Hell of a Ride: Backstage at the White House Follies 1989-1993

by John Podhoretz

A Reagan-Bush staffer and speechwriter presents behind-the-scenes revelations of a presidency winding up for a collective breakdown

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History

249 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1993

About the author

American neoconservative columnist for the New York Post, the editor of Commentary magazine, the author of several books on politics, and a former presidential speechwriter.

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came to my political maturity during the administration of the first President Bush, so I find this era fascinating. I was unaware of the tensions between the Bush and Reagan administration. An enjoyable read for anyone fascinated by the very early 1990s.

[Glenn Richard]

...confirmed why as a staunch reaganite...i voted for george h.w. bush in 1988...and then voted against him in 1992...

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun and engaging account of the internal goings-on in the George H.W. Bush White House. It concentrates on how the primary Papa Bush staffers (mainly, Sununu and Darman) managed the White House staff. Needless to say, it left much to be desired. Policy was tightly controlled by S&D and a few others, while the rest of the talented staff was left out in the cold, with little influence or say. It shouldn't surprise, then, that so many bad decisions were made that led to Papa Bush's defeat in 1992, an outcome that seemed unlikely after the first Gulf War, considering Papa Bush's sky-high approval ratings.

The root of the problem, Podhoretz concludes, was Papa Bush himself. The White House was run the way he wanted it. He decided to jettison the Reagan success and strive to be the anti-Reagan. He decided to tell the American people to trust him while giving them no good reason to trust him, particularly after he broke his campaign pledge not to raise taxes. He decided not to run against a Democrat Congress that refused to even try to pass any of his proposals. He decided to perform so badly in the prez debates. Needless to say, Papa Bush isn't portrayed very positively in this account, and it's hard to argue that the account is wrong.

Podhoretz does something interesting in the book by mixing in personal retrospectives from unnamed staffers and officials in the White House, told in second person tense. These are interesting slices of first-person narratives and offer good, in-the-moment examples of the consequences that Papa Bush's disastrous decisions had on many of his staff members and supporters.

For students or junkies of political history and political machinations, this is a great book to read.