Full Disclosure

by William Safire

Only one man could have written this book——a man with all the remarkable insight and behind-the-scenes knowledge of a former presidential aide and the style and tightly-packed prose of one of the best-known columnists on the New York Times. With Full Disclosure William Safire has produced the most breathtakingly exciting best-seller of the decade. In this totally absorbing and gripping novel, William Safire examines the exercise of power——power as an end in itself rather than as a means of carrying out policies; its uses and abuses; its pleasures and miseries; its acquisition and surrender, and above all the lengths to which men will go to keep it. In the world of international politics in the not too distant future, there is a new line-up of world powers. An alliance of China with Japan menaces the Western world, and there is imminent danger that Russia will join the Far East axis... A helicopter is ambushed in the Crimea. Aboard are the General Secretary of the Communist Party and his official guest, the President of the United States. The Russian is killed, the injured American is evacuated, and arrives back in Washington sound in mind and body, except for one major he can no longer see.

Genres: Fiction, Politics

509 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

William Lewis Safire was an American author, columnist, journalist and presidential speechwriter.

He was perhaps best known as a long-time syndicated political columnist for the New York Times and a regular contributor to "On Language" in the New York Times Magazine, a column on popular etymology, new or unusual usages, and other language-related topics.

Reviews

[zandrama · Rating 3 out of 5]

Så... Okej. Den här boken är verkligen skriven ur sin tid. Kalla kriget, kärnvapenrädsla, rädsla för ryssen, USA som högsta makt. Samtidigt är berättelsen väldigt långsam, eller snarare väldigt typiskt för tiden boken skrevs.

Inte riktigt min genre och inte egentligen en dålig bok, men min upplevelse gör att den får en trea.

[David Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant, if sadly superannuated thriller written in the post-Watergate era by a man who was not an author of fiction by trade but really managed to pull it off when he tried his hand at it. And he even managed to keep his self-insert from any excessive awesomeness or focus in the story. Safire. Zohar. Nobody will ever see through your cunning disguise sir. I picked it up out of curiosity over how he would sell "The president is suddenly blind and people are going to decide that that means it's an appropriate moment to try to invoke the 25th Amendment." Hard to buy phrased that way, but Safire really managed to work it out and and sell it in a way that works.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to read this but I gained some valuable insights into how politics works and how the press can be manipulated as well as how the press can do the manipulating. The most important thing I learned? Whatever you hear or read from the news media, think of just the opposite and then find the middle between the two extremes. You'll be a whole lot closer to the truth.

[ChrisGA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Older book that seems just as possible today. What a mess politics appears to be.

[Al · Rating 2 out of 5]

Safire was a speech writer for the Nixon Administration before being a Columnist for The New York Times. The synopsis that came with my Leather-bound First Edition says it’s a political thriller about invoking the 25th Amendment on an unwilling President. Just because it was published in 1977 doesn’t necessarily make it dated but Safire’s conservative bias quickly shows through as his vision of a future “stream-lined” American government has the Cabinet Departments consolidated down to only six! He also fantasizes that China and Japan have combined into a nuclear Super Power and that Israel and its Arab neighbors are also aligned as a Power Bloc.

I will concede that, despite Safire’s dream of a revamped Government and totally fantasized foreign power alignments, the story does a decent job of examining the 25th Amendment and its intricate, step-by-step process for the removal and restoration of a President supposedly incapable of performing his duties. I always said the 25th should be called ‘The Coup d’etat’ Amendment and this story explores that supposition rather well.

The writing style is decent and Safire (or his editor) knows how to tell a story. The lack of modern connectivity and 24 hour news-cycle is amusing in2026; no cell phones, no personal computers, no Cable TV, news releases & conferences geared towards Newspaper and News Magazine (remember those?) deadlines and Teletype Wire Services (AP, UPI, Reuters), only three TV networks. The fictional Democratic President is referred to as the 41st who, in real life was G. H. W. Bush (served 1989-1993), and the Republican Controlled Congress is portrayed as cooperative with the Administration.

The story is that the President, a few months after Inauguration, is blinded when the helicopter he and the Soviet Premier (written in 1976-77 remember) are traveling in is shot down while flying between the Simferopol Airport and a hotel in Yalta (both are in Crimea) in a coup attempt masterminded by the Soviet Foreign Minister. The President is evacuated via the Canary Islands to Walter Reed Hospital and the story shifts to his recovery (or lack there of), his ability to handle the job while blind, and if/when does the 25th Amendment come into play. An initial attempt at having the Cabinet declare the President unable to perform his duties fails and the coup leader, the Secretary of the Treasury, is fired. Later revelations about how the initial evacuation from Crimea was managed plus an unpublicized previous concussion/blindness episode complicate the politics surrounding the President’s efforts to govern while recovering. The ending of the book seems a bit dubious but not outside the realm of possibility.

[Steve Hostert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fiction story of the US President who was blinded as a result of a helicopter crash in the former Soviet Union. Sounds like a real page turner but it wasn't .

[Geo Forman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started slowly but, at about the halfway point, it really picked up. I liked it better than I expected and think any West Wing fan would enjoy it

[Ken Justison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great find about a president who is has become blind in a time of crisis and the application of the Twenty Fifth Amendment.

[Tristan Wilkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that every presidential candidate should be forced to read this novel and if they react poorly to the themes and messaging of Full Disclosure they should be banned from ever taking office.

It's crazy how the most obvious ficticious aspect of this novel is how the present is genuinely well-meaning and concerned about the state of the country's people.

Definitely a product of its time, made most noticable by it's treatment of women, but the narrative is so gripping and the characters are so well fleshed out - good and bad - that I found this an incredible read.

[F.C. Etier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watch for my review soon at my National History Examiner site.

Safire's prose is as near perfection as was Truman Capote.
His experience gives readers a unique insight to life in the White House and how the unseen world of politics functions.

Great story, well told.

[Terry Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book but kind of convoluted. Interesting situation involving the president being blinded and all the machinations behind the scene to manage the presidency. It seems funny to consider arab-Israeli and Japanese-Chinese alliances, among others.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good.

[Margaret Boehm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good novel.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is for all political junkies who want to understand what goes on behind closed doors in the White House. It is an enteraining book with a little drama. All in all a pleasant read.

[Rick Morcos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was informative as much as fun.