The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--and Divided a Country

by Sherman, Gabriel

  69. After his father died Author interview with Jack Wilson.

  70. During a board meeting Notes of Robert Pauley on Sept. 25, 1975, TVN board of directors meeting.

  71. A few days later TVN press release, Sept. 29, 1975.

  72. On October 3 Letter from Jack Wilson to Richard Nixon, Oct. 3, 1975.

  73. Ailes did not wait Pauley’s handwritten notes from TVN board meeting of Sept. 25, 1975. Ailes and John McCarty would have a longtime connection. McCarty’s son, Michael, went on to own a pair of eponymous restaurants in Santa Monica, California, and Manhattan frequented by media heavyweights. Ailes was given the head table at Michael’s New York outpost.

  74. “He believed all news” Author interview with Barbara Pauley.

  75. Reese Schonfeld founded Reese Schonfeld, Me and Ted Against the World: The Unauthorized Founding of CNN (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 46.

  76. In 1976 Ibid., 13.

  77. In December 1976 Robert Goldberg and Gerald Jay Goldberg, Citizen Turner: The Wild Rise of an American Tycoon (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1995), 169.

  78. hired Schonfeld Schonfeld, Me and Ted Against the World, 13–14.

  79. In the spring of 1975 Kermit Bloomgarden Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society.

  80. Arnaud d’Usseau C. Gerald Fraser, “Arnaud d’Usseau, 73, Playwright, Screenplay Writer and Instructor,” New York Times, Feb. 1, 1990.

  81. Ailes persuaded Coors Letter from Roger Ailes to Joseph Coors, undated; letter from Roger Ailes to Kermit Bloomgarden, May 29, 1975. Ailes perhaps also turned to TVN as a source of funding for the Kennedy television special. Robert Pauley’s handwritten notes include a reference to Ailes’s wildlife documentary. “Kennedy show cost $120,000,” Pauley wrote in April 1975, indicating that the company may have invested in it.

  82. a throng of reporters Laurie Johnston, “Notes on People,” New York Times, Sept. 3, 1975.

  83. “I hope his mom” Author interview with Stephen Rosenfield.

  84. In November 2005 Matea Gold, “Fox News Displays a Green Side,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 12, 2005.

  85. “Those guys were absolutely convinced” Author interview with Robert Kennedy Jr.

  86. A few months later “Climatologist to Do Fox News Interview,” Richmond (Virginia) Times Dispatch, May 20, 2006.

  87. “Roger believes” Author interview with Robert Kennedy Jr. Ionescapade creator and director Robert Allan Ackerman echoed Kennedy’s dislike of Fox News. In the fall of 2003, Bill O’Reilly and other prominent Republicans raised hell over a CBS miniseries about Ronald Reagan directed by Ackerman. The series had not yet aired, but portions of the script had leaked. “The right wing went completely ballistic,” Ackerman said, recalling that executives at the network “were starting to get all sorts of death threats.” Under pressure, CBS CEO Les Moonves killed the series. As a compromise, a shortened version aired on CBS’s cable channel Showtime. “I was so disgusted by it,” Ackerman said. “We were forced to tell everyone it was put on the way we wanted it, but it wasn’t true. That was it for me,” he said. “I made one film after that.”

  88. multiple campaigns Author interview with Stephen Rosenfield. In an interview, Monks did not recall Ailes criticizing his campaign positions.

  89. “This guy has got to learn” Author interview with Stephen Rosenfield.

  90. When Monks was campaigning Ibid.

  91. During one town hall meeting Ibid.

  92. Monks lost Christian P. Potholm, The Splendid Game: Maine Campaigns and Elections, 1940–2002 (Lanham, Md.: Lexington, 2004), 98.

  93. “Roger liked thirty-second” Author interview with Stephen Rosenfield.

  94. One time Monks brought Ibid.

  95. “psychological adjustment” James C. Condon, “Coaching Executives on Stage Presence,” New York Times, Feb. 6, 1977.

  96. He developed a $4,000 seminar Ibid.

  97. Polaroid, Philip Morris, and Sperry Ibid.

  98. In October 1983 “Articles of Incorporation, Ailes Business Communications, Inc.,” Oct. 4, 1983. “Agreement and Plan of Merger of Ailes Business Communications Inc., a Pennsylvania Corporation with and into Ailes Communications, Inc., a Pennsylvania Corporation,” March 22, 1985; “Certificate of Merger,” July 5, 1985.

  99. He traveled to Rome The name of the documentary was Fellini: Wizards, Clowns and Honest Liars. See John J. O’Connor, “TV Weekend,” New York Times, Sept. 2, 1977.

  100. When he came back Author interview with Stephen Rosenfield.

  101. On September 20, 1976 Krebs, “Kermit Bloomgarden, Producer of Many Outstanding Plays, Dead.”

  102. About a year later Author interview with Stephen Rosenfield.

  103. Present Tense Richard Eder, “Stage: ‘Present Tense’ Out of Sequence,” New York Times, Oct. 5, 1977.

  104. Garrett experienced limited success Sharbutt, “Kelly Garrett Isn’t ‘Overnight’ Success”; www.tonyawards.com/p/tonys_search.

  105. “When she didn’t get” Author interview with Paul Turnley.

  106. Garrett was devastated Author interview with a friend of Kelly Garrett.

  107. Ailes tried to help Liz Smith, “Sherrie Rollins Won’t Follow Hubby to Perot,” as printed in The Blade, Toledo, Ohio, June 12, 1992. Smith wrote: “When the White House is chasing, begging you to come back … (as I know is perfectly well the case with former political mastermind Roger Ailes, even though he denies it), and you prefer to stay in show biz and tout a singer you are handling, then it behooves all of us denizens of the night to check that singer out. So what has Kelly Garrett got that makes Roger Ailes so high on her talent? Well, I just answered my own question.… Kelly opens June 16 through the 27 at the Supper Club, and New York will get the chance to applaud her once again.”

  108. In 2006, she moved Tom Sharpe, “Kelly Garrett, 1944–2013: Acclaimed Singer Had Roots in New Mexico,” Santa Fe New Mexican, Aug. 12, 2013.

  109. In 1977 Author interview with a friend of Roger Ailes from this period.

  110. He named Norma Richard Eder, “Stage: ‘Present Tense’ Out of Sequence.”

  111. “Roger made the people” Author interview with Stephen Rosenfield.

  112. In 1976, eight years after “Lunatics, Drunkards, Divorces, 1977–1978.”

  113. She took possession Indenture filed on March 3, 1977, in the Deed Book in the Recorder of Deeds Office, Media, Pennsylvania, Book 2604, page 1139; deed filed on July 18, 2007, in the Recorder of Deeds Office, Media, Pennsylvania, Instrument Number 2007064022, Book/Page: RECORD-04156/2034. Although Marjorie Ailes never remarried, she had a longtime companion, Jim Jeffreys, a volunteer fireman and code enforcement officer in Media, Pennsylvania.

  114. “I’ve spent my life” Author interview with Roger Ailes’s first wife, Marjorie Ailes.

  115. In 1981, Ailes married Ferrer Chafets, Roger Ailes, 42.

  116. She idolized her husband Baer, “Roger Rabid.”

  117. Shortly before Author interview with Stephen Rosenfield. Rosenfield has written, directed, and produced numerous comedies and is director of the American Comedy Institute in New York City, http://www.comedyinstitute.com/.

  EIGHT: RISKY STRATEGY

  1. On January 31 Vincent Canby, “Movie Review: Screen: ‘Power,’ by Sidney Lumet,” New York Times, Jan. 31, 1986.

  2. Richard Gere starred David Denby, “Dressed for Success,” New York, Feb. 17, 1986.

  3. When one client Brian McNair, Journalists in Film: Heroes and Villains (Edinburgh: Edinburgh Press, 2010), 189.

  4. “Richard practically” Author interview with Democratic political consultant Joel McCleary.

  5. 1990 presidential election Frederick Kempe, “Should Arias Return His Nobel? Since the Prize, Costa Rica’s Leader Has Had Nothing but Trouble,” Washington Post, Dec. 11, 1988.

  6. “You are paying me” Power, directed by Sidney Lumet, Warner Home Video, 1986, 11:30 mark.

  7. “He wasn’t trying” Author interview with public opinion researcher V. Lance Tarranc
e Jr.

  8. Ailes’s candidates “Governor Hires New Yorker to Create Campaign Ads,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 14, 1985.

  9. D’Amato had stunned Chafets, Roger Ailes, 40.

  10. Javits was staying in Tom Buckley, “After Javits, the G.O.P. Turns Right with D’Amato,” New York Times Magazine, Oct. 19, 1980.

  11. Elizabeth Holtzman See, generally, Elizabeth Holtzman and Cynthia L. Cooper, Who Said It Would Be Easy? One Woman’s Life in the Political Arena (New York: Arcade, 1996).

  12. “Jesus, nobody likes you” Chafets, Roger Ailes, 40.

  13. In Ailes’s first commercial Ibid.

  14. Several weeks Buckley, “After Javits, the G.O.P. Turns Right with D’Amato.”

  15. But on election day U.S. Government Printing Office, “Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 4, 1980,” April 15, 1981, http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1980election.pdf.

  16. “In a less obvious” Nicholas Lemann, “The Storcks,” Washington Post Magazine, Dec. 7, 1980.

  17. The Post dubbed Lemann, “The Storcks.”

  18. D’Amato said Chafets, Roger Ailes, 41.

  19. Larry McCarthy McCarthy Hennings Whalen, Inc., Larry McCarthy biography, http://mhmediadc.com/larry-mccarthy.aspx, accessed Sept. 23, 2013.

  20. Jon Kraushar Jon Kraushar & Associates, Inc., “Jon’s Credentials,” http://www.jonkraushar.net/jon-s-credentials.html, accessed Sept. 23, 2013.

  21. Kathy Ardleigh Kathy Ardleigh biography, C-Span Video Library, available at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/kathyardleigh, accessed Oct. 30, 2013.

  22. Ken LaCorte Bloomberg Businessweek, Ken LaCorte Executive Profile and Biography, http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=30252761&privcapId=4245059&previousCapId=4245059&previousTitle=FOX%20News%20Network,%20L.L.C., accessed Oct. 30, 2013.

  23. “Whatever it takes” Tom Mathews and Peter Goldman, The Quest for the Presidency: The 1988 Campaign (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989), 331.

  24. After the D’Amato campaign “Domestic News,” United Press International, Jan. 1, 1981.

  25. On one occasion, Ailes punched a hole Chafets, Roger Ailes, 216.

  26. “He got into” Author interview with television producer Shelley Ross.

  27. “Roger was not” Author interview with television personality, columnist, and businesswoman Rona Barrett.

  28. While interviewing Author interviews with Randi Harrison and Chris Calhoun.

  29. Shelley Ross Ken Auletta, “The Curious Rise of Network Television, and the Future of Network News,” New Yorker, Aug. 8, 2005.

  30. “This is making” Author interview with Shelley Ross.

  31. When asked Author interview with David Brock.

  32. “He has worked” Donald Baer, “Roger Rabid,” Manhattan Inc., Sept. 1989.

  33. In the summer of 1981 Ailes and Kraushar, You Are the Message, 2.

  34. “As our eyes” Ibid.

  35. “Let me just tell you” Author interview with Shelley Ross.

  36. The interview Ailes and Kraushar, You Are the Message, 1.

  37. In November 1981 “David Letterman Gets Late-Night NBC Show,” Associated Press, Nov. 9, 1981.

  38. Harrison “Jack” Schmitt Eric M. Jones, “Apollo 17 Crew Information,” NASA. gov, Nov. 1, 2005, http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/a17.crew.html.

  39. In 1976, Ailes had Author interview with former astronaut and U.S. senator Harrison Schmitt.

  40. “We parked” Ibid.

  41. He went on U.S. Government Printing Office, “Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 2, 1976,” April 15, 1977, http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1976election.pdf.

  42. But in the fall Martin Schram, “Found: The Attraction of Detraction,” Washington Post, Oct. 30, 1982.

  43. Bingaman won U.S. Government Printing Office, “Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 1982,” May 5, 1983, http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1982election.pdf.

  44. With two months to go Author interview with V. Lance Tarrance Jr.

  45. “We were in” Author interview with former George H. W. Bush campaign strategist Janet G. Mullins Grissom.

  46. As Ailes would tell it Jane Mayer, “Who Let the Attack-Ad Dogs Out?,” “News Desk” (blog), NewYorker.com, Feb. 15, 2012, http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/02/roger-ailes-larry-mccarthy-dogs-ad.html.

  47. During a strategy meeting Author interview with Janet G. Mullins Grissom.

  48. “There was Roger” Ibid.

  49. Ailes dispatched Mayer, “Who Let the Attack-Ad Dogs Out?”

  50. “My job was” Pete Snyder, “Forget the Super Bowl: Which Political Ad Was the All-Time MVP?,” “Campaign Trail” (blog), Ad Age, Feb. 7, 2012, http://adage.com/article/campaign-trail/political-ad-ailes-trippi-murphy-snyder-pick/232576/.

  51. “He called me” Author interview with V. Lance Tarrance Jr.

  52. “They flicked us” Author interview with Janet G. Mullins Grissom.

  53. “All the local” Paul Taylor, “Senators Keep Guard Against Absenteeism; Nameplates Vanish After ‘Committee Cameos,’ ” Washington Post, Feb. 11, 1986.

  54. McConnell squeezed U.S. Government Printing Office, “Statistics of the Congressional Election of 1984.”

  55. “We all know Roger” Author interview with Janet G. Mullins Grissom.

  56. “The charge was baseless” Marc Starr and Aric Press, “Gridlock on the Hill?,” Newsweek, Election Extra edition, Nov./Dec. 1984.

  57. The ad, Mullins said Author interview with Janet G. Mullins Grissom.

  58. Not long after it aired Author interview with advertising executive Tom Messner.

  59. In early October Author interview with member of the 1984 Ronald Reagan campaign for president Wally Carey.

  60. A few days earlier Howell Raines, “Chance of Revival Seen for Mondale After TV Debate,” New York Times, Oct. 9, 1984.

  61. “It was a disaster” Author interview with Wally Carey.

  62. “When I arrived” Ailes and Kraushar, You Are the Message, 20.

  63. “Reagan said” Author interview with Wally Carey.

  64. Afterward, Ailes demanded Ailes and Kraushar, You Are the Message, 21.

  65. As Ailes walked Ibid., 23–24.

  66. At the second debate Commission on Presidential Debates, “October 21, 1984, Debate Transcript,” Oct. 21, 1984, http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=october-21-1984-debate-transcript.

  67. “Even he broke” Ailes and Kraushar, You Are the Message, 25.

  68. “It’s a question” Martin Tolchin, “For Some, Low Road Is the Only Way to Go,” New York Times, Oct. 28, 1984.

  69. In 1986, he produced Raymond Coffey, “No Pulled Punches in Wisconsin,” Chicago Tribune, Oct. 30, 1986.

  70. A few days before Janet Bass, “Garvey Files Libel Suit Against Kasten,” United Press International, Oct. 31, 1986.

  71. “There are limits” “Candidate Sues Senator over TV Ad,” Associated Press, Nov. 1, 1986.

  72. Kasten won U.S. Government Printing Office, “Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 1986,” May 29, 1987, http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1986election.pdf.

  73. Seven months later Maralee Schwartz, “Sen. Kasten Settles Garvey Libel Suit,” Washington Post, June 30, 1987.

  74. In October 1984 Author interview with Janet G. Mullins Grissom.

  75. “We had to restrain” Ibid.

  76. During a strategy session Lloyd Grove, “The Image Shaker: Roger Ailes, the Bush Team’s Wily Media Man,” Washington Post, June 20, 1988.

  77. “We used to joke” Author interview with a former Ailes Communications employee.

  78. As the 1988 Mathews and Goldman, The Quest for the Presidency, 190.

  79. “Everybody tells me” Miller Center, “Interview with Craig Fuller,” University of Virginia, May 12, 2004, http://millercenter.org/president/bush/oralhistory
/craig-fuller.

  80. He did not project See, e.g., Mathews and Goldman, The Quest for the Presidency, 192; Richard Ben Cramer, What It Takes: The Way to the White House (New York: Vintage, 1993), 572.

  81. Martin Van Buren was the last David Germain, “Bush First VP in 152 Years to Win White House,” Associated Press, Nov. 9, 1988.

  82. “He didn’t know how” Author interview with George H. W. Bush’s former chief of staff, Craig Fuller.

  83. “If you were a professional” Miller Center, “Interview with Craig Fuller.”

  84. Bush planned Mathews and Goldman, The Quest for the Presidency, 193; author interview with Tom Messner.

  85. He took an apartment Author interview with Tom Messner.

  86. huddled with Bush Mathews and Goldman, The Quest for the Presidency, 193.

  87. “Why didn’t you bail out?” Cramer, What It Takes, 999.

  88. Ailes suggested a character Mathews and Goldman, The Quest for the Presidency, 191.

  89. He taught Bush Ibid., 193.

  90. “Don’t ever wear that shirt” Cramer, What It Takes, 568.

  91. “Roger was the only guy” Author interview with political consultant Roger J. Stone Jr.

  92. As the Bush campaign structure Mathews and Goldman, The Quest for the Presidency, 182.

  93. In addition to Ibid., 192.

  94. “He had other business” Miller Center, “Interview with Sigmund Rogich,” University of Virginia, March 8–9, 2001, http://millercenter.org/president/bush/oralhistory/sigmund-rogich.

  95. This reality was confirmed Cramer, What It Takes, 729.

  96. That morning Newsweek, Oct. 19, 1987.

  97. The press response Cramer, What It Takes, 730–31.

  98. “Ab-so-lute-ly no!” Mathews and Goldman, The Quest for the Presidency, 198.

  99. A few days before Author interview with Craig Fuller.

  100. Rather was planning Matthews and Goldman, The Quest for the Presidency, 198.

  101. “I knew if we were” Author interview with Craig Fuller.

  102. Ailes met with Bush Ibid.

  103. “All they have to do” Mathews and Goldman, The Quest for the Presidency, 199.

  104. Fuller proposed a zinger Cramer, What It Takes, 852.