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Ron Nessen, press secretary to President Ford, dies at 90; Friday, March 14, 2025
Politics
Ron Nessen, press secretary to President Ford, dies at 90
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
Updated 7:35 PM EDT, March 14, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ron Nessen, a veteran broadcast journalist who was press secretary for President Gerald Ford and sought to restore the integrity that the position had lost during the Nixon administration, has died. He was 90. ... Nessen died Wednesday in Bethesda, Maryland, his son, Edward Nessen, confirmed Friday.
Nessen replaced Jerald F. terHorst in September 1974 just six weeks into Ford’s presidency after terHorst resigned in protest over Ford’s pardon of former President Richard Nixon. Nessen had covered Ford’s tenure as vice president in the final months of a 12-year stint as a television correspondent with NBC News. He was the first journalist to come to the White House post from a broadcast background. ... Nessen had developed a positive working relationship with Ford even though he asked difficult questions about the Watergate scandal as it eroded Nixon’s presidency. The position of press secretary, held then by Ron Ziegler, lacked credibility as the slow-moving scandal revealed a White House press operation that could not be trusted in its public pronouncements.
{snip}
During his two years and four months as White House press secretary, Nessen may have drawn the most attention to himself by hosting television’s “Saturday Night Live,” then in its initial season. He was the first “SNL” host to come from outside the entertainment world. The April 17, 1976, episode aired during Ford’s reelection bid and included taped appearances by the president, who likely hoped to come across as a good sport in the face of the show’s constant satirical jabs. ... The post-broadcast criticism Nessen endured was mostly about the propriety and wisdom of a press secretary participating in a comedy show that skewered his boss, not Nessen’s ability to deliver a punch line. He later said he worried privately that hosting had been an ego-driven mistake since the liberal-leaning show’s skits continued mocking Ford as a bumbler and dullard.
Ronald H. Nessen was born May 25, 1934, in Washington. His father owned a general merchandise store in the city and his mother was its bookkeeper. ... Nessen worked in radio as a high school student and while studying at Shepherd College in West Virginia and American University in Washington, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1959. During the 1950s, he was a newscaster for WEPM in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and WARL in Arlington, Virginia, and later reported for the Montgomery County Sentinel in Rockville, Maryland.
{snip}
Ron Nessen, press secretary to President Ford, dies at 90
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
Updated 7:35 PM EDT, March 14, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ron Nessen, a veteran broadcast journalist who was press secretary for President Gerald Ford and sought to restore the integrity that the position had lost during the Nixon administration, has died. He was 90. ... Nessen died Wednesday in Bethesda, Maryland, his son, Edward Nessen, confirmed Friday.
Nessen replaced Jerald F. terHorst in September 1974 just six weeks into Ford’s presidency after terHorst resigned in protest over Ford’s pardon of former President Richard Nixon. Nessen had covered Ford’s tenure as vice president in the final months of a 12-year stint as a television correspondent with NBC News. He was the first journalist to come to the White House post from a broadcast background. ... Nessen had developed a positive working relationship with Ford even though he asked difficult questions about the Watergate scandal as it eroded Nixon’s presidency. The position of press secretary, held then by Ron Ziegler, lacked credibility as the slow-moving scandal revealed a White House press operation that could not be trusted in its public pronouncements.
{snip}
During his two years and four months as White House press secretary, Nessen may have drawn the most attention to himself by hosting television’s “Saturday Night Live,” then in its initial season. He was the first “SNL” host to come from outside the entertainment world. The April 17, 1976, episode aired during Ford’s reelection bid and included taped appearances by the president, who likely hoped to come across as a good sport in the face of the show’s constant satirical jabs. ... The post-broadcast criticism Nessen endured was mostly about the propriety and wisdom of a press secretary participating in a comedy show that skewered his boss, not Nessen’s ability to deliver a punch line. He later said he worried privately that hosting had been an ego-driven mistake since the liberal-leaning show’s skits continued mocking Ford as a bumbler and dullard.
Ronald H. Nessen was born May 25, 1934, in Washington. His father owned a general merchandise store in the city and his mother was its bookkeeper. ... Nessen worked in radio as a high school student and while studying at Shepherd College in West Virginia and American University in Washington, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1959. During the 1950s, he was a newscaster for WEPM in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and WARL in Arlington, Virginia, and later reported for the Montgomery County Sentinel in Rockville, Maryland.
{snip}