Overview
"The personally annotated diary of President Jimmy Carter---filled with insights into his presidency, his relationships with friends and foes, and his lasting impact on issues that still preoccupy America and the world" "Each day during his presidency, Jimmy Carter made several entries in a private diary. He provided unvarnished assessments of cabinet members, congressmen, and foreign leaders; he narrated the progress of secret negotiations such as those that led to the Camp David Accords; he recorded his thoughts, impressions, delights, and frustrations. When his four-year term came to an end in early 1981, the diary amounted to more than five thousand pages. This extraordinary document has never been made public---until now." "By selecting the most illuminating and relevant entries, Carter has provided us with an astonishingly intimate view of his presidency. Day by day, we see his forceful advocacy for sustainable energy, nuclear containment, human rights, and peace in the Middle East. We witness his interactions with such complex personalities as Teddy Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Joe Biden, Anwar Sadat, and Menachem Begin. We get the inside story of his so-called "malaise speech," his bruising battle for the 1980 Democratic nomination, and his relentless efforts to resolve the Iranian hostage crisis. Remarkably, we also get Carter's retrospective comments on these topics and more: thirty years after the fact, he has annotated the diary with candid reflections on the people and events that shaped his presidency, and on the many lessons he learned." Carter is now widely seen as one of the truly wise men of our time. Offering an unprecedented look at both the man and his tenure, this fascinating book will stand as a unique contribution to the history of the American presidency.
Synopsis
The edited, annotated diary of President Jimmy Carter—filled with insights into his presidency, his relationships with friends and foes, and his lasting impact on issues that still preoccupy America and the world.
The New York Times - Steven R. Weisman
…patient readers will find White House Diary fascinating on two levels: the pace gives a sense of what it is like to be president, and the entries contain blunt appraisals of the people with whom [Carter] dealt.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
The snarl behind the toothy grin emerges in these acerbic entries culled from the 39th president's personal diary. Carter vents against everyone, from Congress ("disorganized juvenile delinquents"), to the press ("completely irresponsible and unnecessarily abusive") and the incoming Reaganauts ("group of jerks"). By contrast, he comes off as the principled, rational, speed-reading master of policy detail, with a cogent-to him-agenda of human rights, internationalism, and disarmament in foreign policy, and fiscal restraint, deregulation, and energy conservation at home. His account of the "national malaise" episode reveals a technocrat groping awkwardly toward a political vision. But the hectic, sketchy entries, annotated with after-the-fact elucidations, mainly show President Carter breasting the maelstrom of over-scheduling, mundane politics, and brother-Billy issues, while eruptions like the Iranian hostage crisis sneak up; the Sadat-Begin Camp David negotiations and other summits, where his leadership could be proactive and untrammeled, provoke his most involved and insightful passages. Carter's judgments will stir controversy: he tars Ted Kennedy with torpedoing his healthcare reforms and abetting Reagan's 1980 victory, and paints Israel ("obstinate") and its Prime Minister at the time, Menachem Begin, as the main obstacles to peace in the Middle East. His tart wit and cutting candor add flavor to a revealing portrait of presidential achievement and, especially, frustration. Illustrations.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Steven R. Weisman
…patient readers will find White House Diary fascinating on two levels: the pace gives a sense of what it is like to be president, and the entries contain blunt appraisals of the people with whom [Carter] dealt.—The New York Times
From the Publisher
"Fascinating...The pace gives a sense of what it is like to be president, and the entries contain blunt appraisals of the people with whom he dealt." —The New York Times"Outstanding…Anyone seeking insight into the thirty-ninth president of the United States would do well to pick up [this] book." —The Christian Science Monitor
"A substantial contribution to [history]… a uniquely unfiltered look at what occupying the Oval Office day to day means." —Los Angeles Times
"[Carter’s] tart wit and cutting candor add flavor to a revealing portrait of presidential achievement."—Publishers Weekly