Marlin Fitzwater’s career focused on the importance of American foundation

by Austin Christopher

American society today is always quick to point and shake a finger at the federal government. A common complaint is the government holds back too much vital information from the people. Ironically, former Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater completely agrees with the accusation. “I think the government doesn’t release as much as they should and they classify too much information,” he stated. For Fitzwater, in his line of work, the issue of keeping the public satisfied was a very important one. His strong beliefs in the foundation of American government helped him make this a possibility and ultimately made him the most successful, and longest serving Press Secretary in history.

The foundation of American Government according to Fitzwater are the The Bill of Rights and The Constitution. The former Press Secretary is a strong believer in what the Founding Fathers created over 200 years ago. Individual rights, “one man, one vote”, and a government for the people, by the people, is still the society that Fitzwater holds in high esteem. His beliefs shone through during his tenure as Press Secretary.

During the press conference, Fitzwater made reference to how one slip of the tongue could have dismissed him completely from his post. Yet he said it was his belief to get as much of the truth out to the public as he could. Fitzwater said that he could compromise with phrases such as, “That’s true, to a point” and still be comfortable with amount of information he kept safe. The former Press Secretary found that his hardest press releases came when the information was not classified but he had to figure out a way to release information in a reasonable and understandable way; he had to be able to “sensitize quickly”.