Product Description

A GROUNDBREAKING BOOK about the modern presidency, The Clinton Tapes invites readers into private dialogue with a gifted, tormented, resilient President of the United States. Here is what President Clinton thought and felt but could not say in public.

This book rests upon a secret project, initiated by Clinton, to preserve for future historians an unfiltered record of presidential experience. During his eight years in office, between 1993 and 2001, Clinton answered questions and told stories in the White House, usually late at night. His friend Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch recorded seventy-nine of these dialogues to compile a trove of raw information about a presidency as it happened. Clinton drew upon the diary transcripts for his memoir in 2004.

Branch recorded his own detailed recollections immediately after each session, covering not only the subjects discussed but also the look and feel of each evening with the president. The text engages Clinton from many angles. Readers hear candid stories, feel buffeting pressures, and weigh vivid descriptions of the White House settings.

Branch's firsthand narrative is confessional, unsparing, and personal. The author admits straying at times from his primary role -- to collect raw material for future historians -- because his discussions with Clinton were unpredictable and intense. What should an objective prompter say when the President of the United States seeks advice, argues facts, or lodges complaints against the press? The dynamic relationship that emerges from these interviews is both affectionate and charged, with flashes of anger and humor. President Clinton drives the history, but this story is also about friends.

The Clinton Tapes highlights major events of Clinton's two terms, including wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, the failure of health care reform, peace initiatives on three continents, the anti-deficit crusade, and titanic political struggles from Whitewater to American history's second presidential impeachment trial. Along the way, Clinton delivers colorful portraits of countless political figures and world leaders from Nelson Mandela to Pope John Paul II.

These unprecedented White House dialogues will become a staple of presidential scholarship. Branch's masterly account opens a new window on a controversial era and Bill Clinton's eventual place among our chief executives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1551 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-29
• Format: Deckle Edge
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 720 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781416543336
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Publishers Weekly
Bill Clinton finds a genial Boswell for this absorbing inside account of his White House years. Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Branch (Parting the Waters) met regularly with Clinton as interlocutor for a taped diary of reflections, distilling from the rambling conversations illuminating commentaries on major issues, including the failed health-care reform, budget battles with congressional Republicans, scandals and impeachment, and foreign policy crises. They depict Clinton as both a principled man and a born operator—Branch wonderfully captures the shrewd political calculations Clinton elaborates to justify his triangulations—with a restless intellect that revels in the details of everything from Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to the Hubble Space Telescope. (The book also offers a warm portrait of the first family, with young Chelsea forever rushing in for help with homework.) Branch, who worked on presidential speeches and was paid $50,000 by Clinton for the project, often seems less than objective; he treads lightly around Whitewater and the Monica Lewinsky scandal, for example. Still, browsers and scholars will find perceptive insights on Clinton's policies and magnetic personality. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Jack Germond, for many years an insightful political reporter (and author of a memorable memoir, "Fat Man in a Middle Seat"), once expressed to me his regret that prominent elected officials were no longer willing to go out drinking with journalists. The words "off the record" had lost their meaning in post-Watergate Washington, Germond explained, and a politician could not take the chance of truly opening up with a reporter. As a result, journalists and, by extension, voters had less chance to really get to know the men and women in office. I thought of Germond's remark as I read Taylor Branch's up-close, behind-the-scenes account of the Clinton presidency. Between 1993 and 2001, Branch visited Bill Clinton in the White House 79 times to tape a secret diary. A former journalist and the author of a trilogy about Martin Luther King (the first volume, "Parting the Waters," won a Pulitzer Prize in 1989), Branch had become friendly with Clinton when they worked on George McGovern's presidential campaign in 1972. After the 1992 election, Clinton asked Branch to be his Arthur Schlesinger, an in-house historian and formal adviser, but Branch begged off, fearing that he would be tagged as more advocate than historian, and because he was still working on his King books. Nonetheless, Branch agreed to act as an unpaid historical inquisitor at monthly taping sessions at the White House. Those tapes have remained with Clinton; Branch does not quote directly from them for his book. However, late at night, while driving home to Baltimore, Branch would record his recollections of what Clinton had said, along with his own thoughts and impressions. Branch's ruminations became the basis of "The Clinton Tapes" -- which, the author says, the former president urged him to write. Like the Clinton presidency, Branch's book is promising, often engaging, yet ultimately a little disappointing. Branch had a unique opportunity to observe a president in an open and intimate way, yet the reader -- at least this reader -- cannot help but wonder if he was too close to his subject to write a truly revealing book. Clinton's capacity for self-pity has been long established, but Branch was clearly taken aback by the president's moaning and ranting about his enemies, especially the news media. In October 1994, as Newt Gingrich's Republican revolution picked up steam, Clinton was so exhausted and depressed that he was falling asleep in midsentence during his interviews with Branch. His friend was disturbed but still concluded that Clinton was a far nobler figure than the scribes who mocked him. It is possible to sympathize with Clinton. Today, when the mainstream media seems so weakened, we forget how powerful -- and arrogant -- the New York Times and The Washington Post, along with the networks and news magazines, seemed to be in the early and mid-1990s. They were part of a giant scandal machine that dominated official Washington in the first few years after the Cold War. The endless string of special prosecutors and the media's obsession with Whitewater seem excessive in retrospect. Clinton was not wrong to be frustrated or to believe that the single greatest mistake of his administration (against the advice of the first lady) was to appoint a special prosecutor to look into Whitewater. He also had the canny insight that Whitewater served as a proxy for what really interested reporters: those rumors of "bimbo eruptions" floated by political enemies and less-than-reliable state troopers. Given all that, how could Clinton have been so foolish as to take up with a White House intern just as he was turning back the tide of Gingrichism in the fall of 1995? The reader longs for some insight, some Shakespearean narrative to help explain Clinton's self-destructive recklessness. But Branch does not deliver; he merely reports that Clinton said he "just cracked." Branch seems almost too embarrassed to try to find out more. Partly because Clinton did not summon him for several months as the Lewinsky scandal was breaking in the winter of 1998, Branch skips past the drama of the darkest days, when Clinton's presidency seemed to hang in the balance. By the time Branch catches up during the impeachment phase, Bill and Hillary have reconciled, sort of. (One night in January 1999, during Clinton's Senate trial, Branch is delayed from going to his appointment with the president by a White House usher who has seen the Clintons smooching.) Branch does report on an angry blowup between Clinton and Vice President Al Gore after Gore lost the 2000 election and blamed Clinton's character defects for voter disillusionment with Democrats. There is also a poignant reminder of Chelsea Clinton's suffering over her father's sex scandal. She was too embarrassed, Branch reports, to be seen with him on campus at Stanford. As King's biographer, Branch is well versed in navigating the tricky shoals of public and private morality. In his penetrating account, King's greatness was not diminished by his philandering; indeed, Branch shows how his personal guilt drove him to act courageously. Clinton is a different story: his cause less profound, his moral failings more integral to his character. One wishes Branch could have confronted his friend more directly and persistently; he might have more effectively redeemed him. The subtitle of Branch's book is "Wrestling History With the President." Branch should have wrestled with Clinton more forcefully.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

About the Author
Taylor Branch is the bestselling author of Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63 (which won the Pulitzer Prize), Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65, and At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968. The author of two other nonfiction books and a novel, Branch is a former staff member of The Washington Monthly, Harper's, and Esquire. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Customer Reviews

Why Clinton Made the Decisions He Did
Taylor Branch and Bill Clinton were comrades-in-arms in the Texas Campaign of George McGovern for President. Twenty years later after he took office, Clinton invited his old friend in to offer him an important job. He wanted Branch to be his White House historian, his "Arthur Schlesinger." That plan didn't work out, but the two old friends did decide to make some "living history," no holds-barred contemporary tape recordings of the events of Bill Clinton's Presidency as they occurred.
Taylor made two duplicate tape recordings of each of 79 two-hour interviews conducted over a period between 1993 and 2001. In order to insure that the President felt like he could talk candidly about even the most delicate subjects, it was agreed that Clinton would keep both tape recordings of each interview in his personal possession. Clinton put both of the only copies into "what he called `a good hiding place'--his sock drawer" in the dressing room next to his and Hillary's White House bedroom.
This book is not a transcription of those secret tapes. It is the author's recollections and notes of each of those two-hour "shooting the bull" confabs. After turning over the recordings to Clinton for safe storage in his super-secret hiding place, Taylor Branch would drive himself home. During the hour it usually took him to reach his driveway when driving home late at night and early in the morning, he would make another tape recording of his impressions and recollections of what was said during the earlier White House interviews. These "driving home tape recordings," his notes and memory are the basis of this 700 plus-page book. Clinton or his library will probably eventually release the President's tapes, but as of this date, they are still secret although the President told his old friend that he used much of the material in them for his own memoir and was delighted to have it.
The book includes a very detailed 38-page index that makes this material much more accessible to the reader. Unlike other recent memoirs by major political players this book doesn't ignore negative events in the life of the book's main character. Monica Lewinsky, Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones et al are listed in the index dozens of times with lots of cross-references. It's easy to locate the material that most interests the reader or researcher. That makes this book a particularly good reference book. Ever since this reviewer took a speed-reading class in high school, rapid consumption of the printed word has been the norm. However, this book isn't all unfamiliar territory. Because this reader and most of the first readers of this volume will have lived through much of this very recent history and already have a decent knowledge of the events in it, it's difficult to speed read this book. The reader constantly comes across details of the story that cause the reader to have to slow down, pause and carefully consider how these new insights on the events differ from the reader's own knowledge and understanding of the events as gathered from the news media. It's a real pleasure to actually hear a first-hand account of the details of President Clinton discussing how he came to a particular decision and why it had to be that way. Whatever the interested reader's own political party, beliefs and personal opinions of William Jefferson Clinton they can't help but be impressed with this book. It's amazing how a person's opinions can change when they learn all the options and politics that led to a certain decision. That goes for decisions about last minute pardons, signing off on the Special Prosecutor's deal that would enable him to avoid confessing any guilt and only surrender his license to practice law in Arkansas for five years and bring the endless ordeal of investigations to a final conclusion. It also allowed the Clintons to start paying off the millions of dollars in legal bills that those never-ending investigations had run up.
This book is packed with fresh material about the not-so secret events of Clinton's two terms as President of the United States. It's filled with the way Clinton liked to talk and express things in his natural southern folksy way.
This reviewer particularly enjoyed the end of the book where Al Gore also sat in for a recorded discussion with his boss and Branch. There is lot of fascinating information that resulted from that candid discussion and remarkably; this reviewer's opinion of both politicians was much improved because of it.
It was also enlightening to learn that while Clinton had thought he'd miss being in the Oval Office, he was surprised and relieved to be out of the pressure cooker of the Presidency. He'd thought he would play a lot of golf after he left the White House only to discover that while he enjoyed the escape from the constant pressure and stress while serving as President, he didn't care that much for golf once he was out of office. He preferred other mentally stimulating activities such as reading more. This book, the author's taped recollections and of course the secret tapes that Clinton still retains, are already very important and interesting history. This is a terrific read or if the reader prefers, an extremely helpful reference book to dip into whenever additional information is needed about any Clinton action, policy or his feelings about it. Naturally there are some touching family incidents described in the volume as well.

A terrific eight-year conversation
President Clinton had not been in office long before he summoned Taylor Branch, an original "FOB" (friend of Bill) and noted Martin Luther King scholar, to begin a series of taped conversations as Clinton's own presidency progressed. The result of these hours of dialogue forms the basis and narrative of Branch's book, "The Clinton Tapes", resurrecting the author's recollections of these discussions. It was an immense undertaking and is full of historical reward.

We learn so much about Bill Clinton, the man and the president, that would otherwise not be known, until or unless the tapes, (which President Clinton has) are released for public consumption. What is perhaps not so surprising is that many major current events change so quickly. Reflecting on the early years of the Clinton presidency, who remembers now so much focus on Haiti and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide? Even the war in Kosovo and other former Yugoslav republics are now in the background of many of our thoughts. Of course, the Middle East, the Korean peninsula, India and Pakistan are still "current", but many of the players have changed. Yasir Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein are all gone now, but Clinton's examination of them makes it seem like just yesterday. We get to see a president who is utterly engaged in peace processes around the world with a deep understanding of the conflicts that arose during that time.

We also witness a personal side of Bill Clinton that is remarkable. He is often so dead tired that Taylor Branch finds him nodding off during their meetings. The president loves basketball and his own golf game, but isn't particularly knowledgeable about baseball. More than occasionally he seems to suffer from some physical injury or allergies depending on the day and season. Clinton dislikes the media intensely (as do most presidents) and through Branch's remembrances Clinton remains very close to Hillary and Chelsea. But there's humor, too...Clinton's own comparison of being president and running a cemetery is very funny, and Arafat's self-deprecating joke is hysterical! A more poignant and steamed up Bill Clinton, however, has a candid conversation toward the final chapters with outgoing vice president Al Gore regarding the reasons for Gore's loss of the White House. Those few pages are among the best in the book.

A significant question that any reader might have is this: "as a friend of the president, was Taylor Branch too close for impartial recall?" I suspect the answer is yes AND no, as Branch ponders that proximity throughout the book. If there is one downside to "The Clinton Tapes" it is on that very point...the author injects himself a little too much sometimes into the narrative. That said, this historic book covers the Clinton presidency at every level and most likely will be the best look at the White House from 1993-2001 from an outsider's point of view. I highly recommend it.

Provocative reading
Taylor Branch served as a diarist for Bill Clinton while he was Presdient, meeting with him at various times, to record his thoughts and impressions of current events, politicians, etc. These tapes he then gave to the President, but made his own tapes on the drive back home of what he remembered being said that day. This book is based from the latter tapes.

The book provides many fascinating details and insights from a very astute and intelligent man during his tenure in office as President of the United States. Even better is that this information is not colored by hindsight from thoughts taken years later-like, his impressions of Yeltsin or Assad while he was dealing with them and not after their death, or his thinking about Whitewater as the investigation progresses at various stages and not after he left office and was exonerated.

Whatever your feelings are about Bill Clinton, this book will give you a better idea of the vissitudes that a President faces and in this book, how he handled them.