The Loudest Voice In The Room: How The Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--And Divided A Country - Plot & Excerpts
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, he sent a confidential memo to Karl Rove with advice for George Bush. “The only thing America won’t forgive you for is under-reaching,” Ailes wrote. His missive expressed his view that the country was facing an epochal conflict against a ruthless adversary. “I wrote that letter as an American,” he told a Fox colleague. He knew that Americans craved revenge. That’s why, he’d say, Americans still loved John Wayne, even though he had been dead for two decades. The country had some basic rules. Rove made sure Bush received Ailes’s letter. Copies were also circulated to senior White House staff, including National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley, communications director Dan Bartlett, and press secretary Ari Fleischer. Fox News was a crucial ally. In the wake of the divisive recount, the White House recognized Fox’s power to drive the debate and rally the faithful. On a personal level, Rove was said to be intimidated by Ailes, who antedated him on the national stage.
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