Bit Player
My Life with Presidents and Ideas
Published on 30. October 2018
Book
Hardback
176 pages
978-0-8157-3699-8 (ISBN)
Description
An insightful, often humorous look at how Washington works, or doesn't
The title "Bit Player" perfectly reflects Stephen Hess's long and distinguished career as a Washington insider. As a 25-year-old, recently discharged Army private in 1958, he suddenly found himself as part of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's speechwriting team that ultimately helped draft the famed "Farewell Address" warning of the influence of the "military industrial complex." Then over the next two decades, Hess played bit roles aiding Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan-along the way observing up-close those presidents and many other senior political leaders. During his subsequent four-and-a-half decades at the Brookings Institution, Hess was well-positioned to monitor and comment on the achievements and failures of successive administrations.
This memoir by a certified member of Washington's old-guard establishment is rich with insight into contemporary American democracy, poignant in its reflections of avoidable missteps by even the best and most experienced leaders, and consistently good-humored in the author's self-awareness of his own role behind the scenes of political power.
Now in his mid-eighties, still involved at Brookings as a "senior fellow emeritus," Hess uses this memoir to look back at what he describes as concentric circles of research, travel, advising, writing, and teaching. But more than just a memoir, Bit Player offers deeply informed commentary on the major political actors and seminal events in the nation's capital over the past six decades.
One of the foremost authorities on media and government in the United States, Stephen Hess is a senior fellow emeritus in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution. He first joined Brookings in 1972 and was distinguished research professor of media and public affairs at the George Washington University (2004-2009). Hess served on White House staff during the Eisenhower and Nixon presidencies and as advisor to Presidents Ford and Carter.
The title "Bit Player" perfectly reflects Stephen Hess's long and distinguished career as a Washington insider. As a 25-year-old, recently discharged Army private in 1958, he suddenly found himself as part of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's speechwriting team that ultimately helped draft the famed "Farewell Address" warning of the influence of the "military industrial complex." Then over the next two decades, Hess played bit roles aiding Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan-along the way observing up-close those presidents and many other senior political leaders. During his subsequent four-and-a-half decades at the Brookings Institution, Hess was well-positioned to monitor and comment on the achievements and failures of successive administrations.
This memoir by a certified member of Washington's old-guard establishment is rich with insight into contemporary American democracy, poignant in its reflections of avoidable missteps by even the best and most experienced leaders, and consistently good-humored in the author's self-awareness of his own role behind the scenes of political power.
Now in his mid-eighties, still involved at Brookings as a "senior fellow emeritus," Hess uses this memoir to look back at what he describes as concentric circles of research, travel, advising, writing, and teaching. But more than just a memoir, Bit Player offers deeply informed commentary on the major political actors and seminal events in the nation's capital over the past six decades.
One of the foremost authorities on media and government in the United States, Stephen Hess is a senior fellow emeritus in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution. He first joined Brookings in 1972 and was distinguished research professor of media and public affairs at the George Washington University (2004-2009). Hess served on White House staff during the Eisenhower and Nixon presidencies and as advisor to Presidents Ford and Carter.
Reviews / Votes
My favorite political question is 'Who was in the room?' Since the early years of the Cold War, 'Steve Hess' was a good bet for the answer. If his humility has made him an anachronism, this gold mine of a memoir will take him to his much-deserved role in history's spotlight."- Chris Matthews, host, Hardball with Chris Matthews;"For decades Hess has been a go-to scholar for all things related to the U.S. presidency. His political erudition, historical knowledge, and sound judgment are legendary in official Washington. Bit Player is Hess's first-rate memoir of his years as the Sage of the Brookings Institution. Highly recommended!"- Douglas Brinkley, Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and professor of history at Rice University; author of Cronkite;
"I wonder how many young Washingtonians will care about the events and personages Hess writes about with such wit and style. They should buy a copy of Bit Player anyway. Reading it, they might discover a modesty, a disposition toward the privilege of living here, that will make their lives?and ours?less troublesome."- Andrew Ferguson, Commentary;
"Steve Hess has been anything but a 'bit player' in American politics over the past 60 years. From Ike to Nixon to Ford to, yes, Jimmy Carter and on to Reagan?Steve was a key player behind the scenes. During that time and ever since, he has been an influential voice for what our politics used to be?and could be again. I met Steve when I was a student at Harvard and he has always been great company. Read Bit Player and you will agree, as he takes you along for a rollicking ride through the twists and turns of Washington over the years."- Chris Wallace, host, Fox News Sunday;
"There's a surprise on every page of this delightful tale of a man who's managed to be at the center of the action in Washington from Eisenhower's time until now. Steve Hess has led an astonishing life that provides texture and background to the main turning points in the modern American story, and underscores why what happens in Washington matters."- Judy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor, PBS NewsHour
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
531 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8157-3699-8 (9780815736998)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2018
1st Edition
Brookings Institution
€24.49
Available for download
E-Book
10/2018
1st Edition
Brookings Institution
€24.49
Available for download
Person
Stephen Hess is the author of numerous award-winning books about politics and the media, including The Presidential Campaign; The Ultimate Insiders: U.S. Senators in the National Media; The Washington Reporters; and Nixon: a Political Portrait, with Earl Mazo. The Brookings Press published Hess's books The Professor and the President in 2014 and America's Political Dynasties from Adams to Clinton in 2016.
Content
Contents:
Foreword
Preface
Eisenhower
First Words
Getting There
First Politics, 1952
Enter Professor Moos
Drafted
The Eisenhower White House, 1958-61
The Staff
The 1960 Election
Speeches
Remembering Ike
Nixon
Interregnum, 1961
The Harlow Miracle
Working for Richard Nixon
California, 1962
November 22, 1963
A Bookmaker
Lincoln Week, 1966
Harvard, 1967-68
Miami Beach, 1968
The 1968 Campaign and Spiro T. Agnew
Deputy Assistant to the President for Urban Affairs
To HEW
The White House Conference on Children
A White House Conference on Youth
What Next?
Leave-Taking, 1972
Brookings
Settling In
Governmental Studies
Things to Do
Watergate
Talk
The Presidency Book
Newswork
Transitions
Beth's List: A Summing Up
September 11, 2001
Des Moines, Iowa, 1976
Kansas City, 1976
United Nations, 1974 and 1976
Make-A-Wish Foundation
Campaign Etiquette
Political Cartoons
The Notorious RBG
Hyman Rickover, "Father of the Nuclear Navy," 1954
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, 1977
Richard Avedon, 1990
Oliver Stone, 1994
Former British Prime Minister John Major, 2009
Circles within Circles
Afterword
Thanks
Index
Foreword
Preface
Eisenhower
First Words
Getting There
First Politics, 1952
Enter Professor Moos
Drafted
The Eisenhower White House, 1958-61
The Staff
The 1960 Election
Speeches
Remembering Ike
Nixon
Interregnum, 1961
The Harlow Miracle
Working for Richard Nixon
California, 1962
November 22, 1963
A Bookmaker
Lincoln Week, 1966
Harvard, 1967-68
Miami Beach, 1968
The 1968 Campaign and Spiro T. Agnew
Deputy Assistant to the President for Urban Affairs
To HEW
The White House Conference on Children
A White House Conference on Youth
What Next?
Leave-Taking, 1972
Brookings
Settling In
Governmental Studies
Things to Do
Watergate
Talk
The Presidency Book
Newswork
Transitions
Beth's List: A Summing Up
September 11, 2001
Des Moines, Iowa, 1976
Kansas City, 1976
United Nations, 1974 and 1976
Make-A-Wish Foundation
Campaign Etiquette
Political Cartoons
The Notorious RBG
Hyman Rickover, "Father of the Nuclear Navy," 1954
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, 1977
Richard Avedon, 1990
Oliver Stone, 1994
Former British Prime Minister John Major, 2009
Circles within Circles
Afterword
Thanks
Index