Hold On, Mr. President

by Sam Donaldson

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394553934
• ISBN13: 9780394553931
• Release Date: March 1987
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 1.27 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Humorous, Serious look at TV Journalism

Sam Donaldson is both humorous and serious in this semi-autobiographical 1987 look at his job covering the Presidency. Donaldson is known as a dogged questioner disdainful of dodges and evasions. And as he shows that's his job, no matter how annoying he becomes to Presidents, other public figures, and the viewing public. Donaldson focuses primarily on Presidents Carter and Reagan. The Carter section is somewhat humorous; the section on Reagan would be even more so until you realize how out-of-touch the man was. Donaldson also examines the TV news business, the program THIS WEEK WITH DAVID BRINKLEY, his Texas upbringing, and lest you dismiss him as some liberal journalist, his vote for Goldwater in 1964. Ironically, for all his attack-dog persistence, he never gets very revealing about politicians, the news business, or himself. Still, this is an informative and humorous read.

No real depth on Donaldson, some on the presidents

For years, Sam Donaldson was the television network correspondent that most people considered the most obnoxious. And yet, he served a vital public function. By aggressively yelling hard questions to presidents Carter and Reagan, he occasionally forced them to answer and provide some information regarding what their policies were. Since I am a news and political junkie, I often saw him in action and there were times that I praised him for his aggressiveness and other times I thought he should just shut up. This is his story in his own words and while he admits to some mistakes, there are no apologies for what he does. He cycles through his life, giving us some glimpses of his childhood, but nothing of great depth. The one true insight into his personal beliefs is when he reveals that he voted for Barry Goldwater in 1964. Furthermore, he still insists that Goldwater would have made an excellent president. Given the reputation that Goldwater has as an extremist that is quite a statement. Otherwise, Donaldson is emphatic that his past votes in presidential elections is a private affair. He mentions his vote for Goldwater only because he inadvertently mentioned it in another context so it is already part of the public record. Given the secretive nature of the Bush White House and Donaldson's "retirement" from being ABC's White House correspondent, one can only speculate as to the level of friction there would have been if Donaldson were still covering the White House. I enjoyed this insight into Donaldson's career and some of the events in his professional life. There are some that are very funny, I never realized that Jimmy Carter had such a sense of humor, as he gets off a couple of real zingers at Donaldson's expense. There are also some insights into Ronald Reagan. Donaldson portrays him as a man who appears somewhat mentally disjointed at times, most likely the very early stages of Alzheimer's disease, but also as someone who was genuinely kind to others. It is clear that despite the adversarial professional relationship between them, he liked Reagan very much.

Funny, but drags

Hold On, Mr. President is a chronicle of Sam Donaldson's years as a reporter until 1987. There is some coverage in the beginning of the book about how Donaldson got his start, which makes for interesting and sometimes amusing reading. The book focuses heavily on his time covering former presidents Carter and Reagen. Much of the information given about his time with Carter is hysterical. While a few funny quips are given over the Reagen administration, much focus is given to the apparent bumbling of Reagen's staff and Reagen's unwillingness to take control of things himself, resulting in many embarassing blunders by his adminstration. The latter part of the book sums up Donaldson's thoughts about network news, his plans for the future, and covers briefly his personal life (including two divorces).Unfortunately, this book really bogs down after the first few chapters. The middle part of the book, until nearly the end, is a painfully detailed summary of many of Donaldson's experience covering the Washington Beat. Perhaps it was more immediate for the telling, and therefore more interesting, when the book was written in 1987. In the year 2002, it was simply too detailed to be anything but boring.Still, this is a well written book, giving an insider's look at Washington, the presidency, and network news workings. Of considerable interest is Donaldson's descriptions of the early days of ABC.