Inside the Oval Office

The President of the United States is CEO of what Harry Truman called "the largest going concern in the world." Charged with overseeing a staff of 3,500,000, a $2 trillion budget, and over 25,000 nuclear warheads, the moment a President is sworn into office he becomes not only the country's national leader and chief politician but chief executive. But since the executive side of the presidency is sealed off from the public as soon as the Oval Office door closes, presidents have been analyzed only as leaders and politicians. Until now. The first-ever of it's kind, INSIDE THE OVAL OFFICE: The White House Tapes from FDR to Clinton by William Doyle traces the diverse executive styles of the eleven modern presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton. The book is based on personal interviews with over 100 former Oval Office insiders, from FDR's personal secretary to Henry Kissinger, mountains of information meticulously culled from the National Archives and presidential libraries, plus transcripts from decades of White House recordings, some revealed here for the first time.

Ever since 1940, the American presidents have turned the Oval Office into a private recording studio. They drilled microphones into White House walls, drawers, and light fixtures, wired the microphones into recording devices in secret chambers near the Oval Office, rigged secret switches into tables, desks, and lamps, and tapped presidential phone lines with Dictaphone machines stashed away in closets. Other times they ordered stenographers, note-takers, and video cameras to openly record White House business. It is only through these White House recordings that we witness:

Creative executive Franklin Roosevelt charming and confusing his Oval Office visitors;
Decisive executive Harry Truman revealing his vulnerability at the helm of the world's first nuclear superpower;
Rational executive John F. Kennedy grappling with an armed rebellion by thousands of American citizens;
Strategic executive Richard Nixon accusing his generals of near mutiny for disobeying orders in Vietnam;
Collegial executive Gerald Ford initiating the Mideast peace process with Henry Kissinger;
Visionary executive Ronald Reagan conquering Grenada, arm twisting Congressmen, and plotting victory in the Cold War; and
Chaotic executive Bill Clinton frantically tying to save his presidency in the frenzied Oval Office just minutes before a crucial national address.

"The Oval Office is the world's most dangerous office: a single mistaken phrase can send armies across borders, catapult financial markets into shock, or change history forever. It is little wonder many presidents experimented with White House taping to protect themselves. The tapes and transcripts they left behind offer glimpses of how their public political and leadership skills were shaped by their closed-door executive skills-how well they managed the executive power the Constitution gave them in the day-to-day pressure cooker of the Oval Office."

Author William Doyle takes you INSIDE THE OVAL OFFICE to reveal:

Franklin D. Roosevelt toying with detonating a sex scandal to ruin his Republican opponent on the first Oval Office recording in history; plus his stenographic transcript of the emergency White House meeting hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Harry S. Truman grappling with his mind-boggling new responsibility at the controls of the world's first nuclear superpower, as he conducts test recordings on FDR's secret recorder. Dwight Eisenhower struggling with a problem he is afraid will "wreck the United States," on a tape lost to history for 42 years. John F. Kennedy's secret phone and Cabinet Room tapes of his 1962 invasion of Mississippi with 20,000 troops as he races against the clock to crush an armed rebellion and prevent a massacre. Lyndon B. Johnson's "president's eyes - only" minutes of an historic 1968 meeting when he realized he must disengage from Vietnam. Richard Nixon ripping out LBJ's recorders, then accidentally crucifying himself on his own tape machines. Gerald Ford running a high-risk helicopter rescue of American hostages on the other side of the world. Ronald Reagan conquering Grenada, arm-twisting Congressmen and plotting victory in the Cold War on never-before-seen White House TV videotapes. Bill Clinton trying to rescue his presidency, captured on an Oval Office videotape recorded four years before his impeachment.