Colonel Edward M. House and the Journalists

Abstract

Colonel House was one of the most influential men in the United States during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. As the president's political confidant, House served him as a trusted counselor and as his personal representative abroad. The colonel, as House was known, drew information and opinion from an array of diplomatic and political figures to use in advising the president. Although historians have made House's association with these men part of their studies of Wilsonian statecraft, they have allowed his similar association with many journalists to remain basically unstudied. However, House made the knowledge he garnered from the journalists a significant source of his advice to Wilson. He was also a conduit of news and opinion from the White House for the journalists. By exploring how House interacted with journalists, this essay documents the important role they played in his work, and it provides insight into the era's political journalism, particularly during World War I. It also suggests that the liaison House maintained with journalists should be included in any account of presidential-press relations in Wilson's time.