Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
This file contains:
From Roger E. Ailes to Haldeman and Chapin RE: the White House on televion. Handwritten notes added by unknown. 5 pgs. [Subject: Domestic Policy] [Memo], 5/4/1970
From Higby to Haldeman RE: recent conversations with Roger Ailes. Handwritten notes added by unknown. 1 pg. [Subject: Domestic Policy] [Memo], 2/11/1970
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
26145087
label
WHSF: Contested, 7-26
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
26145087
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
WHSF: Contested, 7-26
description
This file contains:
From Roger E. Ailes to Haldeman and Chapin RE: the White House on televion. Handwritten notes added by unknown. 5 pgs. [Subject: Domestic Policy] [Memo], 5/4/1970
From Higby to Haldeman RE: recent conversations with Roger Ailes. Handwritten notes added by unknown. 1 pg. [Subject: Domestic Policy] [Memo], 2/11/1970
citationUrl
collections
Richard M. Nixon's Returned Materials Collection
Contested Materials Files
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
26145087
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
0f608d6ee418c089
ocrText
Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Contested Materials Collection
Folder List
Box Number
Folder Number
Document Date
No Date
Subject
Document Type
Document Description
7
26
5/4/1970
Domestic Policy
Memo
From Roger E. Ailes to Haldeman and
Chapin RE: the White House on televion.
Handwritten notes added by unknown. 5 pgs.
7
26
2/11/1970
Domestic Policy
Memo
From Higby to Haldeman RE: recent
conversations with Roger Ailes.
Handwritten notes added by unknown. 1 pg.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Page 1 of 1
REA
PRODUCTIONS INC. 888 Eighth Avenue. Suite 7F New York, New York 10019
New York 212-765-3022 Washington 202-544-6449
MEMORANDUM
TO:
H. R. Haldeman
CC: Dwight Chapin
FROM:
Roger E. Ailes
DATE:
May 4, 1970
SUBJECT: WHITE HOUSE TELEVISION
HOUSTON
(1) Arrival of cars in Houston was good,
exciting, but a little long. Nixon's entrance through
crowd looked good.
(2) There was an audio lag after the
that's why
announcer introduced President and Mrs. Nixon. The
networks don't seem to mike for crowd reaction so it
we should
might be good to ask the director to do a cut-away
be inside
shot in these instances.
(3) At any outdoor Guidoor event the President must
assume that he is on camera at all times. There was
one bad shot of him sneaking a look at his notes after
- tell
he got to the platform in Houston.
him
(4) I think it is important for the
President to show a little more concern for Mrs. Nixon
as he moves through the crowd. At one point he walked
off in a different direction. Mrs. Nixon wasn't
4
looking and had to run to catch up. From time to
time he should talk to her and smile at her. Women
voters are particularly sensitive to how a man treats
his wife in public. The more attention she gets, the
happier they are.
Page Two
(5) The President looked good outdoors
with his hair blowing in the wind, but I think he
should wear make-up or at least beardstick even for
these appearances. A double layer of beardstick
I desagree if his going
should be applied to the area above the upper lip.
He is especially dark there.
then the crowd
(6) Advance men should be instructed to
pay particular attention to the crowd area behind
the President when he speaks outdoors. In every case
people were sitting on others shoulders and raising
cameras into the shot which made it distracting.
Once the crowd is assembled, they should be informed
that this cannot be done in the area of the camera
Absolutety
lens. Also, whenever possible, there should be no
access route back and forth behind the President.
Otherwise you end up with the President in the fore-
ground making touching remarks and people walking
across in the background paying absolutely no
attention. Unfortunately, this is even done through
a prayer or the National Anthem.
HAWAII
(1) I watched the CBS playback and they
lost the Dan Rather audio so Cronkite had to fill
over the beginning from New York. However, this did
not look too bad.
(2) Again, the crowd behind the President
was distracting and managed to foul up our Hawaii shot
Right!
part of the time.
(3) Ron Walker did an excellent job of
staging in general and the ceremony itself was good.
Good
Also, Tim Elbourn handled himself very well.
VIET NAM ADDRESS
(1) The Viet Nam address from the Western
White House looked good. The President did the best
job of reading that he has ever done. I had five or
ten minutes with him prior to this broadcast and a few
extra minutes to check out his lighting. During this
time he seemed to loosen up considerably.
Page Three
(2) Someone said that they thought perhaps
he had a yellow cast to his make-up. On the play-
back I watched this was definitely not the case. In
fact, his make-up was every bit as good as Ray Voege's.
(3) At one point on the tape I could hear
crosstalk in the background at a very low level.
When I moved up to the set to try to tune it in, I
was unable to hear it. Ev Aspinwall, the pool
producer, denies any crosstalk and some people said
it was very loud and annoying. They are probably both
right. Because of all the various inputs and outputs
involved in audio transmission of this type the
crosstalk probably did exist but was not apparent in
some cases and very apparent in others. This should
have been discovered during the audio check-out,
however, apparently did not exist at that time. I
can keep this from happening in the future, however,
as you know, I am walking a very fine line on how
much I can actually say to the networks without creating
a situation where they scream "management of news."
How firm a position would you like me to take and do
you want me to run the risk of getting these guys
check
angry every time. Frankly, there have been times that
I have pushed it just short of a major blow-up. In
this
fact, apparently one of the networks has informed
Ziegler that I am no longer allowed in their truck
because I made them change the backlighting just prior
to broadcast. (I'm not sure which network this is and
don't really care.) I'm sure you want me to continue
to go in the truck whenever I think it is necessary.
Right
(4) I finally convinced the President to
use a handkerchief (after a little bit of a go around) to
wipe off perspiration. I think he got so bugged at me
for pushing him on this that he didn't perspire on the
air. Anyway, it worked--I noticed that he did use the
handkerchief on the Cambodia speech.
CAMBODIA ADDRESS
(1) I hope that we can set up a more
effective way of informing me of upcoming major speeches.
I learned about the Cambodia address after the press,
Chapin
and only learned of it because I overheard a secretary
talking. This did not allow me adequate time to clear
my decks and be in the White House much before the speech.
Page Four
Since there is no security problem with me, could you
notify me as soon as there is a possibility of a
speech and I can be ready.
(2) By the time I arrived CBS had already
lost their main camera and were setting up an alternate.
Six minutes to air and after the President had been
briefed on camera blocking they lost the second camera.
I reported this to the President and advised him on the
handling of the situation. He did it well, but the
director being more nervous than the President, blew
the shooting in my opinion. I can handle this in the
future.
(3) Although I was advised that there would
be a map used, I was not informed that he would be
getting up and down from his desk until I arrived at
the White House. I think in the future if he uses a
map or chart, he should work from allecturn or the
agree
visual material should be close enough to him so that
he can turn and point it out from his seat. Getting
up and down slows down the pace, increases the possi-
bility of a microphone cord foul-up, increases the
possibility of the President losing his place, and the
chairs squeak and rattle.
(4) The briefing the President had just prior
to broadcast was scheduled too tight and there was not
adequate time to make him up, brief him, check out his
lighting on camera and still give him a few moments
alone to collect his thoughts and go over his speech.
enforce
Fortunately, his make-up was okay but I think we could
have done more with his lighting. I elected not to
This
because I didn't want to rattle him just prior to
broadcast. He should have absolutely nothing else to
do the last thirty minutes before air time.
(5) When he lost his place, he was brilliant.
I have never seen a man on camera, including every
professional I've worked with, handle a potentially
disastrous situation so well. He did exactly the
right thing. The admiration for him by the television
industry went up 150%.
(6) If we had had a television assistant for
me all of the above problems could have been eliminated.
Page Five
(7) At some point apparently the President
decided to use a lavalier microphone. WACA did not
have two matching lavaliers and thus a very make-
shift tape connection was made to provide him with
a back-up system. This would have required him
carrying a cord connector and wad of tape in his
pocket the size of three golf balls. When I saw this
I ordered the connection dismantled and elected to go
on the air with no lavalier back-up. He didn't know
this, of course, and everything went fine. I did put
together quickly a boom microphone back-up system
which might have been noticeable but adequate if
anything had happened. I have asked WACA to obtain
immediately matching lavaliers with long cords and
no connectors.
(8) I am more convinced than ever that I
need an assistant full time on the staff. If this
is impossible, tell me so I can at least train Tim
Elbourn to handle some of these emergencies. I do
feel, however, that we need a television producer/
director.
MEMORANDUM
Alebeb
THE WHITE HOUSE
Helfor
WASHINGTON
Mtg
as
Hiler
February 11, 1970
MEMORANDUM FOR H.R. HALDEMAN
FROM :
LARRY HIGBY
2
In some conversations with Roger Ailes various points have
come up that I believe need your additional clarification.
1. Apparently we are severing all relationships
with Al Scott. It was Ailes' understanding that
"why?
you were going to place another phone call to
Mr. Scott but apparently this is not the case.
2. One of the first projects Ailes would like to
have his new man work on is the loging of
all films and reviewing of possible footage for
use in 1972. As part of this he wants to get a
record of all the films that we have and also begin
working on the film library of the Presidents to
make sure that it is up to date and complete.
3. Filming of Presidential trips. Roger believes
as standard procedure on any major Presidential
trip we should have a crew along (the Navy crew
probably), along with his director. As standard
procedure I would assume that this question should
be raised before every trip and if you agree, we'll
make sure that Larson or Chapin puts it on his
check list.