Silas Douglass Cater Jr. (August 24, 1923 – September 15, 1995) was an American journalist, political aide, and college president. Cater started his career as a journalist for The Reporter and, in 1964, became an aide for Lyndon B. Johnson. After his time in the White House, Cater was a fellow at the Aspen Institute and the vice chairman of The Observer. In 1982, Cater became the 22nd president of Washington College. He retired to Montgomery, Alabama in 1991 and died in 1995.
In 1950, Cater became a journalist for The Reporter, serving as the Washington editor and the national affairs editor.[5] While a journalist, Cater wrote The Fourth Branch of Government which examined how the press can be used to further disinformation by unquestioningly printing the statements of politicians. The book concentrated on the Second Red Scare and how Joseph McCarthy used the press to further his goals.[4]
Cater was married to Libby Anderson Cater.[6] The Caters had two sons, Silas and Ben, and two daughters, Sage and Morrow.[6]
Publications
Cater, Douglass (1959). The Fourth Branch of Government. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Cater, Douglass (1964). Power in Washington: A Critical Look at Today's Struggle to Govern in the Nation's Capital. New York: Random House. ISBN978-0394441122.
Cater, Douglass (1970). Dana, the Irrelevant Man. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Cater, Douglass (1975). Television as a Social Force: New Approaches to TV Criticism. New York: Praeger. ISBN978-0275011901.
Cater, Douglass; Myhan, Michael J., eds. (1976). The Future of Public Broadcasting. New York: Praeger. ISBN978-0275569907.