George Reedy

George Edward Reedy (August 5, 1917 – March 21, 1999) was White House Press Secretary for President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1964 to 1965.

Biography

Born in East Chicago, Indiana, Reedy attended Senn High School in Chicago and graduated from the University of Chicago in 1938. Reedy was a reporter for United Press in Washington, D.C. before joining Johnson's Senate staff in 1951. He worked as an aide to Johnson during his presidential campaign in 1960, term as vice-president, and early months as President. When Pierre Salinger resigned as press secretary in August 1964, Reedy was named to the position.

During the escalation of the American involvement in Vietnam beginning in March 1965, press questions over the veracity of the Johnson Administration's public assessments of the war led to charges of a so-called credibility gap. In 1965 Reedy took a leave of absence over his disagreement with Johnson's Vietnam policies. In 1968 he returned to the White House to work as a special assistant shortly before Johnson's surprise announcement that he would not seek reelection. After Johnson left office, Reedy started a supplementary newspaper serving South America and published The Twilight of the Presidency in 1970. The book was a critical and influential look at the modern American presidency and, in particular, at the impact that war has had on the office. While the book was not specifically critical of Johnson, the former president was reportedly unhappy with its frank assessment of the presidency and refused to speak with Reedy ever again. Early in his post-Watergate presidency, Gerald Ford asked his White House staff to read it.

President Johnson

President Johnson may refer to one of the following Presidents of the United States:

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States, located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. It has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800.

The house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia Creek sandstone in the Neoclassical style. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he (with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe) expanded the building outward, creating two colonnades that were meant to conceal stables and storage. However, in 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817. Construction continued with the addition of the South Portico in 1824 and the North in 1829.

Johnson

Johnson is a surname of English origin. The name itself is a patronym of the given name John, literally meaning "son of John". The name John derives from Latin Johannes, which is derived through Greek Ἰωάννης Iōannēs from Hebrew יוחנן Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh has favoured". The name has been extremely popular in Europe since the Christian era as a result of it being given to St John the Baptist, St John the Evangelist and nearly one thousand other Christian saints. Johnson is the ninth most common surname in Sweden/Scandinavia, second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world.

See also

References

Press secretary

A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps his or her employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage.

Duties and functions

They often, but not always, act as the organization's senior spokesperson. Many governments also have press secretaries. A deputy press secretary is typically a mid-level political staffer who assists the press secretary and communications director with aspects of public outreach. They often write the press releases and media advisories for review by the press secretary and communications director. There are usually assistant press secretaries and press officers that support the press secretary. Press secretaries give also declarations to the media when a particular event happens or an issue rises inside an organization. They are expected, therefore, to have a huge knowledge about the institution or the organization they are working in and to be able to explain and answer questions about the organization's policies, views upon a particular issue and its official standpoint in problematic questions.