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Times Watch for June 18, 2003

Meet the New Boss: Same As the Old Boss

Tuesday’s New York Post carries an interesting tale from former Clinton advisor Dick Morris on how in 1996 then-Times executive editor (currently interim executive editor) Joseph Lelyveld coaxed President Clinton into granting the Times an exclusive interview -- by suggesting the paper wouldn’t bring up his Arkansas scandals.

Here’s a sample of the Post’s excerpt from Morris’ new book, "Off with Their Heads: Traitors, Crooks and Obstructionists in American Politics, Media and Business.”

“While working for President Clinton in 1996, I got a call from the Lelyveld's office. Naturally, I agreed to a meeting the Times' chief to ‘get to know one another.’ As Clinton's chief political adviser, I knew the request had something to do with the White House. But I was surprised to be asked by Lelyveld and a Times reporter to help them get an exclusive interview with the president. ‘We've tried for months and come up empty,’ the editor pleaded. ‘Can you help get it done?’ I spoke of Clinton's sensitivity to criticism from the Times and how he had bristled particularly at Raines, then running the editorial page. A worried frown clouded the editor's formerly sunny face. ‘You know,’ he assured me sotto voce, ‘we don't think that the public cares about what happened back in Arkansas.’”

Morris notes the significance of Lelyveld’s admission: “Wow. I wondered if I heard right. Did the top editor of The New York Times just imply that they'd pull their punches over Whitewater, Paula Jones, the Rose Law Firm, Hillary's billing records, the Web Hubbell hush money and the rest of the scandals that had emerged from Clinton's Arkansas Pandora's Box -- all in return for an interview? I certainly got that impression.”

Later Morris meets with the reporter: “After some light chatter over drinks, he began, casually, to tell me the questions he was going to ask. ‘I'll ask him what are his proudest achievements, what he's most ashamed of, why he thought he lost the Congress [in the 1994 elections], what he proposed to do about Bosnia.…’ A reporter briefing a presidential aide on the questions he was preparing to ask the president: This was about as common as it is for Nebraska to brief Miami on their football signals before the game. I couldn't believe my luck. Pushing my luck, I prompted him. ‘Why don't you ask him about…’ ‘Good idea, my obedient reporter/friend said as he jotted down notes….’”

Morris reported back to the president: “Clinton couldn't believe his luck! Knowing what was coming, we came up with answers to hit the ball out of the park. And, on May 19, 1996, Clinton's smiling face adorned the cover of The New York Times Magazine, over the headline ‘Facets of Clinton.’”

Incidentally, the Times reporter who wrote the profile, then-White House correspondent Todd Purdum, married former Clinton White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers in 1997.