The National Commission on Presidential Press Conferences

The National Commission on Presidential Press Conferences

The Miller Center convened a national commission to examine the technological and institutional developments in the arranging of presidential press conferences. The Commission's report suggested reforms to the practice of presidential press conferences, including a minimum of one monthly live TV press conference, with a better method of questioning, and weekly informal meetings between the president and members of the press.

Co-Chairs:

  • A. Linwood Holton, Jr., Governor of Virginia, 1970–1974
  • Ray Scherer, Chief White House Correspondent, NBC News

Commissioners:

  • Douglass Cater, Special Assistant to the President, 1964–1968
  • Robert Pierpoint, International Correspondent, CBS News; White House Correspondent, CBS News
  • Julius Duscha, Head of the Washington Journalism Center, 1968–1990, Editorial Writer, Reporter, National correspondent, Washington Post, 1958–1966
  • James Rowe
  • Carroll Kilpatrick, Assistant Press Secretary at the State Department; White House Correspondent, Washington Post
  • Felicia Warburg Rogan

Commission Director: Kenneth W. Thompson, Director of the Miller Center, 1978–1998

Read the Commission's Final Report