The Washington journalism world is mourning the death of legendary CBS White House correspondent Bill Plante at 84.
The baritone voice of the press corps, Plante had a well-earned reputation for getting the attention of presidents, even if his questions were off-topic. He was also one of a few big-shot national correspondents eager to help out other reporters.
That happened notably on Aug. 1, 1996, when President Bill Clinton, joined by Vice President Al Gore and their economic team, surprised the media with an early morning Rose Garden statement on the economy.
At the time, I was the White House correspondent for the Washington Times and was one of a few reporters in the press office when we were called out to hear the president and ask a few questions.
That week, the topic of paying the legal fees of the former White House Travel Office director, Billy Dale, was an issue in Congress and the headlines. The White House had promised to pay it but also hoped the issue would fade because Dale’s acquittal in the Hillary Clinton-generated “Travelgate” scandal was embarrassing.
So when Plante, with no pressing question to pose, asked if there was anything I was interested in asking, I suggested one on “Travelgate” and the president’s earlier promise to pay the legal fees of Dale if he won his trial.
Plante liked it and asked: “Mr. President, will you call on the Senate to resurrect the bill to pay the legal expenses of the people who were fired from the Travel Office? Democrats seem to have blocked it. And will you call on them to pass it, and will you sign it if it gets here?”
Clinton basically punted, and for Plante, it was one and done.
But in the tag-teaming nature of press conferences, Plante opened the door for me to press Clinton on his earlier pledge, and his performance turned what was supposed to be a happy heralding of good economic news into an angry, finger-pointing affair he later apologized for.
As he finished answering Plante, I jumped in. “Are you going back on your promise?” I asked, noting that the deputy White House press secretary had said that morning that the president would back paying the legal fees of the Travelgate victims.
Clinton lost his temper at that point. “Are we going to pay the legal expenses of every person in America who is ever acquitted of an offense?” he huffed. “I don’t believe that we should give special preference to one group of people over others. Do you? Do you?”
Over his next sentences, he turned red, pointed his finger, and addressed me as “sir,” all classic traits of Clinton’s infamous anger.
Carl Cannon, then the White House correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, wrote of the event, “As Clinton’s passions rose, Vice President Al Gore and chief of staff Leon E. Panetta urgently signaled aides to end the Rose Garden session. As Gore, Panetta and other aides followed him into the Oval Office, the president gestured and shouted in anger.”
Cannon added, “Later, Clinton apologized to CBS correspondent Bill Plante, who first raised the question, though not to Washington Times reporter Paul Bedard, at whom he directed the ‘do you?’ questions. Clinton blamed his outburst on a lack of sleep since the TWA crash disaster two weeks ago.”
The clash made headlines and the evening news, and Plante knew he had a good story.
And as a thanks, he later gave me a video recording of the press conference.
