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The Survivor

Bill Clinton In The White House

by John F. Harris

Summary

This comprehensive history and analysis of the two-term presidency of Bill Clinton is by Washington Post reporter John F. Harris, who covered the White House beat for most of that time. It focuses primarily on politics and policy, including welfare reform, NATO, and peace in the Middle East, but personality and leadership style inevitably come into play, as Harris recounts the ambitious programs (such as the healthcare initiative) as well as the sometimes minor distractions that became major impediments (such as Travelgate) that were to characterize Clinton's presidency. Harris examines how the Clinton presidency was challenged by midyear wins by Republicans led by Newt Gingrich, and he notes the mistrust by their own party of the Clintons, who were Washington outsiders. Nevertheless, Clinton is seen as a strong and active president on foreign and domestic issues, whether it be wars in the Balkans or the incredibly strong economy he left as a legacy. Harris presents acute portraits of the major players, especially advisor Dick Morris, but he also addresses staff loyalty issues and Clinton's tendency to be distracted and to isolate himself. Harris assesses Clinton's attention to the threat of terrorism, and puts the Lewinsky affair into context. What comes across is a very ambitious and eventful presidency, one whose promise exceeded its grasp. And while this is a serious account, it is highly accessible, and provides a new reading of Clinton in his times. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year for 2005.

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Media Reviews

"A complement and corrective to the Clintons' own memoirs, full of surprising turns that do much to explain the recent past-and the unfolding political present."

   -- Kirkus

"Most significant...is how Harris charts the darker side of the Clinton years. With no ideological axe to grind, and with full appreciation of Clinton's skills and achievements, Harris recounts the events that made possible a Republican to challenge the Democrats' claims on the White House even after eight years of peace and prosperity-events that, he sometimes says and sometimes suggests, are rooted in the man himself."    -- Jeff Greenfield

   -- Washington Monthly

"[A] thorough, readable, and scrupulously honest account of the Clinton years....This is a complex, interesting and subtle book about a complex, interesting and subtle man."    -- Alan Ehrenhalt

   -- New York Times Book Review

"[N]either a redemption nor a denunciation but a more measured portrait, and one that complicates the popular narrative of squandered opportunity."

   -- New Yorker

Bibliographic Details

Publisher: Random House Inc
Published date: 2005
Size: 6.75 x 9.75 inches
Weight: 2 pounds
Pages: 504

Publisher's Notes

The definitive account of one of the most accomplished, controversial, and polarizing figures in American history

Bill Clinton is the most arresting leader of his generation. He transformed American politics, and his eight years as president spawned arguments that continue to resonate. For all that has been written about this singular personality–including Clinton’s own massive autobiography–there has been no comprehensive, nonpartisan overview of the Clinton presidency.

Few writers are as qualified and equipped to tackle this vast subject as the award-winning veteran Washington Post correspondent John F. Harris, who covered Clinton for six of his eight years in office–as long as any reporter for a major newspaper. In The Survivor, Harris frames the historical debate about President William Jefferson Clinton, by revealing the inner workings of the Clinton White House and providing the first objective analysis of Clinton’s leadership and its consequences.

Harris shows Clinton entering the Oval Office in 1993 primed to make history. But with the Cold War recently concluded and the country coming off a nearly uninterrupted generation of Republican presidents, the new president’s entry into this maelstrom of events was tumultuous. His troubles were exacerbated by the habits, personal contacts, and the management style, he had developed in his years as governor of Arkansas. Clinton’s enthusiasm and temper were legendary, and he and Hillary Rodham Clinton–whose ambitions and ordeals also fill these pages–arrived filled with mistrust about many of the characters who greeted them in the “permanent Washington” that often holds the reins in the nation’s capital.

Showing surprising doggedness and a deep-set desire to govern from the middle, Clinton repeatedly rose to the challenges; eventually winning over (or running over) political adversaries on both sides of the aisle–sometimes facing as much skepticism from fellow Democrats as from his Republican foes. But as Harris shows in his accounts of political debacles such as the attempted overhaul of health care, Clinton’s frustrations in the war against terrorism, and the numerous personal controversies that time and again threatened to consume his presidency, Bill Clinton could never manage to outrun his tendency to favor conciliation over clarity, or his own destructive appetites.

The Survivor is the best kind of history, a book filled with major revelations–the tense dynamic of the Clinton inner circle and Clinton’s professional symbiosis with Al Gore to the imprint of Clinton’s immense personality on domestic and foreign affairs–as well as the minor details that leaven all great political narratives. This long-awaited synthesis of the dominant themes, events, and personalities of the Clinton years will stand as the authoritative and lasting work on the Clinton Presidency.

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