Audiobook18 hours
Inside the Clinton White House: An Oral History
Written by Russell L. Riley
Narrated by David Drummond
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
()
About this audiobook
President Bill Clinton led a remarkably productive White House that nearly ended in catastrophic failure. Yet because of the office's traditional climate of confidentiality, many details of his behind-the-scenes activities-including successes and failures-have remained absent from the written record, until now. How did the administration manage the horrific conflicts in Haiti and the Balkans that came to a head shortly after the president took the oath? How did he help bring peace to Northern Ireland, taking the initiative over the objections of his own State Department and attorney general? What motivated the president to place First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at the helm of the ill-fated Health Security Act in 1993? And how did the president's closest confidantes and aides respond to the outbreak of the devastating scandal that resulted in his impeachment?
Inside the Clinton White House offers an intimate perspective on these questions and many more, granting readers unprecedented access to the sensitive Oval Office banter that changed the course of history. Bringing together material from 400 hours of candid conversations with over sixty individuals, respected oral historian Russell L. Riley weaves this illuminating testimony with important contextual information to form an irresistible narrative, taking the listener from Clinton's first potential White House bid in 1988 to the final days of his controversial public career. Extended sections of the book are devoted to important domestic and foreign policy campaigns, the complicated politics of the president's two terms and impeachment, and portraits of important personalities in the administration, including Vice President Al Gore and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. These forthright and often surprising accounts-including here, for the first time, observations from a new interview with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair-add a layer of nuance to an iconic figure in America's recent history, in the words of the people who knew him best.
Inside the Clinton White House offers an intimate perspective on these questions and many more, granting readers unprecedented access to the sensitive Oval Office banter that changed the course of history. Bringing together material from 400 hours of candid conversations with over sixty individuals, respected oral historian Russell L. Riley weaves this illuminating testimony with important contextual information to form an irresistible narrative, taking the listener from Clinton's first potential White House bid in 1988 to the final days of his controversial public career. Extended sections of the book are devoted to important domestic and foreign policy campaigns, the complicated politics of the president's two terms and impeachment, and portraits of important personalities in the administration, including Vice President Al Gore and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. These forthright and often surprising accounts-including here, for the first time, observations from a new interview with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair-add a layer of nuance to an iconic figure in America's recent history, in the words of the people who knew him best.
Related to Inside the Clinton White House
Related audiobooks
Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unmaking of the President 2016: How FBI Director James Comey Cost Hillary Clinton the Presidency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5George H. W. Bush: The American Presidents Series: The 41st President, 1989-1993 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shadow President: The Truth About Mike Pence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hillary Rodham Clinton: Politician Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Way to Win: Clinton, Bush, Rove, and How to Take the White House in 2008 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nixon and Kissinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Clinton, Inc.: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Making of the President 1960 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Did We Get Here?: From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trump on Trial Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Siege: Trump Under Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cheney: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Crisis!: When Political Parties Lose the Consent to Rule Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPresidential Misconduct: From George Washington to Today Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unpresidented: A Biography of Donald Trump Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Obama: An Oral History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Team of Five: The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First in Line: Presidents, Vice Presidents, and the Pursuit of Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
American Government For You
What You Should Know About Politics . . . But Don't: A Nonpartisan Guide to the Issues That Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nine Black Robes: Inside the Supreme Court's Drive to the Right and Its Historic Consequences Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5U.S. Constitution for Dummies: 2nd Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Anti-Intellectualism in American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Marxism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Have the Right to Remain Innocent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unbroken Bonds of Battle: A Modern Warriors Book of Heroism, Patriotism, and Friendship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the President's Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crimes and Cover-ups in American Politics: 1776-1963 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Watergate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Rescue the Constitution: George Washington and the Fragile American Experiment Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Capitalist Punishment: How Wall Street Is Using Your Money to Create a Country You Didn't Vote For Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Settle for More Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Peril Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life Sentence: The Brief and Tragic Career of Baltimore’s Deadliest Gang Leader Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Own Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Account of Race: The Supreme Court, White Supremacy, and the Ravaging of African American Voting Rights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Democrat Party Hates America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Inside the Clinton White House
Rating: 4.777777777777778 out of 5 stars
5/5
9 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sub-title: "An Oral History". OK, so what's an oral history? From the preface to "Inside the Clinton White House" (ICWH): "Just over a year after Bill Clinton left the presidency, a stream of his former White House aides and cabinet officers began making quiet, unannounced visits to the University of Virginia to reflect privately into a tape recorder on what they had experienced......they sat around a table talking with scholars affiliated with the university's Miller Center, a nonpartisan research institute with a special focus on the presidency.....The Clinton Project is the largest of these efforts, comprising 134 interviews collected over a ten-year span." This is my first oral history and I thought it was excellent. Informative, behind-the-scenes, and very readable.Russell Riley is the author and editor; he is an associate professor at UVA and Co-Chair of the Presidential Oral History Program. ICWH has five parts, thirty-four chapters. The first part includes eleven chapters on pre-inauguration years; succeeding chapters include virtually all of the Clinton highlights and low points objectively and fairly comprehensively - 1993 Budget, Nafta, Health Care, Welfare Reform, the Balkans, Northern Ireland, Re-election, Scandals and Impeachment, and Al Gore. There are also chapters on Clinton's Intellect and Clinton's Operating Style. Throughout there are frequent examinations of Clinton's strengths and weaknesses, however the reader must constantly remember that most of the interviewees were White House staff, so all of their comments cannot be labeled non-partisan.I thought the format of the book was especially well done. A question related to the chapter topic would be posed and most often a number of contributors' responses would follow. These were often one or two paragraphs in length, generally to the point. As a consequence the book was very readable, and rarely bogged done in nits nor in subject matter. Later in the Preface, Riley adds: "...our experience has been that people have been remarkably frank in reporting on their successes and their failures....also were remarkably free in assessing the work of their colleagues-and the accomplishments, as well as the flaws and missed opportunities of the president they served." I would generally agree with that and I feel compelled to add that though I often vote Democrat, I am not a Bill Clinton fan; I cannot get past the scandals and their opportunity costs. My point here is that most readers who have an interest in politics and/or the inner workings of the White House, should read this book regardless of their personal feelings toward Clinton.Some of the people who were interviewed for the program included Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright (each Secretary of State), Leon Panetta and Mack McLarty, chiefs of staff, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and several key members of Congress and foreign leaders. My major disappointment with the book was the people who did not interview: Hillary Clinton, George Stephanopoulos, Rahm Emanuel, Al Gore, Dee Dee Myers, Tony Blair. Yet they were referred to many times and often quoted by the interviewees.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Russell Riley, the author of this fine book, is a professor at the University of Virginia's Miler Center. There he is the chairman of the "Presidential Oral History Program". For this book, Riley reviewed over 400 hours of documented conversations with 60 individuals who were involved in the presidency of William J. Clinton. In this book you will find open and candid conversations with Clinton cabinet members, foreign heads of states, congressional members, and on and on. The topics range from domestic to foreign policy, and from the good to the bad of the administration. There is really no stone left unturned, the reader is left feeling like he was right there as events unfolded.I was very impressed with the outright admiration expressed by the people who worked for Clinton. And by the very high regard that foreign heads of states held him in. All thought he was an amazing man, intelligent, perceptive, and charming. As a president, they could not have thought higher of him. As a person, some of them had different feelings. Clinton's personal failings affected how they felt about him, but they put those feelings aside in order to do the country's business (I have to say, I think we have all had bosses that we admired for their work, but were not thrilled with their personal lives. However, we had jobs to do, and we also trudged along to the best of our abilities). I was also amazed at the reports of Clinton's work ethic, and of his mind. It appeared to his people that he never slept, that he would call people at 3 a.m. to say "what about this?". And his ability to multi-task was crazy! Story after story about how Clinton, during meetings, would be reading a newspaper, while also doing a crossword puzzle. You would think he would be completely "blowing you off", however, at the end of the briefing, Clinton would repeat things you said verbatim, and offer suggestions on things that you never thought of.Along with all the good, there was of course the bad. As one cabinet member said, "well, it is a Clinton pattern to get in trouble when he is doing better". And, "he was a very smart man. But ultimately, he was weak in certain respects". Several people made comments similar to this. It seems that Clinton could not help shooting himself in the foot, repeatedly. But, despite the bad, these people still were protective of Clinton. For example, "there are two types of Clinton haters. One type is the people who really don't like them because of what they want to accomplish...who don't like their idea of the role of government. And then there are the people who don't like them because they're jealous". Another example, "The Clinton Presidency from the very beginning...was never accepted as legitimate by the Republicans (this theme sounds familar, doesn't it?). It was a strange thing. They couldn't believe it, this '60s hillbilly-a combination of both hillbilly and Rhodes scholar-won this election". And again, "this whole notion of Clinton scandals: this is phony. Lewinsky aside, there are no Clinton scandals. 29 people in the Reagan administration were indicted for various malfeasance. But who in the Clinton administration? Did the White House counsel go to jail? Did the Attorney General go to jail, as John Mitchell did?" (Another side note: during the Reagan era, Lawrence Walsh alone secured 14 indictments (and 11 convictions) in the Iran-Contra affair). And from Judge Abner Mikva, "If I ever write anything, I'm going to write "The Nothing That Was Whitewater". There literally was nothing there, nothing. They had these massive investigations of these two-bit crooks going on it Little Rock. Clinton knew everybody in Arkansas, he knew cows and dogs and horses, and he knew crooks. It was a bad investment. They lost money on it. They took a tax deduction for their loss and that was all there was". Finally, there is are interviews of how these "insiders" felt about Hillary Clinton. It appears that the general consensus among them is that she is the more intelligent Clinton, the more disciplined one, the more decisive one. It also appears that she also puts up with no nonsense, is all about business. And it appears that she is, for lack of a better word, feared amongst staffers. Either do the job, or get out of the way. But it also appears that they admire her for her work. I have read many, many books about the Clinton's and their administration (and also of the Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush(s), and Obama's administrations). This one is different. It's not some former staff member trying to make him/herself look good for posterity. It's not a partisan hack job by someone with an axe to grind. What it is is a glimpse into the world of the Clinton administration, by those who lived there. I cannot recommend this book highly enough! Definitely one of my favorite books of the year.