Monthly Archives: December 2009

It is astonishing that the recorded conversations between Taylor Branch and Bill Clinton remained secret for the duration of his Presidency, even evading the outstretched hands of Special Prosecutor Ken Starr.

Best known for his massive civil rights trilogy, “America in the Age of King,” which earned him a Pulitzer for the first installment, Taylor Branch joined The Luncheon Society in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Early into his first term, Branch became the Boswell for his old friend, and these recollections became “The Clinton Tapes, Wresting History with the President.”

During those eight years, an often dog-tired Bill Clinton met with Branch in the White House private residence, often late into the night, to dictate an oral history of his presidency in real time. In a world where political memoirs are often scripted to redeem a sullied reputation or settle scores long after the fact, Taylor Branch shows us a President engaged as events were exploding around him. From the hopeful inauguration, though victories, defeats, the impeachment and the subsequent rebound, these recollections from 79 taped conversations served as a release valve for Clinton; it gave him an avenue to discuss things privately that could not be uttered publicly. 

Continue reading →