Posted by DEAN SKIP RUTHERFORD – Unlike some former Presidents including Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton did not tape his phone conversations or meetings. The Watergate and post Watergate investigative eras changed all that. But Clinton still found a way to preserve history while it was happening.
Pulitizer Prize-winning author and Clinton friend Taylor Branch, who spoke at the Clinton School Monday night, had unprecedented and unpublicized access to the former President during his eight years in the Whte House. And the sessions (I believe Taylor told me he had 79 uninterrupted interviews) often lasting until the wee hours of the morning. Most of these occured in the Treaty Room (Clinton’s office in the residence), although some took place in the Oval Office and on the Truman Balcony. Before leaving the White House after an interview session, Taylor would place the tapes from that session in Clinton’s sock drawer (“He had a lot of socks” Taylor said.)
These secret sessions were arranged largely by Clinton assistants Nancy Hernreich and Mary Morrison. On most occasions, Taylor would drive his pick up truck to the White House, park it under the Truman Balcony, enter through the Diplomatic Reception Room and be escorted to the family quarters. During some of the interviews, Clinton would also be working crosswood puzzles, eating, helping Chelsea with a project or tinkering with his many trinkets and books. Those who know Clinton confirm he is a highly successful multi-tasker.
When each interview concluded, Taylor would get back in his truck and drive about an hour to his home in Baltimore. On the way, he would talk into a tape recorder himself, detailing the specifics and his own commentary about the conversation he had just had with the President.
Clinton used the transcripts from the tapes stored in the sock drawer to help write his autobiography My Life. The tapes Taylor made while driving home to Baltimore over the eight year period are the centerpieces of his upcoming book, Wrestling History: The Bill Clinton Tapes, which will be published at the end of 2008.
When it’s published, Taylor said he would return to the Clinton School for a book signing. We’re looking forward to it.
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