Prisoners of the White House The Isolation of America's Presidents and the Crisis of Leadership

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•        The Washington Post - Jonathan Yardley

  Walsh, who has covered the White House…for more than a quarter-century, knows his beat intimately and has had at least a passing acquaintance with every president since George H.W. Bush…on the whole he takes a reasonably distanced approach to the men he has covered and recognizes their faults as well as their virtues…Prisoners of the White House…is a useful survey of how presidents are isolated from their constituency and how some of them have tried to overcome that.

  Jonatha Yardley

  Editorial review on Prisoners of the White House

  by Publishers Weekly  Found Here

   

•        Publishers Weekly

  Veteran White House correspondent Walsh (Family of Freedom: Presidents and African Americans in the White House) provides an uncontroversial review of efforts by presidents—from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama—to maintain contact with the American people, despite their isolation in office. Arguing that the presidents who do this best have the most successful administrations, Walsh traces the evolution of the key technique of polling, which has become an indispensable tool. The author notes that polls are not always reliable, but they enable both a sampling of public opinion and a means of shaping that opinion. Other methods of keeping a finger on the public pulse include monitoring the media, sampling letters from constituents, consulting legislators and friends, and conversations with citizens. Unfortunately, Walsh doesn’t offer a concrete escape plan for breaking out of the gilded prison of the White House—a goal that might well be impractical anyway. Nevertheless, students of political science and history will find this to be a worthwhile reflection on how the presidency has evolved. (June)

   

  Publishers Weekly

   

•        Library Journal - Marcus Kieltyka

  Walsh, (former White House correspondent, US News & World Report; Family of Freedom: Presidents and African Americans in the White House) evaluates the attempts from Franklin Roosevelt's third term through President Obama's first to keep in touch with the country. The book is based on previous presidential studies, the author's interviews with White House advisers, and newly available presidential papers. It examines each administration's methods, including initiatives by first ladies, to access the public mood from within an increasingly insular White House. Rather than being organized chronologically, the book is organized around the theme of an administration's level of success in maintaining connection with public opinion: those that lost contact with it (Nixon and Carter); two administrations that proactively worked on public opinion to establish new agendas (Kennedy's civil rights campaign and George W. Bush's war on terror); and administrations that maintained contact with the American public (Clinton and Reagan). Lastly, the book discusses the evolution and abilities of presidential pollsters, or "wizards," from Roosevelt's Hadley Cantril to Obama's Joel Benenson, men charged with keeping the administration connected to the people. VERDICT This insightful and informative work will appeal to anyone interested in the evolving U.S. presidency and the ability of each administration to break out of the White House bubble and stay connected with the nation.

   

  Marcus Kieltyka, Central Washington Univ. Lib., Ellensburg

  A starred review on Prisoners of the White House

  by Library Journal : Found Here

•        Doug Wead The Blog - wordpress.com

  "Walsh may be this nation’s greatest authority on the modern American presidency.  His career as a presidential historian began late, this is his sixth book, but his career as a journalist has given him a front row seat at every White House since Ronald Reagan.  Walsh has covered, up-close, five American presidents.”

   

  - Doug Wead The Blog - wordpress.com

   

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