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NEWS

Thursday, May 14, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
U.S. News journalist talks book, reporting

White House
reporter highlighted
how pop culture
affects the presidency

By ALAINA WYGANT

Daily Staff Reporter

May 7, Kenneth Walsh, a White
House correspondent for U.S. News &
World Report, spoke at the Gerald R.
Ford Presidential Library and Museum
about his book “Celebrity in Chief: A
History of the Presidents and Culture
of Stardom.”

Walsh has written from the White
House during the tenure of five differ-
ent presidents — most recently, Presi-
dent Barack Obama. His blog, “Ken
Walsh’s Washington,” and column, The
Presidency, provide coverage of the the
president.
At the event, Ford Museum Direc-
tor Elaine Didier praised Walsh for his
unique style of reporting.
“Ken’s colleagues say that he is an
old school journalist who knows how
to find secrets, and then knows which
ones can be told and which ones must
be kept longer or even forever,” Didier
said.
In his book “Celebrity in Chief,”
Walsh examined how past presidents

have interacted with American popu-
lar culture. During his remarks at the
event, Walsh discussed how he believed
President George Washington was a
pillar in molding the role of president.
“His feeling was that the president
should be accessible,” Walsh said. “He
set that precedent that the president
should not be beyond the public.”
Walsh also highlighted some of the
key moments reporters have witnessed
in the White House over the past cen-
tury including Elvis Presley’s visit to the
White House during the Nixon admin-
istration and Marilyn Monroe’s birth-
day performance for President John F.
Kennedy.
Walsh said the American public

often correlates presidential success
with celebrity status instead of consid-
ering the substance — such as policy
making and managing foreign and
domestic affairs — that defines the
presidency.
“That’s all people want is a little taste
of the substance because they don’t
have the patience to learn much more
about things,” Walsh said. “Sadly, I
think that’s true.”
Walsh said President Obama tries
to connect with audiences on a deeper
level by going on talk shows such as
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” and the You-
Tube show “Between Two Ferns with
Zach Galifianakis.” He said these are
behaviors that future presidents will

need to mimic.
“President Obama is trying to reach
out to people through those different
venues and find ways to communicate
with them,” Walsh said. “I think this is
what presidents are going to have to do
for the foreseeable future. They’ve got
to go where the voters are and where
they’re paying attention.”
Overall, Walsh said he believes peo-
ple will be less isolated from political
affairs if they engage with politics more.
“Maybe people would get angry and
start fighting each other if they engaged
more. But they don’t,” Walsh said. “And
so, that’s one of the reasons we’re so
polarized — it’s because we’re not talk-
ing to each other.”

“The music kind of created a
sense that there was something
going on, and brought you through
those parts of the visualization
where things are fairly uniform,
and gave a sense that something
was about to happen,” Tarlé said.
“When things started to happen,
the music tied it all together and

gave audio cues to what you were
seeing.”
Tarlé said in the future he would
like to see this project displayed in
a museum.
“I would like to take this to a
museum somewhere and get it put
it up as an installation...I think that
would be a very good way to carry
this forward,” Tarlé said.
As for Tuesday’s viewing audi-
ence, Tarlé said his favorite part
was watching the reactions of the

younger attendees.
“There were a bunch of little
kids that were watching this just
getting really excited … I loved
their reaction,” Tarlé said. They’re
just looking at the thing and getting
captured by it. It shows that science
can be presented to people of all
ages if you do it right.”

night of their stay.
“During that meeting, manage-
ment pointed out that the student
group had not completed their pre-
payment arrangement as is typical
for larger groups and that the addi-
tional money was due,” the resort
said. “Treetops’ management had
also discovered significant, but
non-malicious damage occurred
after this first night and discussed
the University of Michigan’s stu-
dents’ behavior with their leader-
ship.
In a statement to the Daily,
Sigma Delta Tau’s national chap-

ter said the sorority was unaware
of any pending lawsuits from the
resort, and still maintain the find-
ings of their previous investiga-
tions.
“We are not aware of any liti-
gation involving the Chi Chapter
of Sigma Delta Tau at the Univer-
sity of Michigan or its women,”
the sorority wrote. “Through our
investigation, we have found the
women were not responsible for
the damage incurred at Treetops
Resort. We have also been made
aware of multiple reports that
management and security guards
of The Treetops Resort and Spa
did not step in to stop any of the
actions while they occurred that
weekend.“

In their statement, the resort
said the lack of action against indi-
viduals contributed to their deci-
sion to pursue its own legal action
was the lack of cooperation by the
Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity.
“Contributing to the decision to
pursue its own legal action is the
fact that to date, only three stu-
dents are being charged and Tree-
tops is not aware of the University
of Michigan or the Greek organi-
zations taking any other action
against any individuals,” the resort
said. “Apparently, authorities have
been impeded by the refusal of
the students to identify those spe-
cifically involved in the vandalism
further suggesting that the dam-
age was a group effort.”

Otsego prosecutor Michael Rola
issued 30-day misdemeanor charg-
es against Business sophomores
Joshua Kaplan and Zachary Levin.
The pair turned themselves in to
the Ann Arbor Police Department
on March 25. Matthew Vlasic,

who was an LSA senior at the time
of the ski trip, was arraignedon
charges of malicious destruction of
property.

TREETOPS
From Page 2

pean, Iberian or Japanese litera-
ture, the core Great Books 191 and
192 courses for freshmen require
students to read and analyze Greek
and Roman texts and the Bible, as
well as 13th- and 14th-century Ital-
ian literature. Homer, Sophocles,
Plato, Saint Augustine, Dante and

others are among authors read in
these courses.
Professors both within and
outside the Classics Department
acknowledged the need for stu-
dents to receive a comprehensive
background in literature from
across the globe. But they disagree
about how Great Books could or
should achieve that.
While some scholars say works
from China, Africa, India and else-

where should be read alongside the
Roman classics, Classical Studies
Prof. Ruth Scodel, who teaches a
Great Books course, felt it is unre-
alistic to expect one course to
comprehensively explore multiple
cultures and literatures.
“Everyone should read books
from around the world,” Scodel

SIMULATION
From Page 1

GREAT BOOKS
From Page 2

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