THE PRINCE AND THE PREPPY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000301890044-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 44
• Publication Date: January 20, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301890044-6
ARTICLE A.P1:515:1)
ON PAGE
NEW REPUBLIC
20 January 1986
THE PRESS
THE PRINCE AND THE PREPPY
BY MICHAEL MASSING
TT'S APRIL IN BERMUDA, and the Southampton Prin- September 21, 1984: Evans and Novak, citing CIA intelli-
cess Hotel is filled with institutional investors, portfolio gence estimates, report "suspicions of an imminent Soviet
managers, executives from Chrysler, Martin Marietta, and move from Af han.
a dozen other corporations. Each has paid 52,500 for four
days of sun, sand, and off-the-record sessions with eco-
nomic policymakers from Washington. Representative
Jack Kemp and Senator Bill Bradley are on hand, plus top
officials from the Treasury Department and the Federal
Reserve. And, in the thick of it all, are the organizers of
this gala affair, Rowland Evans and Robert Novak.
Evans and Novak have been together for almost 23 years
now, but never have they been so prominent. The Bermu-
da conference was but one of many political forums they
have staged in the last few years, starring the likes of
Treasury Secretary James Baker, White House Chief of
Staff Donald Regan, Walter Mondale, and Senator Robert
Dole. Every week they host a half-hour interview program
on Cable News Network, with guests ranging from Jerry
Falwell to Geraldine Ferraro. They also contribute two
CNN commentaries a week. Novak is a regular on "The
McLaughlin Group," the televised tag-team debating
match, and he frequently fills the conservative slot on
"Crossfire," the CNN discussion show. Somehow the pair
also finds time to publish two newsletters and to write
several articles a year for Reader's Digest.
Finally, of course, Evans and Novak continue to write
four columns a week, spinning out breathless tales of
bureaucratic intrigue. Here you can read about the aspira-
tions of presidential advance men, the connivances of con-
gressional aides, the interior world of deputy assistant
secretaries. Since Ronald Reagan became president, it
seems, hardly a critical memo gets drafted or a key tele-
phone call placed that doesn't show up in Evans and
Novak. They may well have better sources inside the ad-
ministration than any other journalists, making their col-
umn one of the most closely read in Washington.
Curiously, though, while their star has soared in Wash-
ington, Evans and Novak have hit on hard times in the
rest of the country. "Inside Report," as the column is
called, has lost favor with editors from coast to coast.
Anthony Day, editorial pages editor of the Los Angeles
Times, says he dropped the column when he became con-
cerned about its accuracy. "Inside Report," which ap-
peared in more than 250 daily papers in the mid-1970s, is
carried by only 150 today. Here are some reasons why:
December 16, 1981: Evans and Novak, quoting presiden-
tial advisers, predict that "Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski will
lose his martial law gamble, leading to direct Soviet inter-
vention in Poland and perhaps costing the lives of hun-
dreds of thousands of fighting Poles."
tan
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January 28, 1985: Evans and Novak, observing Konstan-
tin Chernenko on his deathbed, write that "Surprisingly,
the charismatic Mikhail Gorbachev, at 52 the Politburo's
youngest member, is no longer considered the heir
apparent."
A survey of more than 250 columns written since 1981
indicates that Evans and Novak, never known for their
moderation, have grown increasingly strident. Long
forced to sit on the political periphery, they have had
the satisfaction of seeing America come around to their
point of view. But as the nation has shifted to the right,
so have Evans and Novak. Today they champion the gold
standard and call Roberto d' Aubuisson a "democratic
capitalist." Remarkably, the more outlandish Evans and
Novak become, the more their renown inside the Beltway
grows.
As a byline, Evans and Novak have been inseparable
for years; in real life, they could hardly be more apart.
Rowlv Evans, 64, is a product of Philadelphia's Main Line,
The son of a Quaker insurance broker, he attended the
Kent School and enrolled at Yale. After a year mostly
spent playing bridge, Evans dropped out of college to
work in the Chicago freight yards. After the war he re-
turned to Philadelphia and got a job with the Bulletin. He
soon went to Washington and eventually took a job with
the bureau of the New York Herald Tribune. The Trib encour-
aged Evans to write a column, but wanted it to appear six
days a week.
To help out, Evans enlisted Robert Novak. Novak, now
54, grew up in a lewish household in Joliet, Illinois, the
son of a chemical engineer. He attended the University of
Illinois, then went to work tor two small Illinois newspa-
pers. In 1958 he joined the Washington bureau of the Wall
Street Journal and soon gained a reputation as one ot the
best reporters in town.
Today Evans's elegant suits and buffed oxfords give him
the sleek look of a squire. The aristocratic air is heightened
by a high, balding forehead and stylishly long comple-
ment of hair in back. Appearances aside, Evans has a
relaxed, companionable manner that has made him popu-
lar with colleagues of all political persuasions. Three
mornings a week he has breakfast with sources at the
Metropolitan Club, Washington's stuffiest. He and his
wife, Kay, editor of the Washington Journalism Review, are
known for hosting dinner parties in their Georgetown
town house, often with a senator or Supreme Court justice
in attendance.
CtitilINVED
I Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000301890044-6