2024 the best president in america review

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(as of Oct 31, 2024 13:02:08 UTC - Details)

 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

George Stephanopoulos, the legendary political news host and former advisor to President Clinton, recounts the history-making crises from the place where twelve presidents made their highest-pressure decisions: the White House Situation Room. 

No room better defines American power and its role in the world than the White House Situation Room. And yet, none is more shrouded in secrecy and mystery. Created under President Kennedy, the Sit Room has been the epicenter of crisis management for presidents for more than six decades. Time and again, the decisions made within the Sit Room complex affect the lives of every person on this planet. Detailing close calls made and disasters narrowly averted, THE SITUATION ROOM will take readers through dramatic turning points in a dozen presidential administrations, including:

Incredible minute-by-minute transcripts from the Sit Room after both Presidents Kennedy and Reagan were shot The shocking moment when Henry Kissinger raised the military alert level to DEFCON III while President Nixon was drunk in the White House residence The extraordinary scene when President Carter asked for help from secret government psychics to rescue American hostages in Iran A vivid retelling of the harrowing hours during the 9/11 attack New details from Obama administration officials leading up to the raid on Osama Bin Laden And a first-ever account of January 6th from the staff inside the Sit Room

THE SITUATION ROOM is the definitive, past-the-security-clearance look at the room where it happened, and the people—the famous and those you've never heard of—who have made history within its walls.

From the Publisher

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grand Central Publishing (May 14, 2024)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1538740761
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1538740767
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.35 x 1.38 x 9.3 inches
Reviewer: Sandy Sandmeyer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: An issue ignored is a crisis invited
Review: In his recently published book The Situation Room, The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis, George Stephanopoulos, with co-author Lisa Dickey offers a “warts and all” history of the White House Situation Room, laden with intimate details from the founding of the Situation Room itself just after the Bay of Pigs disaster in 1961, up to the current crises in the Biden Administration, not including (obviously) classified details that will remain that way until their legal status changes.This is a tremendous volume with over 100 interviews conducted by the authors, and research assistants over time and they paint some flattering and less than flattering portraits of behaviors of Commanders-in-Chiefs over the past 63 years that will explain much of what we have seen in this country and abroad during our lifetimes.Every major crisis in each administration, all of the information gatherers, decision makers, and leaders, as well as their decision-making processes are reviewed, including many of the equipment updates and reconfigurations of the White House basement that became the Situation Room that, as President Kennedy described it, was a “pigsty” in 1961.Among the many stories and interviews related in the book, are the stories of key figures who were missing or, when they were desperately needed in the Situation Room, were nowhere near the location, preferring to have information relayed to them from below.Where Lyndon Johnson micromanaged the Vietnam War from the Situation Room during his administration, Richard Nixon was described as such an introvert that he could hardly stand to be in the spaces at all. He preferred to take work, and a bottle of scotch whiskey with him to Room 180 at the Old Executive Office Building across the street. Some staff interviewed said that in his last weeks in office during the Watergate scandal, he was fairly inebriated all the time.Not to give away all the juicy stories, of which there are many, but there are also tremendous stories of courage, and strength in the face if great evil. Such as the Ford Administration’s handling of the Saigon withdrawal at the end of Vietnam, and the disastrous handling of the attempt to free the American hostages in Iran at the end of the Carter Administration.Such was the case at many times in recent history that are revealed in these pages. Many lessons were learned and applied from previous crises that avoided worse ones, when the right people were on hand to exercise the calls that had to made. This happened often as many of us watched the collapse of the Soviet Union and its client states 34 years ago. Events, as this book showed, don’t happen by accident.There are a great many highs detailed. From the aforementioned “Tear Down This Wall!” moment by President Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate to the actual fall of the Berlin Wall in George H.W. Bush’s Administration to the terrible lows of 9/11, The Iraq/Afghanistan War, and WMD intelligence failings, then back to the elimination of Osama bin Laden. Included in this are lessons in leadership, or style over substance as we see how decisions were made during the Covid Crisis and various Trump-era situations.Stephanopoulos’s time as White House Communications Director allowed him a certain level of access and trust with the people that were interviewed for the book that is unprecedented, in recent memory. Even though he hasn’t worked in the White House in over 30 years, his level of expertise, and even-handed approach go a long way to accomplishing a detailed and forthright history of current events from the most important office in the world.With that, this reviewer highly encourages anyone with a sense of why the world is the way it is to read this book soon. It’s current, excellent, and through. The supporting documentation of each chapter is well done and complete, also.

Reviewer: Thomas M. Carpenter
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent insight into an underappreciated essential to America
Review: The Situation Room, which covers how the White House is set up to gather and disseminate information to the President and his advisors, particularly in times of crisis, is an excellent, fast-paced, entertaining, and informative book. Starting with the Kennedy Administration, the book captures several well-known scenes -- e.g., Johnson becoming obsessed about Vietnam, the elimination of Osama bin Laden, the 9/11 attack on America, among others -- and how the people assigned to this particular position in the White House answered their Country's call, even if it potentially required them to sacrifice their lives. While author Stephanopolous does an excellent job of capturing the context, without bogging down in details, the book clearly shows how America has dealt with the ones of information that increases all the time. The epilogue, and the concern as to whether AI will mandate changes in the limited time available for the consideration of issues, is also telling and, to some extent, disconcerting. To be sure, introductions to various Presidents is helpful, but it is not as in depth as desired for those needing a moment-by-moment analysis of everything that went into every decision. But, the book points out why that is not possible, why some information is still classified after years, and why it is appropriate to trust the dedicated servants assigned to staff this location. An excellent read for anyone who wants to be informed on how decisions are made.

Reviewer: amachinist
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Reading on the Edge of Your Seat!
Review: The situation room was established by John F. Kennedy because he wanted to amass the most and best possible information particularly during crises. At that time, info was transmitted slowly by teletype. Kennedy also wanted to be assured that messages sent to and from the White House would be secure. Some twelve administrations later, the situation room, now renamed WHSR (White House Situation Room), serves as the nerve center for decision making. It is located below the White House in what was once a bowling alley. Newly renovated, it is stocked with screens and computers and the latest information gathering technologies to assist in both modern national and global crisis management. All who work in the situation room have top security clearance. The room is manned 24/7 365 days/year. Many are former military or intelligence operatives. They include men and women.The author of this work is a seasoned journalist, TV host and served as a senior policy adviser to President Clinton. He revists major crisis situations as early as the Cuban Missile Crisis to the most recent insurrrection post the 2020 election. After the assassination of Kennedy and the near assassination of Reagan, the situation room helped to reassure citizens that the ship of state would sail onward even through rocky and at times uncharted waters. Some presidents, like Gerald Ford and Donald Trump, rarely visited the situation room. Others, like Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Barak Obama and Joseph Biden were frequent visitors. One of the most exciting chapters is about developing a plan to capture and kill Osama bin Laden in May of 2009. The reader gets a front row seat as the President, his advisers and SIT intel staff watch the sucessful capture on a video screen. Unfortunately, there are no phtographs in the kindle version of the book. Despite this omission, the book is a very informative and exciting read.

Reviewer: Dale Harris
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Well worth the time to read historical interesting

Reviewer: Gail Holland
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This is very interesting reading and am thoroughly enjoying it.

Reviewer: Barry
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: What if that word ‘power’ is an understanding of what love is and isn’t? Would ‘truth to love’ be a synonym of power?Some of the characteristics of truth are that it is the essence of a thing; that reality, the paradox being that it precedes truth because its the power of performance which is the manifestation of it as both occur instantaneously; that it is dynamic in nature, with another paradox that it is forever evolving because it’s an infinite constant; that it is always found on a platform of understanding and love - you!

Reviewer: Anonymous
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Excellent read. Very entertaining as well as educational.

Reviewer: Andrea M
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This book was a great read from cover to cover.