Call the Briefing!: A Memoir of Ten Years in the White House with Presidents Reagan and Bush

Imagine yourself in a closed room, facing dozens of smart, somewhat sarcastic people who see your ruination, and that of your boss, as their path to glory and success. Also, they get to decide whether you win or lose. According to Marlin Fitzwater, that was the reality he faced for six years as spokesman for two U.S. presidents, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. "Call The Briefing!" is a fascinating, rather strange book. On the one hand, Fitzwater has no trouble saying the press was against him, sometimes actively, in part because of the nature of their job and in part because of ideology. But on the other hand, he really liked the press, and sweated their disfavor. They may have been jungle beasts, as he memorably paints them in the opening of one chapter, but likable on the whole. Not that he ever let his guard down. "Treat them like professionals, and they will be your friends," he tells Bush 41. "But treat them like friends and they will betray you every time." It seems to have worked for Fitzwater, who served the last two years of Reagan's presidency and the entirety of his successor's term of office. The last two former presidents, by comparison, have had four press secretaries apiece. Sustaining Fitzwater, in addition to good humor, was passion for his job. "One of the most fascinating aspects of being a part of the presidency, a part of history, is the uncanny self-awareness of your role that sometimes occurs, as if you are in a painting, or playing a cameo role," he writes. A strength of the book is the way Fitzwater puts you in his role, dealing with a number of issues that seemed quite important on that day but have already faded with time, like a health scare when Bush collapses during a jog or the resignation of a minor Reagan legal counsel in the wake of Iran-Contra. Now they seem like tiddlywinks games, but back then, each came entangled with a slew of moral, ethical, even legal quandaries. One such time is a crisis in Panama, not the later invasion that was one of the touchstones of Bush 41, but a failed coup attempt by elements of the Panamanian military which the White House watched closely and hopefully, but with great confusion. Fitzwater learns belatedly that there were contacts between the coup plotters and U.S. forces at the Panama Canal Zone, but not passed on to the White House. Bush 41 was thus not culpable in the coup attempt. Instead, because word wasn't passed up from the Canal Zone, he appeared out of touch. What to say when asked, point-blank, what the president knew and when he knew it? Fitzwater couldn't lie and say no contact occurred, that would be wrong and stupid besides, if caught. Tell the truth, and Bush would appear "incompetent", at least as the media spun it. So he stalls, spins, and obfuscates. "It is the netherworld of government that we were all innocent and yet guilty at the same time," Fitzwater writes. Fitzwater uses his book more as a primer for the job of press secretary than as a hist

Marlin Fitzwater is still, in my mind, the supreme model of a press secretary. He was sharp, quick witted, capable of being funny, and honest. This is a terrific book that not only lets us in on what a press secretary's job is really like, he gives us the inside story on many important events in the second Reagan and Bush administrations. He also tells delicious stories about the Whitehouse press corps that are entertaining and informative. The author provides enough of his own biography, about fifty pages, to give us a better idea how he became who he is and how he came to Washington and ended up working for Larry Speakes, Reagan's press secretary at the time. He grew up on a Kansas wheat farm, ended up working at some small newspapers and working his way through college like many of us less well to do children of the middle and working classes did and do. He provides some key insights into the Reagan administration and is not afraid to say when he thinks Reagan was less than successful or what his weaknesses were, in his view. However, he is also extremely positive and explains where he thinks Reagan received bad advice and was less than well served by certain advisors. The accounts of the Bush administration are also excellent. Each anecdote is not only interesting but is used to illustrate some principle of the media in Washington and how the feebback between the press and politics works. The campaign between Bush and Clinton, whom the press adored, is especially illustrative. Each press secretary nowadays writes a book about their time in the hot seat, and they are usually good. After all, they are in that job because they know how to tell a story and communicate with the media and through them with us. But Fitzwater's book is a special example that sets the standard for all the rest.

Fitzwater's book is perhaps one of the finest insiders views of the White House and the White House press corps to ever be published. Fitzwater details the inner workings of the Reagan White House like none other, including the scandals and how they did not affect the inside of the White House regardless of the pressure from the media. His admiration for Ronald Reagan is palpable in this book, however he's not as favorable to George Bush. While it's clear he personally likes Bush, it's also clear that he did not agree with Bush's policies and the rest of the Bush White House team as much as he seemed to agree with much of the Reagan White House. However, overall the only person to come out of Fitzwater's book looking bad is John Sununu the former Chief of Staff. He comes off as paranoid and really a generally nasty guy. Fitzwater also writes probably the finest view of why Bush lost the 1992 Presidental race and the bungling inside of the White House that caused it. Unfortunately he avoids writing much about the invasion of Panama and Desert Storm, two of the biggest events of the Bush Presidency. Fitzwater rationalizes this by stating many other books will be written on those two events, however I would liked to have known how he handled it in terms of the briefings and the announcement of the invasion of Panama and the beginning of Desert Storm.Overall, this is a fine book and should be read by anyone who wants an insider's view of what the Washington Press Corps and their relationship with the White House is really like as well as anyone interested in how Bush managed to turn huge popularity raitings during and after Desert Storm into a political defeat in 1992.

"Call the Briefing" by Marlin Fitzwater puts you inside the White House. The reader is brought right to the Podium, fielding questions from a voracious Press Corps ready to do almost anything for a story. And you are there with the President and the Cabinet, discussing strategy and estimating every action's media reaction.It was hard to put this book down. You meet the very idealistic Ronald Reagan and the very professional George H. W. Bush through the eyes of the man who served a Press Secretary in both Administrations. Mr. Fitzwater's longevity in that position attests to his skill at working with the White House insiders and the news media. Many of the events covered are specific to the Reagan and Bush days, but you also experience the many duties of the White House Press Secretary in any Administration, a role that could give ulcers to almost anyone. This gave me a real appreciation of the "24/7" crises White House Staff in any Administration, must battle every day.I especially liked Mr. Fitzwater's writing, honed through years of experience. I liked his ability to paint events in a terse yet rich way. All the journeys of Marlin Fitzwater come alive, starting as a farm boy in Abeliene, Kansas and a reporter and editor in small-town Kansas newspapers. Although he had originally wanted a career as a journalist, his opportunity came on the other side of the podium, handling public relations at Government agencies. Mr. Fitzwater got his baptism by fire at the Environmental Protection Agency, handling the hot potato of the Three Mile Island Nuclear leak. For better or worse, it is the news media which ultimately decides what is news and how that news is presented to the public. But their power is even greater than we perceive. They can choose to make any particular event, such as a Presidential Speech, front-page headline news or bury it on the Obituary page. Mr. Fitzwater handled his dual challenge very well: to communicate the Administration's activities in the most favorable light, and at the same time building trust among the White House Press Corps by being fair and honest. One sees the successes, such as the Summit Meetings held by both Presidents Reagan and Bush with Premiere Gorbachev of the Soviet Union. And you see the bad times, such as the unfortunate illnesses suffered by Mr. Bush at Camp David and again in Japan, which caused many people to question his ability to finish his term. The reader also learns about the successes and failures of the Movers and Shakers in the White House, from Caspar Weiberger and Iran-Contra to the rise and fall of the autocratic Chief of Staff John Sununu. And of course the Media are happy to make a story at anyone's expense.Definitely five stars, and recommended for anyone who wants to know more about what happens in White House and how it affects the Nation.

"Call the Briefing" by Marlin Fitzwater puts you inside the White House. The reader is brought right to the Podium, fielding questions from a voracious Press Corps ready to do almost anything for a story. And you are there with the President and the Cabinet, discussing strategy and estimating every action's media reaction.It was hard to put this book down. You meet the very idealistic Ronald Reagan and the very professional George H. W. Bush through the eyes of the man who served a Press Secretary in both Administrations. Mr. Fitzwater's longevity in that position attests to his skill at working with the White House insiders and the news media. Many of the events covered are specific to the Reagan and Bush days, but you also experience the many duties of the White House Press Secretary in any Administration, a role that could give ulcers to almost anyone. This gave me a real appreciation of the "24/7" crises White House Staff in any Administration, must battle every day.I especially liked Mr. Fitzwater's writing, honed through years of experience. I liked his ability to paint events in a terse yet rich way. All the journeys of Marlin Fitzwater come alive, starting as a farm boy in Abeliene, Kansas and a reporter and editor in small-town Kansas newspapers. Although he had originally wanted a career as a journalist, his opportunity came on the other side of the podium, handling public relations at Government agencies. Mr. Fitzwater got his baptism by fire at the Environmental Protection Agency, handling the hot potato of the Three Mile Island Nuclear leak. For better or worse, it is the news media which ultimately decides what is news and how that news is presented to the public. But their power is even greater than we perceive. They can choose to make any particular event, such as a Presidential Speech, front-page headline news or bury it on the Obituary page. Mr. Fitzwater handled his dual challenge very well: to communicate the Administration's activities in the most favorable light, and at the same time building trust among the White House Press Corps by being fair and honest. One sees the successes, such as the Summit Meetings held by both Presidents Reagan and Bush with Premiere Gorbachev of the Soviet Union. And you see the bad times, such as the unfortunate illnesses suffered by Mr. Bush at Camp David and again in Japan, which caused many people to question his ability to finish his term. The reader also learns about the successes and failures of the Movers and Shakers in the White House, from Caspar Weiberger and Iran-Contra to the rise and fall of the autocratic Chief of Staff John Sununu. And of course the Media are happy to make a story at anyone's expense.Definitely five stars, and recommended for anyone who wants to know more about what happens in White House and how it affects the Nation.