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The relationship between the president of the United States and the American press is very much a function of his personal style. President Lyndon B. Johnson never understood the functioning of the press or its role. For him it was just a public relations outlet for whatever individual or group that was astute enough to manipulate the system. His penchant for trying to outwit the press or to "buy" it created problems for him and led to the credibility gap that dogged him to the end. Yet he was a consum mate politician who won his political victories despite his poor relations with the press.

With scarcely a ripple of protest a popular magazine recently carried a cover picture retouched to portray President Ford as a circus clown stepping off the Presidential airplane. The two "best sellers" on the Presidency are scathing indictments of President Nixon's staff and, by inference, of Nixon himself. In The Imperial Presidency Arthur Schlesinger, who sets the pace for many intellectuals, argues that the powers of the office must be curtailed. President Ford found his veto power quite ineffective in the closing days of the 1974 Congress. And the Democratic leadership of the $4th Congress is disussing a legislative program without reference to the President. The Presidency obviously isn't what it used to be.