Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations With Gerald R. Ford (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "FROM TIME TO TIME I'd covered a few of Gerald R. Ford's press conferences when he was House minority leader, but our first genuine encounter..." (more)
Key Phrases: press cabin, White House, Jerry Ford, Air Force Two (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Longtime Newsweek correspondent DeFrank was an untested reporter when he was placed on what seemed like a hard-luck beat: covering Vice President Gerald Ford. After all, what could be less thrilling than reporting on the doings of the congressman from Michigan who had been appointed to replace Spiro Agnew as Richard Nixon's veep? DeFrank was given an unprecedented scoop early in his job, when Ford let spill that he believed Nixon's presidency was doomed, but the reporter agreed to put a lid on it: "Write it when I'm gone," Ford told him. Brick reads dramatically, with fitful stops and starts, giving the patina of history to some of the less fondly remembered elements of 1970s politics. His reading conveys some of DeFrank's sincere fondness for Ford and the friendly relationship they struck up while Ford was vice president and in the White House. Simultaneous release with the Putnam hardcover.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Description

In an extraordinary series of private interviews, conducted over sixteen years with the stipulation that they not be released until after Ford's death, the thirty-eighth president of the United States reveals a profoundly different side of himself: funny, reflective, gossipy, strikingly candid-and the stuff of headlines.

In 1974, award-winning journalist and author Thomas DeFrank, then a young correspondent for Newsweek, was interviewing Vice President Gerald R. Ford when Ford blurted out something astonishingly indiscreet related to the White House, came around his desk, grabbed DeFrank's tie, and told the reporter he could not leave the room until he promised not to publish it. "Write it when I'm dead," he said-and that agreement formed the basis for their relationship for the next thirty-two years.

During that time, they talked frequently, but from 1991 to shortly before Ford's death in 2006, the interviews became something else-conversations between two men in which Ford talked in a way few presidents ever have. Here is the real Ford on his relationship with Richard Nixon (including the 1974 revelation that, in DeFrank's words, "will alter what history thinks it knows about the events that culminated in Ford's becoming president"); Ford's experiences on the Warren Commission; his complex relationships with Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter; his startling, never-before-disclosed discussions with Bill Clinton during the latter's impeachment process; his opinions about both Bush administrations, the Iraq war, and many contemporary political figures; and much more. Here also are unguarded personal musings: about key cultural events; his own life, history, and passions; his beloved wife, Betty; and the frustrations of aging.

In all, it is an unprecedented book: illuminating, entertaining, surprising, heartwarming, and, in many ways, historic.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons; First Edition, First Printing edition (October 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399154507
• ISBN-13: 978-0399154508
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #176,436 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Insight into the Former President and his Public Image, October 28, 2007

By	Wesley Mullins (Kentucky) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Tom DeFrank and Gerald Ford had a secret relationship for over thirty years. Ford accidentally told the 28-year-old writer for Newsweek in 1974 that Nixon's presidency was doomed, and after the young writer agreed not to print the slip, a trust was formed that gave DeFrank access to three decades of thoughts of the 38th President of the United States. Ford spoke to him without prejudice not just on Nixon and Watergate, but on other major issues of the past quarter century, often providing opinions that rivaled what Ford himself entered into the public record in his memoir or in interviews. This unparalleled access given to DeFrank came with one condition from Ford:

"Write it when I'm gone."

DeFrank presents Ford as a politician to the end, a man who realized the true Gerald Ford and the one given to the world were at odds with each other. Ford preferred that the inevitable clash between the two occur only after he was dead. Ford felt an obligation to have his true feelings and remembrances appear in the alterable history of the country, but he did not want to deal with the fallout. Now that the truth is in print, readers can compare it (or at least as much as was given by DeFrank) against what Ford himself carefully allowed himself to say during his lifetime. With these new insights, Ford now seems to be a more complicated and shrewd craftsman than the popular image of him during his life.

And so, what are some of the new insights given by the book? Along with the new account of how Ford began to realize he could eventually become the first unelected president and found himself in the conflicting position of being able to help make that happen if he abandoned his loyalty to Nixon, the two bombshells that will no doubt be referenced in the media deal with his true feelings on Reagan and the Clintons.

About Reagan, Ford gives as much a lecture in curtsey to America as he speaks about the President. When DeFrank spoke to Ford about the dying Reagan, Ford expressed a reluctance to tarnish the man's image with criticism, believing that someone who served the country in Reagan's capacity deserved to die in peace. Readers who remember Ford interviews during this time will recall the reverence and almost awe he seemed to have for his dying former political rival. But his kind words for Reagan were only meant to be spoken during the difficult times for Nancy and the rest of his family. After Reagan died and enough time passed to begin a true examination of the man, Ford wanted it known that he saw Reagan as "a superficial...intellectually-lazy showman who didn't do his homework and clung to a naive, unrealistic, and essentially dangerous worldview." With those thoughts, Ford is both at odds with the people who danced on Reagan's grave (even before he was in it) and those today who fail to see any faults in the man.

Ford was also visible in the media during the Lewinsky scandal, working as a mediator between the flag-bearers of his party and the man who occupied his former seat. During that time, Ford refrained from speaking about the personal problems of the Bill Clinton, instead focusing on trying to end the national nightmare without further embarrassment to the nation and to the presidency. But now his true feelings are on display. He speaks of Clinton in a manner similar to a judge sentencing a sex offender, using harsh, pronouncing language that suggests Ford was uncomfortable being in his presence. He draws upon his experiences with his wife's own addictions to alcohol and drugs, claiming that Clinton's problems may result less from poor decisions than from a disorder beyond his control.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ford's star rising, November 13, 2007

By	Jon Hunt "musician, teacher" (Old Greenwich, Ct. USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

For those of us who came of age during Watergate and the Nixon and Ford administrations, Gerald Ford's death last December at ninety-three was a particularly sad event. Nostalgia abounded for our nation's thirty-eighth president, who was always looked upon as a man of high moral character and one who had assumed the presidency under the most unusual and difficult circumstances. It was with great anticipation, therefore, that I bought Tom DeFrank's new book on President Ford, "Write It When I'm Gone", and the good news is that DeFrank, who knew the president intimately for many years, presents a terrific portrait of Ford....his own presidency and vice presidency, his views on other presidents, his remembrances of courageous decisions he had to make and those things that guided him through life. It's a wonderful book and one that only a reporter like DeFrank could have written.

The title of the book refers to a comment that slipped from Ford's lips when he served under Nixon. Keeping his word not to reveal that comment for more than thirty years, DeFrank soon became a close contact with Ford and the trust that they built up is evident as DeFrank writes glowingly about his subject. The most intriguing chapters, to be sure, are the ones where Ford talks about Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and the two Bushes. They all come under scrutiny but Ford seemed to despise Carter and Reagan the most. It's understandable as a political rival that Ford would feel that way about his successor but as for Reagan...Ford blamed Reagan's challenge for the GOP nomination in 1976 as the main reason for his (Ford's) defeat to Jimmy Carter that year. One of the best lines in the book comes when Ford is quoted in a public statement shortly after Reagan's death. He said that Reagan "was a first-class president, and I treasured my relationship and association with him". "Baloney", DeFrank counters, uncharacteristically. And Ford and his wife Betty disliked Nancy Reagan even more than they did Ronnie.

DeFrank knows his own place in history when it comes to his friendship with the president. They had met in the infancy of Ford's becoming Vice President and the author saw Ford through to the end of his life. That access could only be matched by a very few. One might look at "Write It When I'm Gone" as borderline hagiography and certainly the last chapters of the book are devoted to saying good-bye to his famous friend in a lengthy, spun out manner. But DeFrank never gets overly maudlin about Ford and there's enough good, simple reporting to give this book lift and honesty.

As historians recast their ideas about Gerald Ford after his death, the consensus is that Ford's star is on the rise. I have no doubt it is, and this book helps to explain why. Tom DeFrank has given us a look at a man unique to the presidency and whose circumstances for attaining that high office are not likely to be seen again in our lifetime. "Write It When I'm Gone" is a wonderful read. I highly recommend it and thank the author for this lasting contribution in helping us better to understand President Ford.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Delightful Memoir with Some Fine Surprises, November 21, 2007

By	Anonymous Reader (United States) - See all my reviews

Tom DeFrank has written a fine memoir of his 30-plus years of covering Gerald Ford. Read this volume with DeFrank's caveat in mind: this slender work is neither a definitive biography of Jerry Ford, nor an authoritative history of the Ford presidency. Rather, it is an account of DeFrank's reporting on Ford, much of it derived from off-the-record conversations recounted here for the first time.

The Gerald Ford who emerges from the pages of Write It When I'm Gone is an acute and prescient observer of matters political. He is privately critical of the intellectual laziness of his long-time rival, Ronald Reagan, but concedes Reagan's outsize communications skills. He predicts difficulties in justifying the 2003 invasion of Iraq on the dubious basis of weapons of mass destruction, recommending instead that George W. Bush base the rationale for invasion on the dangers embodied in the unstable person of Saddam Hussein. As this advice suggests, Ford remains, throughout his retirement, an avid and astute consumer of the intelligence briefings to which he is entitled as a former President.

Especially interesting is Ford's take on Bill and Hillary Clinton. He admires Bill Clinton's communications and campaigning skills, putting Clinton above even Reagan in this regard. But it is Ford's assessment of Hillary Clinton that seems especially prescient. In an interview conducted before the end of the Bill Clinton presidency, Ford terms Mrs. Clinton tougher than her husband and predicts that she will earn a place on the Democratic ticket in 2004 or 2008.

Ford also emerges as a shrewd businessman who works hard during his retirement, earning substantial wealth for his family. This portrait of Ford is altogether sharper-edged and more fully realized than the stereotype of an amiable dunce often repeated during his presidency.

Ford's fundamental decency is, of course, at the heart of Write It When I'm Gone. The media presidencies that followed the Ford years make the plain-spoken straightforwardness of Gerald Ford something to treasure.

To enjoy an extended. enjoyable and revealing visit with Gerald Ford, you owe it to yourself to read this book.