Ron Ziegler - White House Appointments From 1969

White House Appointments From 1969

In 1969, when he was just 29, Ziegler became the youngest White House Press Secretary in history. He was also the first Press Secretary to use the White House Press Briefing Room when it was completed in 1970. Historically, White House Press Secretaries were recruited from the ranks of individuals with substantial journalistic experience; among these were Stephen Early and Pierre Salinger.

He was the White House press secretary for the Nixon administration during the political scandal known as Watergate. In 1972, he dismissed the first report of the break-in at the Watergate Hotel as the discussion of a "third rate burglary," but within two years Nixon had resigned under threat of impeachment.

Some of Ziegler's public statements from this period reflect an ostensible commitment to democratic civics which in hindsight was not borne out by the facts. For example, in 1970 CIA security adviser Dan Mitrione, whose later reputation as the promoter of torture techniques became substantiated, was assassinated in Uruguay. It fell to Ziegler to give to reporters a eulogy which in hindsight seemed generously optimistic.

In 1974 he became Assistant to the President.