This is a humorous and provocative primer on the press. What is fact and what is fiction about the media, the events they cover and the stories they report? DeFrank discusses the media’s foibles and frailties and explains why reporters behave like they do, and why it is unlikely to ever change. He punctuates this engaging presentation with amusing anecdotes and accounts of reporters, their sources and their newsrooms.
Tom DeFrank met President Gerald Ford conducting an interview with him as a young Newsweek correspondent. Over the next 32 years, they developed an extraordinary relationship and in 1991, shortly before Ford’s death in 2006, DeFranks’ regular interviews with Ford transformed into something else; conversations between two men in which Ford talked in a way few presidents ever have.
Intimate and insightful, DeFrank offers audiences an unprecedented look into the real Gerald Ford, his presidency and his life. Ford’s relationship with Richard Nixon; his complex relationships with Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter; his startling, never-before-disclosed discussions with Bill Clinton during the latter’s impeachment process; his opinions about both Bush administrations, the Iraq war, and many contemporary political figures, unguarded personal musings about his own life, his beloved wife, Betty and the frustrations of aging and much more. DeFrank discusses all of this in a presentation that is illuminating, entertaining, surprising, heartwarming, and, in many ways, historic.
Drawing on his vast library of prose, an impeccable memory and extraordinary personal encounters with the last eight administrations, Tom DeFrank enthralls audiences with his favorite stories that were never published and weaves them into a compelling, entertaining presentation that is pure storytelling at its best.
Tom DeFrank’s most popular presentation combines provocative, unconventional and revealing insights into the Presidency with entertaining anecdotes based on his unparalleled experiences covering the White House for over three decades. He offers candid accounts and frank assessments of the various Presidents and their administrations’ performance, including an in-depth look at current officeholder Barak Obama. Finally, DeFrank concludes this engaging, informative presentation with a preview of the 2010 and 2012 elections – the key players, the behind-the-scenes machers and the other interested but not so obvious parties that will play a critical role in what results and what doesn’t.
