Truth to Tell: Tell It Early, Tell It All, Tell It Yourself: Notes from My White House Education

by Lanny J. Davis

Book Overview

On a November afternoon in 1996, Lanny Davis got a phone call that would change his life. It was from a top aide at the White House, asking him if he was interested in joining the president's senior... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684862786
• ISBN13: 9780684862781
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Spin to Sell

Tell the truth, an interesting comment / policy coming from a political spin master. I had no perceptions about this book when picking it, as I had not heard anything about it. In my experience that usually means the book is rather run of the mill and dull. Well it turned out that this book is absolutely nothing like that. I really enjoyed the book. It was well written, snappy and interesting. He walks the reader through his time in the media relation's portion of the White House during the campaign finance issues and right before Monica. He does a great job of explaining what his job entailed and making it very interesting. One thing that came to me as an extra was the details of the press and the way they work up a story. It makes you look at the new in a different light. The author detailed some of the phases to watch out for when reading a paper, which will make me trust political reporting even less. The points he raises has been one that every arm chair political junky has been yelling at the TV for years. Just tell the truth, it is always going to make it easier in the long run and eliminates the never-ending story about one little bit after another. The book is also rather positive. It is not a kiss and tell with nice bits of gossip. Overall I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone interested in the way the Clinton White House dealt with the media.

Read Book Before You Review

Some of these reviewers apparently have not read the book. They seem to have filed reviews for the sole purpose of ranting about Bill and Hillary Clinton. In Mr. Davis's account of his meeting with the President regarding Miss Lewinsky, his advise was to tell it all and tell it now whatever the truth is. The bulk of his book is dedicated to the campaign finance "scandals" where he had to continually contend with other White House counsels who took the tack of not exposing their client to undue risk, often with disastrous results, such as with the White House coffees. If you are interested in the dynamics between the White House and the press, this is the book for you.

INTERESTING!

Ever wonder how Clinton gets away with his chronic criminal behavior? How does he control the television media so it won't report the truth about him? This book will tell you. It has a spin, as you can tell by the title, but it still reveals the basics of media control. It does not, however, mention all the liberal reporters who spoke up after being blackmailed by Clinton. Nor does it mention the financial benefits Clinton gave to the three main stations (deregulation) or the promises of power in the new global government.

BRILLIANT

The best - The best book I ever read. What else can I say about it, its the best. You learn so much from Mr. Davis. This is a book for everyone. It should be required reading in our schools. God bless Lanny Davis for writing this book.

A step by step guide to putting out the bad news first.

This is a great guide to putting out the bad news first, and there was much of it during the White House tenure of Lanny Davis. Almost a companion piece to Howard Kurtz's Spin Cycle, both delve into the campaign finance scandal that still rock the Clinton White House.Davis gives an insider account that details his failures and successes as the pointman for scandals and how he navigated between White House lawyers and politicos and learned on the job the the tradecraft needed to shape such stories.If you liked Spin Cycle, then this is a definite must read.