Inside the Oval Office
Subtitle: the White House tapes from FDR to Clinton
By: William Doyle.
Publisher: Kodansha International
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 419
Subjects: White House (Washington, D.C.); Presidents -- United States -- History -- 20th century -- Sources; Presidents -- United States -- Biography; Executive power -- United States -- History -- 20th century -- Sources; United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1989 -- Sources; United States -- Politics and government -- 1989- -- Sources; Audiotapes
Description: In 1940, inventor J. Ripley Kiel was taken by Secret Service men to the Oval Office, where he planted a microphone in FDR's desk lamp and connected it to an experimental sound recording machine. Since that day, almost every president has found some use for recording, sometimes covertly, sometimes not.

The tapes and transcripts left behind from this sixty-year recording experiment are a cockpit voice recorder of the presidency, time capsules from crucial moments in American history. During four years of research in the National Archives and Presidential Libraries, William Doyle unearthed scores of White House tapes and transcripts, many never before published. He interviewed over one hundred Oval Office insiders, Cabinet members, and White House aides, from FDR's personal secretary to Henry Kissinger.

Inside the Oval Office is the result, a flesh-and-blood drama of the presidency in action.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.