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Title details for Tip and the Gipper by Chris Matthews - Available

Tip and the Gipper

When Politics Worked

by Chris Matthews
Chris Matthews
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
2 of 2 copies available

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Jack Kennedy— and Tip O' Neill' s former chief-of-staff— comes the firsthand, one-of-a-kind story of the friendship between President Reagan and the Speaker of the House. They were the political odd couple— the two most powerful men in the country, a pair who, in author Chris Matthews' s words, " couldn' t be more different or more the same." For six years Matthews was on the inside, watching the evolving relationship between President Ronald Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O' Neill. Their philosophies were miles apart— Reagan intent on scaling back government, O' Neill fervent in defending it. Yet there was common ground too: long lunches shared on St. Patrick' s Day and a mutual respect— political and personal. Three days after Reagan' s shooting, Tip was the first outsider at the president' s bedside. Drawing not only on his own remarkable knowledge but on extensive interviews with those closest to his subjects, Matthews brings this unlikely friendship to life in his unique voice, rendering as lively and novelistic a read as Jack Kennedy and a timely object lesson in how bipartisan cooperation can work.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 15, 2013

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781470394837
      • File size: 314187 KB
      • Duration: 10:54:33

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This is a breezy, somewhat cursory examination of how conservative Republican President Ronald Reagan and liberal Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill bridged their ideological differences to create compromise in the 1980s. Chris Matthews, a member of O'Neill's leadership staff, offers an engaging, well-articulated narration. Matthews's emphatic staccato sounds far less bombastic in this audiobook than it does on his HARDBALL television show on MSNBC. However, the listener occasionally has difficulty determining who is speaking as Matthews portrays events in the key participants' paraphrased words without any vocal differentiation. Matthews's most consistent theme is that O'Neill was ill equipped to measure up to Reagan in the early years of "all-media/all-the-time" politics. W.A.G. (c) AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 30, 2013
      MSNBC host Matthews (Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero) draws from his personal journals, President Reagan's diary, and Speaker O'Neill's press conference transcripts to bring 1980s politics back to life. Matthews begins with the vastly different backgrounds of the two men. He contrasts their styles and politics before moving through the Reagan years in a highly-detailed narrative. Matthews's' thesis is that the government's functionality at the time is largely attributed to the relationship of Reagan and 'O'Neill, who both used the check-and-balance design of their positions to "propel the republic forwardâeven when the will of the people was different from his own." Readers relive the attempted assassination, the air traffic control strike, and the Iran-Contra affair, all presented in Matthews's easy, conversational style. Matthews offers little direct commentary on today's contrasting "government by tantrum," allowing the events and personalities to speak for themselves; an acceptable omission, given the numerous examples of cooperation he cites concerning Social Security, the budget and taxes, and foreign policy. Part history, part Washington inside story, part career memoir, this inspiring story of two remarkable men is recommended for political junkies and insiders alike.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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