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In the Shadow of the White House A Memoir of the Washington and Watergate Years 19681978 Jo Haldeman Evan Thomas 9781945572081 Books

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In the Shadow of the White House A Memoir of the Washington and Watergate Years 19681978 Jo Haldeman Evan Thomas 9781945572081 Books

I loved this book.
I also didn’t have an inkling of what a treasure I’d stumbled upon. The first thing that struck me was that Jo Haldeman is an incredible writer and could have made a fine living doing just that had life not taken her in an entirely different direction. But, oh my, what a direction it was! Married to H.R. Haldeman, President Nixon’s Chief of Staff, she guides the reader on a remarkable journey with her through the White House and Watergate years. If you think you’ve read – or heard – enough about this tumultuous period in our nation’s history, suffice it to say that you haven’t heard this story, and it’s well worth it. Jo Haldeman tells her story in the present tense and, as such, there’s an urgency to this book, an immediacy. Despite the fact that most of the events took place over 40 years ago, she renders them in such detail and with such humanity that the book is hard to put down. She also addresses questions that we’re all curious about. What was it like to be in her shoes? What was her first glimpse of the White House like or her first trip aboard Air Force One? How did her four children adjust to being in Washington? How did the entire family react to the news of the Watergate break-in? To their father’s sentence? What happened after his release?
This is tough emotional terrain, but it is handled with delicacy and restraint. And also, I might add, made vibrant by her descriptions and observations. She’s the kind of writer/observer who can mention Henry Kissinger in one sentence and follow it up in the next with a touching detail about one of the family’s pugs – or her youngest daughter’s parakeet.
I remember those “Watergate years,” I remember the protests and the deep divisions within our country. (Sound familiar?) I’m not sure what I expected when I set out to read, only that this book touched me deeply for its portrait, not only of a woman and a family but of the political and social landscape at the time. It’s also a love story, told with tenderness and impeccable detail.
Once upon a time, her husband told her that she had a story to tell, that she’d experienced those Washington/Watergate years just as he had. She demurred. But he was spot on. This is a story with a capital S.


Tags : In the Shadow of the White House: A Memoir of the Washington and Watergate Years, 1968-1978 [Jo Haldeman, Evan Thomas] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <div>For her first forty years, Jo Haldeman’s life followed a conventional path. While her husband, Bob,Jo Haldeman, Evan Thomas,In the Shadow of the White House: A Memoir of the Washington and Watergate Years, 1968-1978,Rare Bird Books, A Vireo Book,1945572086,Corruption & Misconduct,Personal Memoirs,Women,Autobiographies,Haldeman, H. R,Nixon, Richard M,United States - History - 1969-,United States - Politics and government - 1969-1974,United States;Politics and government.,Washington (D.C.),Watergate Affair, 1972-1974,Watergate Affair, 1972-1974;Personal narratives.,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Political,BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY,Biography & Autobiography Personal Memoirs,Biography & Autobiography Women,Biography & AutobiographyPersonal Memoirs,Biography & AutobiographyWomen,GENERAL,General Adult,History,HistoryUnited States - 20th Century,Non-Fiction,POLITICAL CORRUPTION,Political Science,Political Science Corruption & Misconduct,Political Science Intelligence & Espionage,Political ScienceAmerican Government - Executive Branch,Political ScienceCorruption & Misconduct,PoliticsInternational Relations,PoliticsIntl Relations,United States,United States - History - 1969-,United States - Politics and government - 1969-1974,United States;Politics and government.,WOMEN AND POLITICS,Washington (D.C.),Watergate Affair, 1972-1974,Watergate Affair, 1972-1974;Personal narratives.,Watergate; Scandal; Washington; Politics; Cover-up; Haldeman; Erlichman; Nixon; John Dean; Law; Legal,Women,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Political,Biography & Autobiography Personal Memoirs,Biography & Autobiography Women,Biography & AutobiographyPersonal Memoirs,Biography & AutobiographyWomen,HistoryUnited States - 20th Century,Political Science Corruption & Misconduct,Political Science Intelligence & Espionage,Political ScienceAmerican Government - Executive Branch,Political ScienceCorruption & Misconduct,Biography And Autobiography,Political Corruption,Political Science,PoliticsInternational Relations

In the Shadow of the White House A Memoir of the Washington and Watergate Years 19681978 Jo Haldeman Evan Thomas 9781945572081 Books Reviews

Excellent book. Mrs. Haldeman makes us a member of her family, sitting down with us, and unloading her inner thoughts about her marriage, her husband's job with President Nixon, his heights and his nadirs, and how it all affected their family and particularly the author. Reading about her insecurities as a wife of a driven, totally focused manager-in-chief of the West Wing, it reminds me of the complaints of the President's detail of U.S. Secret Service agents' wives, who never know when their husbands will be home from work again.

I had a small, infrequent role at the Nixon White House, spending my time visiting military personnel at the other end of the building, the East Wing. All I knew about H. R. Haldeman was to make myself small and unassuming in his presence and avoid his eyes meeting mine. So, to know what his home life was like and how truly human he really was, fills in a lot of blanks for me.
I thought the book was well written and organized in a way that placed Jo Haldeman's recollections of her White House and Watergate experience in the context of other contemporaneous events. I had to keep reminding myself as she stated in the beginning that it is her story not an analysis of her husband or children. What I found unsatisfying and somewhat unbelievable was how little she described how she helped her children deal with what must have been an emotionally tumultuous change in their life and also that she seemed to blame almost everybody else involved in Watergate for what happened- Dean for testifying, Erhlichman for not manning up, Nixon above all but not her husband who comes across as a victim.
The books author, Jo Haldeman, tells the watergate story from her prospective. As the wife of the man chosen by President Nixon to serve as his Chief of Staff she finds herself moved to dizzying heights in the halls of the White House. With her husband and four children she relocates to an unfamiliar D.C.from the west coast. Her husband is totally at the demands of his strange neurotic boss and is a dedicated employee who is fired when the scandal emerges. As Bob Haldeman proclaims his innocence he is nonetheless tried and convicted serving 18 months in prison. 21 persons went to jail over Watergate but Dick Nixon was pardoned by Gerald Ford and retired. Jo became the family breadwinner and was a faithful visitor at the CA prison until her husband was released and came home. This is her fascinating story..
Mrs. Haldeman tells her story of the White House years and Watergate trial through her eyes. This courageous woman tells us her story with honesty, emotion and awareness. Mrs. Haldeman does not explain Washington politics to us, but rather allows us "to be there with her" during this historical time. Beautifully written ,this memoir is written in the first person, present tense, allowing the reader an insiders point of view. A must read for anyone and especially for those of us who remember the Watergate years.
I loved this book.
I also didn’t have an inkling of what a treasure I’d stumbled upon. The first thing that struck me was that Jo Haldeman is an incredible writer and could have made a fine living doing just that had life not taken her in an entirely different direction. But, oh my, what a direction it was! Married to H.R. Haldeman, President Nixon’s Chief of Staff, she guides the reader on a remarkable journey with her through the White House and Watergate years. If you think you’ve read – or heard – enough about this tumultuous period in our nation’s history, suffice it to say that you haven’t heard this story, and it’s well worth it. Jo Haldeman tells her story in the present tense and, as such, there’s an urgency to this book, an immediacy. Despite the fact that most of the events took place over 40 years ago, she renders them in such detail and with such humanity that the book is hard to put down. She also addresses questions that we’re all curious about. What was it like to be in her shoes? What was her first glimpse of the White House like or her first trip aboard Air Force One? How did her four children adjust to being in Washington? How did the entire family react to the news of the Watergate break-in? To their father’s sentence? What happened after his release?
This is tough emotional terrain, but it is handled with delicacy and restraint. And also, I might add, made vibrant by her descriptions and observations. She’s the kind of writer/observer who can mention Henry Kissinger in one sentence and follow it up in the next with a touching detail about one of the family’s pugs – or her youngest daughter’s parakeet.
I remember those “Watergate years,” I remember the protests and the deep divisions within our country. (Sound familiar?) I’m not sure what I expected when I set out to read, only that this book touched me deeply for its portrait, not only of a woman and a family but of the political and social landscape at the time. It’s also a love story, told with tenderness and impeccable detail.
Once upon a time, her husband told her that she had a story to tell, that she’d experienced those Washington/Watergate years just as he had. She demurred. But he was spot on. This is a story with a capital S.