The New Style of Exposure
In this era of world leadership, the metal detector is the altar and the minicam may be god.
In just 20 years, terrorism, communications, the jet plane and the increase of wealth and knowledge have forced, to varying degrees, world leaders into a haunted and secret peerage whose links with the people they guide are meticulously cleansed and staged. All of them lament this fact, from the Pope to the Prince of Wales, and none more than Ronald Reagan on his Old World pilgrimage, but they know their new age of isolation is nevertheless a stark fact of life.
The old order may have reached its zenith with John Kennedy's trip to Ireland in 1963. We just did not understand what was happening then. Kennedy rode through multitudes in an open car. He stood on the quay at New Ross from where his great-grandfather sailed for Boston, hugging and laughing with anybody who came, even shabby, unshaven figures who emerged unsteadily from the pubs to hail the visitor.
The small crowd allowed through security lines in Reagan's ancestral Ballyporeen was thoroughly infiltrated by security agents, both men and women dressed as camera-toting tourists. In the Ronald Reagan Lounge, John O'Farrell, an entrepreneurial genius, proprietor of O'Farrell's Pub, posed with his family as cast. They were positioned and tutored for pictures, including four-week-old Catherine Nancy O'Farrell, named for Mrs. Reagan. It was duly reported that a man in a cloth cap was ushered in as "a solitary rep-representative of the plain people of Ballyporeen."
Kennedy's motorcade inched into Dublin with thousands of swirling fans around him, the young President's profile etched in the afternoon sun. Reagan helicoptered from a secluded airport corner to his house in Phoenix Park; the streets of Dublin were nearly deserted.
But just as stagy as the Reagan spectacle were the protests that helped to produce the President's protective script. The "ring around Reagan" of at least 5,000 marching Dubliners condemning Reagan's foreign policy played to television cameras. The Catholic prelates who snubbed Reagan in Ireland sought headlines, not answers. The 1,800 journalists who descended on Ballyporeen outnumbered the village's entire population more than 5 to 1.
And yet during all of this plotted pageantry through Ireland and the commemoration of D-day in Normandy came images of true affection, understanding and meaning. Beamed to an estimated 300 million people around the world, that may be a fair trade-off for the lost intimacy.
The future may bring even more changes for ceremonial visits and leadership councils like the London economic summit. Many events are already covered through "pool" arrangements, in which a small group of reporters is selected to represent and report back to the rest of the press corps. There may have to be more of that, because hard-pressed countries and communities can scarcely afford the millions of dollars and man-hours necessary to protect a leader as well as cope with a huge entourage.
- 1
- 2
- NEXT PAGE »
Most Popular »
- Did a Time-Traveling Bird Sabotage the Collider?
- Former Nazi Hitman, 88, Finally Stands Trial
- Recession Sparks Global Shoplifting Spree
- The Rogue Returns: On the Road with Sarah Palin
- FBI Fights Claims It Ignored Intel on Hasan
- Obama's Fort Hood Speech: Lost in Translation
- Volunteer Vets: Returning Troops Still Want to Serve
- Michael Jackson's $1 Million Funeral: The Breakdown
- 21-Year-Old Wins World Series of Poker
- Why Sexism Kills
- Did a Time-Traveling Bird Sabotage the Collider?
- Michael Jackson's $1 Million Funeral: The Breakdown
- Recession Sparks Global Shoplifting Spree
- Maclaren's Stroller Recall: A Stumbling Response Online
- After the Recession, an Energy Crisis Could Loom
- Are You Getting Scammed by Facebook Games?
- Volunteer Vets: Returning Troops Still Want to Serve
- I Love Local Commercials
- Did the Army Ignore Red Flags Because of Hasan's Religion?
- Why Sexism Kills







RSS