, I felt the same way. We had a home that was split through the middle with a walkway so you pour the crowd through. We called it Splitnik. I lay in wait for the Vice-President outside, and spotted him as he came out of the Pepsi-Cola exhibit, and called his aide this way to the typical American house. Khrushchev and Nixon were just sort of wandering through, like a country fair, with very little security. So they went into the house. I then gave the right signal, and my confederate poured the people in from the other side, trapping the two of them in the house. Vice President Nixon, at that point, looked around, sized up the situation, took Khrushchev by the arm, and took him to the kitchen, which was a perfect place to talk about America in that context. The only trouble was I was in the kitchen and nobody else was. No reporters. At that point, Russian Secret Service began doing their job and keeping people away. Nobody could get in the kitchen. There was Khrushchev, and Nixon, and the interpreter having this fascinating discussion, and only me to listen, and I wasn't even taking notes. So I explained to the Secret Service man there, the Russian, the correspondent for the New York Times was a refrigerator demonstrator, and that the Vice-President was explaining the refrigerator to the Chairman, and that he needed him in the kitchen. So that worked and the Times man got in. And then I worked on the automatic dishwasher demonstrator." Drew: "Who was that?" Safire: "Life photographer. And then that was working so well, I tried the automatic garbage disposal unit. And unfortunately the Secret Service man said, 'What's a garbage disposal unit?' And it turned out that kitchen didn't happen to have one, so they caught me at that, and no more reporters got in."
Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
William Safire, Special Assistant to President Richard M. Nixon, continuing story of the Nixon and Khrushchev "Kitchen Debate" in Moscow, 1959: "Then Nixon and Khrushchev began to have their chat, or continuing. Nixon was very good; not belligerent, but no patsy. Handling it. Made you feel good to be on his side. It was a great moment for a picture. The AP photographer was outside the kitchen, dying to get in, couldn't get in. So he took his camera and lobbed over Khrushchev's head into my arms. I'm not a cameraman. I looked through it, punched it, and the light went off, and threw it back, over Khrushchev's head again. I never want to get a glare like that from Russian Premier again. Then it got lobbed back because I had put my hand over the aperture and shot the picture. So I took it again, and that was the very famous shot of Nixon making his point to Khrushchev." Program host Elizabeth Drew: "Nixon decided you were his kind of man?" Safire: "He did observe as he left the exhibit that he had, with the Chairman of the Soviet Union, placed that kitchen on the map, and the next year I did go to work for him in the '60 campaign." Drew: "You worked for him in the '60 campaign, and you worked for him from then on." Safire: "No. I didn't work for him on the '62 campaign. I was in New York. But after he came back to New York, in 1965 I think, I called him up and said, 'Do you need a speechwriter?' And the line was not very long. And I've been working for him, on and off, ever since." Drew: "So you've really known him for about 10 years. There's a lot of talk about him, how he's changed, or how he hasn't changed, whether there are new Nixons. Do you think he's changed during that period?" Safire: "Surely. And the way he handles that question, if you try to wiggle around the edges of the question, he'll come and say, 'What you're asking is, is there a new Nixon, right?' And that focuses it. And there has to be. Ten years ago, I don't know what you would --- there was a different Liz Drew. And there's certainly a different me. We grow and change. A man's character maybe doesn't change, but his point of view does."
Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
Program host Elizabeth Drew continues questioning how Nixon has changed over the past decade: "What are the changes that you've observed?" William Safire, Special Assistant to President Richard M. Nixon: "Internally, just the way he acts, forgetting the issues for the moment, I remember meetings in 1965 and '66-- he has a very resonant voice and it would fill the room-- he would make a point, and turn to somebody and say, 'Don't you agree?' Now, the same voice is just as resonant, but it doesn't fill the room anymore. He doesn't feel a need to project. He's quieter. Talk about lowering one's voice. He has. And the most frequent question in the staff meetings is not 'Do you agree', or 'Don't you agree', it's 'You don't agree with that, do you?' He's looking for disagreement, looking for argument, to try to get the conflict to resolve the issue. Which shows, I guess, greater security and confidence, and those things that come when you get elected President of the United States." Drew: "Any other changes that you think are important, or is that? I'll change the subject if you're tired talking about that one." Safire: "If I think one, I'll call you." Drew, laughing: "Alright. I'll give you a week."
Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
Program host Elizabeth Drew: "You've also written for the Vice-President, I gather. You're credited with some of the alliterations. Was 'nattering nabobs of negativism' one of yours?" William Safire, Special Assistant to President Richard M. Nixon: "You've just asked me-- you've broken the code." Drew: "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Safire: "It's never one of yours when your a speechwriter. If you come up with a phrase or a paragraph or a speech, and the person you're writing it for adopts it, it's not yours, it's his. He made the decision to use it. That's the key decision. I mean I could write a piece and use the phrase 'nattering nabobs of negativism' and nobody would notice. When Vice President Agnew used it, because he was the Vice President, not because the phrase was absolutely brilliant, it got noticed, and caught on. Yes, I worked on that speech. It's as far as I want to go." Drew: "You worked on several speeches, didn't you, during the 1970 campaign? What do you think is the particular effectiveness of the Vice President's style of speaking?" Safire: "I think you're working with the supposition that it's a strident..." Drew: "No, I didn't say that. It's different from the President's, and he has a style. I wondered your observations as to the style." Safire: "When you watch the Vice President work in an audience situation, with a large audience, he will not reach for applause. He'll take what we in our business call 'applause lines,' you know, surefire lines that make a point and get to people, and often times, he'll consciously override it, knowing that he's doing it because he's not trying to milk the audience for applause. He treats an audience with a lot of respect that if you want to hear what I have to say, listen. He's different from most people. And a lot of people who I saw in that campaign came from an Agnew speech expecting hellfire and brimstone, were surprised to find a rational, calm, sober delivery of a well-thought out speech with some good, tough language in it, which, when turned into headlines, became quite exciting. But in terms of the people in that audience, I think they were mightily impressed." Drew: "So is it the press that's turned it into seemingly more strident style than it is?" Safire: "By nature of being a mass medium, it has to." Drew: "I'm afraid we've run out of time. There's more to talk about but we can't do it now. Thank you very much for coming." Safire: "Pleasure."
Thirty Minutes With... William Safire
Program host Elizabeth Drew sitting across William Safire, Special Assistant to President Richard M. Nixon, speaking off-air as end credits roll.