Wilson, Creel, and the Presidency.

This article traces the development of communication from the White House in Washington D.C. during a critical period in the United States' history. President Woodrow Wilson established the Committee on Public Information by executive order on April 14, 1917, eight days after the U.S. had declared war. It soon came to be known as the Creel Committee because of its dynamic chairman, George Creel, former journalist and free-lance writer. The idea for the Committee, whose ostensible purpose was to deal with the problem of censorship and enlist the public's understanding of and participation in the war effort, apparently was the President's, so far as one can tell. The twentieth century has witnessed what can only be called a major shift of the center of gravity in the U.S. national governmental system away from the legislative branch and toward the White House. The result has been among other things, a virtual ballooning of the public image of the Presidency to the point that, in this century, the White House occupant has often eclipsed other branches of government in the public eye. It has worked both as a source of action and initiative and as a source of news and focus of major governmental interest.