1. Ronald Louis Ziegler was the 13th White House Press Secretary, serving during President Richard Nixon's administration.
23 Facts About Ron Ziegler
1. 2.
Ron Ziegler attended Concordia Lutheran School and graduated from the eighth grade in 1953.
3.
Ron Ziegler graduated from Dixie Heights High School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.
4.
Ron Ziegler first attended college at Xavier University in Cincinnati, then transferred to the University of Southern California in 1958, graduating in 1961 with a degree in government and politics.
5.
Ron Ziegler served as a press aide on Nixon's unsuccessful California gubernatorial campaign in 1962.
6.
In 1969, at the age of 29, Ron Ziegler became the youngest White House Press Secretary in history, serving in the Nixon Administration.
7.
Ron Ziegler was the first press secretary to use the White House Press Briefing Room when it was completed in 1970.
8.
Historically, White House press secretaries had been recruited from the ranks of individuals with substantial journalistic experience, such as Stephen Early and Pierre Salinger, raising the question of whether Ron Ziegler was qualified for his position.
9.
The hiring of Ron Ziegler was seen by many, and later confirmed by Haldeman himself, as a cog in Nixon's plan to undermine the press; Ron Ziegler's ability to execute the chief of staff's directions was impressive, allowing him to hold a senior position throughout the administration.
10.
Ron Ziegler held the record for the youngest White House press secretary until 2025, when Karoline Leavitt, aged 27, became Press Secretary at the beginning of the Second presidency of Donald Trump.
11.
Ron Ziegler was the White House press secretary during the political scandal known as Watergate.
12.
Ron Ziegler apologized to The Washington Post for having been so dismissive.
13.
The president was incensed that Ron Ziegler was not doing enough to keep members of the press away as Nixon entered the convention hall.
14.
Particularly in the period following the resignations of such senior administration officials as Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, Ron Ziegler became one of Nixon's closest aides and confidants.
15.
Unlike many other former aides following President Nixon's resignation in 1974, Ron Ziegler remained very close to him.
16.
Ron Ziegler was on the plane that Nixon took to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, near San Clemente, California, as Gerald Ford was sworn into office.
17.
On November 12,1999, Ron Ziegler was scheduled to participate by telephone in a television panel discussion that included several former Nixon and Ford aides, including his successor as White House Press Secretary, Jerald terHorst, who had resigned in protest at President Ford's pardon of Nixon.
18.
However, Ron Ziegler's feed failed to hook up for the session, which went on without him.
19.
In 1988, Ron Ziegler became president and chief executive of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, living in Alexandria, Virginia.
20.
Ron Ziegler had previously served as president of the National Association of Truck Stop Operators.
21.
In 1961, Ron Ziegler married Nancy Plessinger, with whom he had two children, Cindy and Laurie.
22.
Ron Ziegler appears in the 1976 film All the President's Men as himself in archival news footage.
23.
Ron Ziegler is portrayed in the 1989 television movie The Final Days by Graham Beckel, and in the 1995 Oliver Stone film Nixon by David Paymer.