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TV Guide
October 20, 1954
Its official title is "White House staff consultant," and it has plunged the producer of the weekly Robert Montgomery Presents into the national political scene up to his favorite white collar and plaid tie.
It is common knowledge that Montgomery is associated with President Eisenhower's TV, radio and newsreel appearances. The exact nature of his duties, however, has inspired numerous published interpretations--primarily, Montgomery feels, misinterpretations.
He welcomed, therefore, TV GUIDE's invitation to set the record straight.
He is not, Montgomery stresses, the President's "coach." "Coaching" the President of the United States would be, he feels, the height of presumptuousness. No attempt has been made to "overhaul" or glamorize the President; to alter his appearance, his gestures, his personal mannerisms.
"Mr. Eisenhower," says Montgomery, "is a public figure, not an actor. He has a right--and an obligation--to appear to the public as he is; not as someone else wants him to appear."
With this as the No. 1 consideration, Montgomery volunteers suggestions designed to "help project Mr. Eisenhower's own personality and thoughts in as natural a manner as possible."
A basic preliminary, he reports, was careful scrutiny for some three months of the President's habitual behavior away from cameras.
"If you watch how a man does things himself--at the office, at home, in public--you gain enough knowledge of him to be able to say, 'All right, these are the methods he, as an indiviual, ordinarily uses to convey what he wants to say.' Extending these methods into television requires no magic, no gazing into glass bowls.
"People had told Mr. Eisenhower with tremendous authority, 'Don't do this,' 'Always do that,' 'Sit this way,' 'Never stand that way.'"
Montgomery's advice was, "Ignore the advice."
Thus, in Denver recently, when the President hesitated about reaching down and consulting a set of figures because he had been admonished against openly reading on TV, Montgomery urged him to do whatever seemed easy and appropriate.
On an earlier occasion, when Mr. Eisenhower indicated he was concerned about inconveniencing cameramen, Montgomery advised, "Whatever you want to do, Mr. President, do. It's the technicians' obligation to make you comfortable."
When he first addressed Congress, Mr. Eisenhower bent over a waist-high lectern. This had several disadvantages--it gave some members of the audience little opportunity to see his face; it highlighted a Presidential bald spot; it caused discomfort.
Montgomery borrowed a White House music stand and kept adjusting its height until the President could use it standing upright. A less unorthodox lectern of similar height was prepared afterward.
When chatting in his office, the President often paces back and forth behind his desk; occasionally he walks in front of the desk and perches himself on its edge. At Montgomery's suggestion, all these movements have been incorporated into informal television talks.
Even in the case of more formal speeches, everything possible is done to assure the President a maximum degree of comfort.
Montgomery has been responsible for other changes, too.
One was Mr. Eisenhower's switch from heavy, horn-rimmed glasses to more flattering glasses with lighter rims. The earlier type was reportedly recommended by no less a fashion arbiter than British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. When apprised of this report, Montgomery grinned and observed, "There's nothing I'd argue with Mr. Churchill about--except his technical knowledge of how best to present the President of the United States."
The location and intensity of telecast lights have been regulated to eliminate Presidential squinting. ("Sometimes, literally, he couldn't see.") For the same reason, a layer of felt has been spread over the President's highly polished desk top.
Occasionally Montgomery makes a sartorial suggestion. When Mr. Eisenhower recently was scheduled to speak in Hollywood Bowl, where a dark suit against the Bowl's dark background would have eclipsed all but the President's head, Montgomery's wardrobe recommendation was a contrasting light gray suit.
Montgomery has recommended the President's use of a mechanical cuing device which, in player-piano style, unreels the entire text of a speech--but only on certain occasions.
"Ideally," he says, "the President usues a cue sheet and notes. For what we call his 'State of the Program' speech, he spoke for 30 minutes, yet had only 40 words in his notes."
Montgomery first met Mr. Eisenhower, then president of Columbia University, as one of some 400 guests at a Columbia dinner in 1951. A more personal, two-hour meeting occurred at SHAPE headquarters, near Paris, shortly before Mr. Eisenhower's nomination for the Presidency.
James Hagerty, the President's press secretary and Montgomery's direct superior, is an old friend. He and Montgomery collaborated on various ballot-luring projects during the first Dewey campaign in 1944.
Hagerty telephoned Montgomery early last December, inviting him to an 8 A.M. White House breakfast two Saturdays before Christmas Eve. Topic A at the breakfast, attended by the President and six other G.O.P. dignitaries, was: communications, in terms of TV. The discussion continued in the President's office. At its close, the White House post was offered and accepted.
Montgomery returned to Washington three days before the annual White House Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. Since the Presidential telecast on that occasion, Montgomery has contributed ideas toward every Presidential speech at the White House, in Congress and at grass-root rallies.
As a staff consultant, Montgomery occupies one of several executive offices in the White House, directly above the President's, and has the services of a secretary. He puts in one or two days a week at the job.
His specific duties include the checking of camera and light locations, the physical setup of the studio and its acoustical qualities, and the presence of stand-by cameras and audio facilities.
Montgomery receives neither pay nor expenses, feels they would be completely out of order in connection with this, his most exciting assignment and the high point of his career.
"Mr. Eisenhower's wisdom, ability, integrity and genuine modesty become immediately apparent if you spend 15 minutes with him," he says. "It's important that these qualities be projected to the people who have elected him.
"If you believe so thoroughly in a man and his program, how much better can you do in point of service?"