Comment

The First Family Detail

Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents
Armdis
Sep 10, 2014
This is a very interesting book that I devoured in only a couple of hours. The Secret Service has always been a subject of great interest to me, as they are privy to many of the personality characteristics, positive and negative alike, that reveal much about the true person behind the public persona that these figureheads try to embody. Sample passages: The fact that Hillary fired a White House usher who was the father of four children for trying to help a former first lady with her computer and denounced and humiliated her friend Vince Foster in front of White House colleagues demonstrates Nixonian ruthlessness, hypocrisy, and paranoia that could be expected to balloon if she were ever president. Likewise, her calculated determination to overlook her husband's philandering to enhance her political fortunes suggests overweening ambition that could spiral out of control in the White House. Nor is Hillary's nastiness with Secret Service agents - earning her a reputation as the most detested protectee - a sign of a stable individual who cares about the little people she claims to champion. Instead, agents say the real Hillary Clinton hungers for power and bears little resemblance to the image she seeks to project. (Assistant White House Usher) Pierce was old friends with (Nancy Reagan's King Charles spaniel dog) Rex, or so he thought. During the day, the usher's office - just inside the front entrance on the first floor of the mansion - is a favorite snoozing area for White House pets. But this time, for some reason, Rex was not at all cheerful about seeing Pierce. As Pierce turned to leave, Rex bit his ankle and held on. Pierce pointed his finger at the dog, a gesture to tell Nancy's pet to let go. But Nancy turned on Pierce. "Don't you ever point your finger at my dog," she said.