White House Acts to Keep Off-the-Cuff Pre-Broadcast Quips by Reagan Off the Air : White House Acts to Keep Reagan’s Quips Off the Air
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WASHINGTON — The White House has taken steps to ensure that President Reagan’s off-the-cuff remarks on open microphones are no longer heard by members of the media.
A White House memo to radio and television network bureau chiefs on July 5 decreed that, effective July 8, they will be provided a feed by the White House Communications Agency instead of having a direct feed from their own microphones set up in the Oval Office.
The new restriction was ordered by White House officials who were angered by the airing of Reagan’s remark: “Boy, I saw ‘Rambo’ last night. Now I know what to do the next time this happens,” after the release of 39 American hostages in the Beirut hijacking crisis.
And, last August, Reagan remarked before a radio broadcast: “I have just signed legislation outlawing Russia. The bombing begins in five minutes.”
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