One last HPS for the Gipper

On Oct. 21, 1984, President Ronald Reagan and 56-year-old Democratic challenger Walter Mondale debated at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri.

At 73, Reagan was already the oldest president in U.S. history – too old, whispered some Democrats. But Reagan defused the issue in two quick sentences, telling a watching nation, "I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."

Even Mondale had to smile. It was a masterstroke. One memorable quote among many from a two-term president who came to be known as the "Great Communicator.”

Love him or loath him, Reagan was a fabulous speaker. But more than that, he understood staging – and it changed the presidency forever.

After he defeated President Jimmy Carter in 1980, Reagan installed a cast of stage managers who meticulously thought through each and every public appearance. They even developed their own acronym, "HPS,” for headline, picture, story. Every time Reagan appeared in public, the team carefully planned what story with what headline and – most importantly – what picture would accompany the president’s message.

Back in the 1980s when ketchup was a vegetable, this was a new approach and it is effectiveness was remarkable. Reagan, the former actor reveled in the theater of the presidency. His former chief of staff Ken Duberstein said, "People used to say, 'How can an actor be president?' And Reagan's answer was, 'How can somebody be president without being an actor?'"

HPS is not without risks – the media hate staged, pseudo-news events, but as the stage managers knew, eyes almost always beat ears in terms of what citizens remember. Also, HPS works only if there is a modicum of truth in what’s being communicated. That’s something for all politicians and corporate executives to remember.

It’s been a while since Reagan’s state funeral and internment. What do you remember? Was it the rider-less horse with the boots facing backward? Was it the pomp and circumstance in DC’s National Cathedral? Was it the meticulously timed sunset burial at Reagan’s Simi Valley library?

There were any number of touching moments during the ceremonies – but they happened not by chance, but by staging. For example, the original plan for the interment was to have cameras facing the Reagan memorial and a cluster of oak trees. However, that wasn’t a good enough visual to support the desired message (in case you missed it: "the Gipper takes the final few steps on his journey into the sunset of his life – remembered as the leader who faced down Communism”). The team rotated the camera angles by 90 degrees so the backdrop was mountains and – most metaphorically – the setting sun

It was a beautiful, poignant moment. And it was completely custom-made for television.

So did that matter? Did the American public feel deceived by the staging supporting the outpouring that one wag coined "Gipper porn?” No, because there was truth and genuine feeling attached. As Frank Rich wrote in the June 13 New York Times, "As any professional actor can tell you, no performance, however sonorous, can be credible if it doesn’t contain at least a kernel of emotional truth.”

Scorn for staging rains down when the truth is lacking. Remember Michael Dukakis tooling around in a tank trying to look tough but only succeeding in looking like a dork? Or George W. Bush’s flight deck landing and premature "Mission Accomplished” banner?

Done well, HPS can help elevate a story or a message. It can exemplify the very best of a person or an organization. Done badly, HPS is a tool for crass liars. And it can shield a sham – but only for a limited time.

The truth about Reagan will emerge as the partisan darts and laurels fade, and the historians take over. But for now his team’s last HPS work effectively nudged our collective memories of what was good about Reagan, his humor, grace and leadership while blurring our focus on his significant blind spots – a fondness for budget deficits and a benign neglect of Americans who were poor, non-white or gay.

The great communicator was a practiced, polished speaker – something sadly lacking among many politicians and corporate executives. But his real edge was that he understood staging.

Corporations should, too. But they should be careful with their HPS efforts – because the line between the maudlin and the magnificent is awfully thin and even accomplished communications pros don’t always know where it is.

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