Forgive Us Our Press Passes: The Memoirs of a Veteran Washin

ISBN: 0312059922

Author: Waldman, Myron S.

Condition: new

From Library Journal Waldman, Newsday 's national congressional reporter, has written an amusing memoir of his years in Washington covering Congress, several Presidents, and presidential candidates. His stories range from Vietnam demonstrations to a weekend with Republican politicians and Elizabeth Taylor to coverage of Dan Quayle during the 1988 presidential campaign. Waldman writes in a breezy, lively manner; several of his stories give some insight into past events. This book is fun to read and would be a good, but not a necessary, purchase for public libraries.-Rebecca Wondriska, Trinity Coll. Lib., Hartford, Ct.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. Product Description The author relates his experiences during thirty years as a Washington reporter, recalling events on the campaign trail, in the White House, and in Congress, and provides inside stories on Ronald Reagan, Dan Quayle, Tip O'Neill, and others From Publishers Weekly For three decades Waldman covered "the comedy and drama and heartache" of major national events for the New York-area newspaper Newsday. Bloody Vietnam -War protests, grueling presidential campaigns and the "luscious" Iran-Contra story are among those Waldman briskly recounts here. Dead-serious journalistic persistence and stratagems for reaching sources are leavened by such vignettes as President Ford being locked out of his own press conference, vice-presidential candidate Nelson Rockefeller covertly eating Oreo cookies at his confirmation hearing and actress Elizabeth Taylor booing her U.S. senator husband at a GOP meeting. A delightful, only-in-America personal saga by a seasoned news hawk--now Newsday' s national congressional reporter--grateful for the job he loves. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews Newsday reporter Waldman recounts his pursuit of the big stories--in these sometimes funny, often uneven, and not always engaging memoirs. From the beginning of his career as a cub reporter for the somewhat stodgy Philadelphia Bulletin, and then on Newsday's rewrite desk, Waldman developed a knack for seeing the humorous side of the news. In 1967, he moved to Newsday's Washington bureau, where he has since covered the street riots that followed Martin Luther King's assassination, anti-Vietnam protests, the House Judiciary Committee's probe into the possible impeachment of Richard Nixon, and the antics of Jerry Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Dan Quayle. There are plenty of laughs here, but it's as if Waldman is trying to write two books at once. The zany anecdotes of reporters on the road are broken up by too often self-righteous musings on the evils of the political game and society's injustices. (On the May Day 1971 protests in Washington: ``When the police arrested thousands of young people walking down the street--not because they were breaking the law, but simply because they were under thirty--I was indignant and showed it in my articles.'') Waldman also delves into personal views, including a bizarre section on actress Debra Winger's stump for the Dukakis campaign: ``On the plane, when the male staffers, the male Secret Service agents, and the male reporters saw her, they went into collective ecstasy. And she tried to make us happy. She posed for pictures with the Secret Service. She had bantering words for just about everyone. Then she walked up front where the candidate sits and sat down across from him.'' While it's all apparently supposed to be funny, some of it just isn't. A roller-coaster ride lurching from pontification to punch line, leaving the reader to distinguish, when possible, between the two. -- Copyright 1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.