Even if that were true, Johnson had no one but himself to blame. The publisher James Bennett had reminded him that the press in an instant could telegraph Johnson’s speeches to the entire nation, that reporters would scurry back to their hotels and transcribe their notes to cable stories as fast as possible. Every word of Johnson’s, every hasty wisecrack and intemperate outburst, would flash on the front page of papers throughout the country. And they did.
