Quotes From "The Powers That Be" By David Halberstam

All professions have some element of theater to them. David Halberstam

Hughes might discuss Calvinism ably, but he did not live it, he was–by Time corporate standards–just a little lazy. David Halberstam

Bobby Kennedy said that when he had been a boy there were three major influences on children — the home, the church, and the school — and now there was a fourth — television. David Halberstam

Newspapers might have as much to do in shaping the course of public events as politicians, David Halberstam

If the norm of the society is corrupted, then objective journalism is corrupted too, for it must not challenge the norm. It must accept the norm. David Halberstam

Education was central to reporting. David Halberstam

Until he (Time's founder Henry Luce) arrived, news was crime and politics. David Halberstam

Lippmann was very good at staying young, at not aging and becoming a prisoner of his past experiences. David Halberstam

Nixon under pressure turned only to reporters from publications already favorable to him; Kennedy, in trouble, turned to those most critical and dubious of him, and if anything tended to take those already for him a bit for granted. David Halberstam

They (the media) found little quality of depth to him, that when she said on the platform with that which he said to them in private. The qualities of introspection and reflectiveness that they particularly treasured were missing. David Halberstam

The closer journalists came to great issues, the more vulnerable they felt. David Halberstam

He was "more passionate than most intelligent men, and more intelligent and reasoned than most passionate men. David Halberstam

If the Times gave readers far more news, then Lippmann at the Trib made the world seem far more understandable. David Halberstam

(I. F. Stone had once called it an exciting paper to read because you never knew on what page you would find a page-one story), David Halberstam

Everyone else was trying to make things more complicated and Cronkite, typically, was trying to make them more simple. David Halberstam

The telephone was a sign of being rushed. David Halberstam

The author writes that the central conflict within journalist and seller of the American way Henry Luce was between his curiosity and his certitude. David Halberstam

He knew, unlike most reporters, how to use pauses and the absence of words as effectively as the words themselves. David Halberstam

He was so obsessed by the action in front of him that he had no awareness of the growing reaction to his performance. David Halberstam

Young man, Mr. Aubrey has made us so rich that we can now afford to worry about our image. David Halberstam

He seemed touched by a larger spirit, his course guided by something beyond him, so talented, so able, so good-natured that he did not even inspire envy in a city rich with envy. David Halberstam

In the old days, it had been talent and style and brilliance and now it was more and more productivity. David Halberstam

He was perceived to be intellectually promiscuous, a little too eager to please all groups. David Halberstam

Even in a hostile press conference with hostile questions there was drama, and he could benefit from the drama and the hostility. He mastered the greatest art of television, appearing to be spontaneous without in fact being spontaneous. David Halberstam

Mohr was one of the most talented people on the staff of Time, in print as well as in person–the two are often different. David Halberstam

He could tune her, bringing out her better instincts and filtering out her lesser ones. David Halberstam

The faster the motion, the less time to think. Fuselage journalism, Hugh Sidey of Time later called it. David Halberstam

He hated House members who longed only to run for the Senate, and senators who longed only to run for the presidency. He was appalled by what he felt television had done to the Senate by the mid-fifties. It had become a major launching platform for presidential campaigns. He thought television had ruined the Senate as a serious body. “All they do there is preen and comb their hair and run for President. It’s like a presidential primary over there, . David Halberstam

Elliston thought consistency less important than vitality and intelligence and passion. David Halberstam

It was a wonderful combination for a reporter, the exterior so comforting, the interior so driven. David Halberstam

If he had gone to the old school, he was by no means old-school. David Halberstam

He was very good, it turned out, at outlining the flaws in the government as long as someone else was in charge of the government. David Halberstam

The networks at their worst (were) at once greedy and timid. David Halberstam

The ability to get on the air, which was crucial to any reporter’s career, grew precisely as the ability to analyze diminished. David Halberstam

His was a profession in which a good leader constantly had to adapt to new weapons, whether he liked them or not, David Halberstam

One successful writer said he would never be a millionaire because he liked living like one too much. David Halberstam

He never, even in the most casual conversation with friends, spoke a sentence which did not sound as if it was ready for the air. David Halberstam

You could never prove innocence, not in the match with the man who only had to imply guilt. David Halberstam