Zenith: In the White House with George H. W. Bush

by Chase Untermeyer

Overview

Zenith: In the White House with George H. W. Bush is the third in Ambassador Untermeyer’s series of books based on his personal journals compiled during his tenure in the service of George H. W. Bush, first as vice president, then as president. The present work begins with Bush’s election in November 1988 and concludes with Untermeyer’s service as director of the Voice of America, from 1991 until Bush’s defeat by Clinton in 1992.

Filled with the author’s personal observations and commentary on White House events, personalities, and issues, Zenith is written largely from Untermeyer’s perspective as President Bush’s director of personnel, a position that placed him squarely at the center of the politically charged process of making recommendations on some 3,500 federal appointments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623494377
Publisher:	Texas A&M University Press
Publication date:	08/24/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

A diarist since the age of nine and a journalist in his adult years, CHASE UNTERMEYER went to Washington in 1981 to work for the new vice president, George Bush. He remained for the next twelve years, first as executive assistant to Vice President Bush, then as an Assistant Secretary of the Navy, senior White House aide to the first President Bush, and Director of the Voice of America. Now an international business consultant, he lives in Houston. He is also the author of When Things Went Right: The Dawn of the Reagan-Bush Administration and Inside Reagan’s Navy: The Pentagon Journals. 

Table of Contents

Preface. A Strange Allure vii

Part 1 The Project (April-November 1988)

Chapter 1 The Turkey Box 3

Chapter 2 A Fateful Offer 16

Chapter 3 The Voters Decide 23

Part 2 The Transition (November 1988-January 1989)

Chapter 4 The Frenzy before the Storm 31

Part 3 The White House (January 1989-August 1991)

Chapter 5 Beset and Besieged 53

Chapter 6 The First Buzzards of Spring 61

Chapter 7 I Have Some Interest in Her 78

Chapter 8 Upside Down in the Potomac 90

Chapter 9 Secret Mission to China 103

Chapter 10 Let Them Squeeze Themselves 116

Chapter 11 The Case of the Missing Earrings 139

Chapter 12 Himalayan Honeymoon 155

Chapter 13 Wars at Home and Abroad 170

Chapter 14 "Oh, Really?" 185

Chapter 15 They Can Get You for Goin' to Church on Sunday 204

Part 4 The Voice (August 1991-January 1993)

Chapter 16 One Wonderful Job 223

Chapter 17 The Chocolate Island 248

Chapter 18 Radio Wars 276

Chapter 19 The Voters Decide Again 290

Chapter 20 The Fighting Fowl Fatale 301

Epilogue. Two Flights to Houston 311

Abbreviations 317

Notes on Sources 319

About the Author 321

Index 323

Interviews

Houston, TX