Thomas Jefferson once said that he cared not who made a country’s laws, so long as he could write its newspapers. If this Congress goes on much longer, I’d rather be in the newspaper business, too. But the strength of the free press of this country goes beyond epigrams. The press is the base on which democracy rests in a complex twentieth-century society. I have worked in Washington for 13 years, in the executive branch and in the Congress; and I know that the American Press—vigorous and vital, critical and constructive—is essential to democratic government.