Spin Control: The White House Office of Communications and the Management of Presidential News.

• Author: Donaldson, Sam

John Anthony Maltese. North Carolina, $29.95. What do you suppose Ross Perot has in mind when he talks about holding town meetings via television if elected president? Who knows, since, as on most topics, Perot has yet to deliver specifics. But if he's talking about something that would reduce the power of--or, better still, eliminate--the White House Office of Communications, I'm for it.

The White House Office of Communications was created by Richard Nixon in 1969. And as John Anthony Maltese makes clear in this well-researched book, Nixon did not create it to communicate facts about his administration, but instead to marshal them. After all, Nixon's winning campaign for the presidency, which Joe McGinnis immortalized in The Selling of the President, 1968, elevated news management to a high art. Maltese reminds us how Nixon, in his television commercials, would stand amidst a group of citizens, fielding questions calmly and brilliantly. The "citizens" were, of course, a packed house of supporters. No tough, rude questions here. No one invoking embarrassments of campaigns past, shouting "What about the Hughes Tool Company loan?" or some such. Then there was Nixon's slick promise of a plan to end the war in Vietnam, which could not, of course, be disclosed in advance. Talk about buying a pig in a poke. But all this news management worked, and as president, Nixon wanted to institutionalize it. Hence the White House Office of Communications.

Now, you say, "Don't be naive. Presidents have to build public support for their policies in order to accomplish anything." That's true. But consider how support has been built in recent years. Maltese recounts how Dick Cheney, who was President Ford's chief of staff, told him that to be an effective president, he must control the agenda. That view illustrates precisely how modern White Houses have gone wrong. There is a big difference between putting forward your policies in a way you hope will convince people to support them and trying to "control the agenda." One is an attempt to compete effectively in the marketplace of ideas. The other is a strategy that aims to reduce or eliminate discussion of competing viewpoints.

And who's served when that happens? If you think it's the president, read this book. Read how the Bob Haldemans and Chuck Colsons isolated Nixon's longtime media adviser Herb Klein because Klein wanted to open doors for reporters. Read how Vice President Spiro Agnew, with the help of...