Former President Richard Nixon (1913 - 1994) gives the thumbs up as he addresses the White House staff upon his resignation as 37th President of the United States, Washington, Aug. 9, 1974. His son-in-law David Eisenhower is with him on the left. The Washington Post demonstrated the power of the media by doing reporting that helped force Nixon’s resignation. Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
“Never argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel” credited to former Indiana Congressman Charles Bruce Brownson circa 1964.
It used to be vested wisdom that getting into a fight with the media was a sure losing cause. And never was that truism truer than during the 1972-74 Watergate political controversy when Washington Post investigative reporters in effect destroyed the Nixon presidency, forcing his resignation. It seemed at the time that a quarter of liberal arts graduates wanted to be journalists.
