Ray Stannard Baker Quotes
Facilities have been given me here as never before, the Interstate Commerce People even offering me a desk and stenographer, with full admission to all their published reports and letters. It certainly shows how … a greater care for truth and fairness, which I have tried to attain in my articles, gets hold of people.
This is a notable quotation illustrating the state of relations between the press and the government under Theodore Roosevelt. Baker was one of the most muckraking of the investigative reports. And previously there were no accommodations for the press in government agencies. Roosevelt and most of his reformist appointees believed that public opinion was crucial to achieving their political objectives and that transparency would do them much more good than harm. Roosevelt and his colleagues had so much success with the press, that every administration since has made accommodations for the press and tried to use the press to promote their agenda. Most Presidents did not have the thick skin of Theodore Roosevelt who had been disrespected by some of the press since Abraham Lincoln. See {640476} for an example. Most Presidential administrations wanted the good press but also wanted to control the bad.
Ray Stannard Baker, 1870-1946, Journalist, Letter to his father, January 29, 1905
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Even before the Russian Revolution there was a Red Scare in America based on the writings of Marks and Engels. Labor Unions were automatically viewed by ultra-conservatives as Communistic and revolutionary. Ironically, the greatest offence that the President committed in many eyes was to have labor leaders to the White House for lunch or dinner or, as he did with the coal strike crisis, have labor negotiators in the White House for mediation. The symbolism of accepting these “radicals” as worthy citizens, in some conservative views, elevated the labor movement to a much higher status than they deserved and to treat them with the same dignity and respect as corporate executives was very offensive. Roosevelt had been made an honorary member of the Locomotive Engineers Union, and this enabled the Sun and other critics to say that Roosevelt joined labor organizations.
At the time there was no Secrecy & Classification System nor any laws enforcing secrecy or confidentiality. However there was no freedom of information laws of expectations even on the part of journalists. This was the first Freedom of Information policy of the American government. Some politicians were more open than others but there was no national, governmental before this. There were however leakers and whistleblowers though the terms were not in use. Note that Roosevelt herein created the first whistle blower protection—himself.
The story had been placed by Republican dirty tricksters throughout the press. Reston, then the editor of the New York Times, was totally uninterested in whether or not the story was true. He, in contrast to some other NYT staff was not a JFK enthusiast in general. but saw such material as not news and certainly not “fit to print.”—the newspaper’s oldest journalistic standard He removed the reporter from the assignment but in such a climate, it is easy to see in retrospect why the JFK sex scandals were not covered by the press.
The issue under discussion was the fact that the United States Military does not, unlike all civilian courts, maintain a docket of court martials. An interested citizen or a reporter, who usually has a right to attend and observe the proceeding has no way of finding out where and when the proceeding will take place unless the military chooses to inform people or make it public. Courts Martial are legally open to observers except for special circumstances—like civilian criminal trials. However, the military wants as little coverage as possible.
- Born: April 17, 1870
- Died: July 12, 1946
- Nationality: American
- Profession: Journalist
Ray Stannard Baker (also known by his pen name David Grayson) was an American journalist, historian, biographer, and author.
