The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--And Divided a Country (74 page)

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Authors: Gabriel Sherman

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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 Tarrance 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
.

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