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message from the White House and I'll help you.” By the time that message came, commitments were already given to Staggers.

Right.

Ford was of very little help. And he even told me that later, that he couldn't understand why the White House didn't let its position be known until the last minute. And I think technically the White House record would show that they were opposed to what Staggers was doing but they didn't show their hand until the boat had sailed.

Why was that?

Why?

Why do you think?

Well, because the White House had no use for television and radio. We were a thorn in their side. And they couldn't get even with the press, the printed press. [John A.] Mitchell tried to get even with the Washington Post on the “Selling of the Pentagon” by getting people in the communities where the Post owned television stations to apply for licenses. That happened in Miami, Hartford, and one other community where -- I don't know whether it happened in the district -- but the pattern was too clear to have it just been coincidental. It had to be orchestrated. Oh, and John Mitchell told me later, as we went back one time in a meeting, talking about things that had happened, that the White House