Truth To Tell: Tell It Early, Tell It All, Tell It Yourself: Notes from My White House Education (Hardcover)

by Lanny J. Davis (Author) "MIKE McCURRY WAS IN A GOOD MOOD..." (more)
Key Phrases: temple luncheon, tacky factor, proprietary work product, Van Natta, Lincoln Bedroom, Los Angeles Times (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
The title of Lanny Davis's book will catch many readers by surprise. Davis, after all, was a top White House spin doctor in the Clinton administration and a constant presence on television during the flap over the president's "inappropriate relationship" with Monica Lewinsky--a moment when truth seemed in short supply. Yet this is also an interesting memoir of Washington's scandal-mongering culture told by one of its major participants. The bulk of the book focuses on Davis's time on the White House payroll (he actually resigned shortly after Lewinsky hit the headlines, a departure he had previously scheduled). Davis provides an insider's guide to the controversy surrounding Bill Clinton's fundraising practices and other disputes. These anecdote-rich accounts provide a rare glimpse of how Washington really operates. He remains a dyed-in-the-wool loyalist (no Stephanopoulos-like backbiting here), yet is not afraid to criticize White House tactics that failed to serve Clinton's political goals.

The most interesting sections come when Davis distills lessons from the stories and experiences he relates on these pages. A few tips for aspiring spinners: "Acknowledge the obvious," "Trump the opposition's premises," and "Label any criticism as pure politics." At these moments, Davis reveals the motives and strategies that make Washington politics simultaneously fascinating and infuriating. And it's hard to disagree with one of his chief conclusions, no matter what your politics: "All of us in the process--Democrats and Republicans, journalists and lawyers, not to mention a public ready to assume the worst about politicians--have combined to produce rot, horrible rot." --John J. Miller

From Publishers Weekly
Less ballyhooed than Stephanopoulos or Mortons Monica, Davis, the Washington lawyer who served for 14 months as the Clinton White Houses chief spinmeister, simultaneously offers a stinging critique of scandalmongering politics and an education in the instrumentalif not downright cynicalcraft of spin control. Davis, who served as special counsel to the president until January 1998 (he left just 10 days after the Monica Lewinsky story broke), staunchly defends Clinton as the leader of a new, centrist Democratic Party. He presents himself as a man of integrity doing a high-wire balancing act between his desire to tell the whole truth and his loyalty to his boss. Dealing primarily with the campaign-finance scandal, Davis is most persuasive when debunking the story that the White House sold burial plots in Arlington Cemetery to civilians in exchange for campaign donations and when deflating the import of Al Gores mix of Buddhism and fund-raising. Hes less convincing when attempting to dismiss the charges of influence-peddling swirling around fundraiser John Huang. In an epilogue, Davis re-creates an August 1998 phone conversation with Clinton in which he urged the president to get everything out to the public concerning Lewinsky. Following the rules of proactive disclosure might well have enabled Clinton to avoid impeachment, Davis speculates. Depending on what their definition of is is, readers may view this memoir either as an unwittingly embarrassing peek into the Clinton propaganda machine or as an informal handbook on the art of damage control. Its actually both. Agent, Arthur Kaminsky.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; First Printing edition (May 20, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684862786
• ISBN-13: 978-0684862781
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,047,611 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read Book Before You Review, September 8, 2001

By A Customer

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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A book not of repentance for lying just an excuse for shame., August 1, 1999

By A Customer

This book is an attempt to cleanse Lanny of deeds he did and help engineer and then tries to wash his hands of it. Sorry, I did not fall for it and neither will anybody else with a sense of integrity. Repentance can bring forgiveness, but it does not imply immunity from punishment and a no book can do the same. Lanny's participation in under cutting the Rule Of Law cannot be dismissed in our society, the same complaints he makes in his book. When one betrays the public trust, and then lies about it, they have no respect for the public only the need to protect their own personal power. Lanny's actions and this book have contributed greatly to the debasement of our national intelligence and conscience. He only compounds it by hiding behind the crown of false pride. When he should have express his abhorrence of the entire Clinton scene both as a citizen and lawyer immediately. Instead Lanny decided to participate in this scandal as an accomplice and now brags about how he was trapped among friends and a rotting Washington. The book is a sorry attempt of an excuse and explanation, not insight into telling the truth. Telling the truth is something Lanny and minions like him have decided to intentionally avoid during this abberant episode of deceit, so far under this Presidency, and now in this book. A feeling of guilt never goes aways until you tell the whole truth regardless of the consequences. Lanny's book does not do this and he has to live with himself, we on the other hand need not read anything he has written, because why believe him now!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spin to Sell, April 4, 2003

By	John G. Hilliard (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.