Managing the President's Message

Martha Joynt Kumar is a professor of political science at Towson University and the author and coauthor of several books on the media and the presidency, including the 1981 classic Portraying the President: The White House and the News Media, also published by Johns Hopkins.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Creating an Effective Communications Operation2. The Communications Operation of President Bill Clinton3. The Communications Operation of President George W. Bush4. White House Communications Advisers5. The Press Secretary to the President6. The Gaggle and the Daily Briefing7. Presidential Press Conferences8. Managing the MessagePostscriptNotesIndex

Kumar combines her years of observation in the White House press room and hours of frank discussion with current and former officials to create a fascinating-and sometimes disheartening-history of how [the] dance has evolved over the last century. -- Jane Roh National Journal 2007 Having been a regular in the White House Press Room since the early years of the Clinton administration, Kumar can offer an insider's view... Political science and journalism scholars will appreciate the rich detail and scholarship here. Library Journal 2007 A must-read for political junkies. History Wire - Where the Past Comes Alive 2007 Some of the book is historical research, but much of it comes from the days and days that Kumar spends in the belly of the beast, hanging out in the press room in the West Wing of the White House. -- Michael Hill Baltimore Sun 2007 Kumar's insightful Managing the President's Message provides much-needed insight, charting the recent changes in presidential media management strategies and in the routines practiced by the two most-recent White Houses, and provides an important addition to the academic discourse on political communication, framing, and leadership. Political Science Quarterly 2008 Its place among scholarship on the presidency was quickly sealed when the presidency section of APSA awarded it the 2008 Richard E. Neustadt Award for best book on the presidency. The book is rich with detail regarding the Clinton and Bush communications and press operations... there is much to be mined in Kumar's descriptions and explanations. -- Stephanie Burkhalter Political Communication 2009 This is a well-written and detailed book and an ideal starting place from which to study the White House communications operations before moving on to fuller autobiographical accounts or the study of individual presidencies. -- Rob Griffiths Political Studies Review 2010