77 Political Communication , 16:77–93, 1999 Copyright ã 1999 Taylor & Francis 1058-4609/99 $12.00 + .00 “Betwixt and Between”: Woodrow Wilson’s Press Conferences and the Transition Toward the Modern Rhetorical Presidency DAVID MICHAEL RYFE Although Woodrow Wilson institutionalized the press conference as a routine feature of presidential opinion leadership, he detested his news meetings and did not use them effectively. Wilson bore no personal animosity to the press but rejected the culture of news the press represented, for reasons central to Wilson’s theory of presidential leadership. His rejection of this news culture is discussed in terms of the progressive culture in which his views were nurtured. Despite having inaugurated the routine press conference, Wilson was “betwixt and between” two periods in American politics rather than the founder of a new tradition in presidential opinion leadership. Keywords presidential communication, presidential press conferences, Woodrow Wilson When Woodrow Wilson stood to greet more than 100 Washington correspondents on March 15, 1913, at 12:45 p.m., just days after his inauguration, he set in motion one of the most enduring features of the modern public presidency: the regular press conference. Famously, however, it was not an auspicious beginning. One reporter described Wilson as appearing “embarrassed” and reserved (Baker, 1937, p. 230). Edward Lowry recalls that Wilson seemed almost stunned into silence at the number of newspapermen who filled his office. “There was a pause,” he writes, “a cool silence, and presently some one ventured a tentative question. It was answered crisply, politely, and in the fewest possible words. A pleasant time was not had by all” (Lowry, 1921, p. 19). 1 A week later, Wilson tried again, this time delivering a brief speech to the assembled reporters. Sixteen years later, in a letter to Ray Stannard Baker, Richard Oulahan could only recall that Wilson made a speech which astonished us [journalists] very much in that he argued that it was of no great importance what political Washington thought and he advised us, therefore, to bring to the attention of the Executive Government and Congress what the country was thinking. (Letter from Oulahan to Baker, March 15, 1929, R.S. Baker papers, Reel 81, Library of Congress [Baker, 1982, Reel 81]) Oulahan’s memory is remarkably accurate. Verbatim, Wilson asked the journalists to go into a “partnership” with him, to “tell Washington what the country is thinking” rather David Michael Ryfe is Adjunct Lecturer in Communication at the University of California, San Diego. He thanks Michael Schudson, Daniel Hallin, Samuel Kernell, and Stephen Skowronek for their comments on earlier versions of this article. Address correspondence to David Michael Ryfe, Department of Communication, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0503 USA.