First in Line, Kate Andersen Brower
First in Line, Kate Andersen Brower
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First in Line
Presidents, Vice Presidents, and the Pursuit of Power

Author: Kate Andersen Brower

Narrator: Fred Sanders

Unabridged: 10 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 06/05/2018


Synopsis

From the author of the New York Times bestsellers First Women and The Residence, an intimate, news-making look at the men who are next in line to the most powerful office in the world—the vice presidents of the modern era—from Richard Nixon to Joe Biden to Mike Pence.Vice presidents occupy a unique and important position, living partway in the spotlight and part in the wings. Of the forty-seven vice presidents who have served the United States, fourteen have become president; eight of these have risen to the Oval Office because of a president’s death or assassination, and one became president after his boss’s resignation. John Nance Garner, FDR’s first vice president, famously said the vice presidency is ""not worth a bucket of warm piss"" (later cleaned up to ""warm spit""). But things have changed dramatically in recent years. In interviews with more than two hundred people, including former vice presidents, their family members, and insiders and confidants of every president since Jimmy Carter, Kate Andersen Brower pulls back the curtain and reveals the sometimes cold, sometimes close, and always complicated relationship between our modern presidents and their vice presidents.Brower took us inside the lives of the White House staff and gave us an intimate look at the modern First Ladies; now, in her signature style, she introduces us to the second most powerful men in the world, exploring the lives and roles of thirteen modern vice presidents—eight Republicans and five Democrats. And she shares surprising revelations about the relationship between former Vice President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama and how Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump interact behind closed doors.From rivals to coworkers, there is a very tangible sense of admiration mixed with jealousy and resentment in nearly all these relationships between the number two and his boss, even the best ones, Brower reveals. Vice presidents owe their position to the president, a connection that affects not only how they are perceived but also their possible future as a presidential candidate—which is tied, for better or worse, to the president they serve. George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan had a famously prickly relationship during the 1980 primary, yet Bush would not have been elected president in 1988 without Reagan’s high approval rating. Al Gore’s 2000 loss, meanwhile, could be attributed to the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal and Bill Clinton’s impeachment. Current Vice President Mike Pence is walking a high-stakes political tightrope as he tries to reassure anxious Republicans while staying on his boss’s good side.This rich dynamic between the president and the vice president has never been fully explored or understood. Compelling and deeply reported, grounded in history and politics, and full of previously untold and incredibly personal stories, First In Line pierces the veil of secrecy enveloping this historic political office to offer us a candid portrait of what it’s truly like to be a heartbeat away.

About Kate Andersen Brower

Kate Andersen Brower is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Residence, First Women—also a New York Times bestseller—and First in Line. She is a CNN contributor who covered the Obama White House for Bloomberg News and is a former CBS News staffer and Fox News producer. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and the Washington Post. She lives outside Washington, D.C., with her husband and their three young children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jean on July 26, 2018

This is an easy readable book. Brower is a journalist and writes in that style. Because she is not a historian, facts are presented but there is no historical analysis or academic documentation. The book is well written and researched. Brower tells the history of the vice presidents and how the meth......more

Goodreads review by Csparrenberger on June 26, 2018

Well, let’s see what we have here. A book about Vice Presidents that starts off really interesting. Lots of interesting facts and tidbits. Good reading so far. Then comes the second half of the book which becomes very biased for certain Vice Presidents and very biased against certain Vice Presidents......more

Goodreads review by Kate on February 03, 2021

I had NO IDEA Nelson Rockefeller's son was likely eaten by cannibals, so if for no other reason, this book was a winner to me. I mean, the rest of the book was good too, but if you're an adult who could legitimately join a group called "goths whose favorite color is pink" then it really doesn't get......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on March 22, 2021

I adored this book. There was a program in December 2020 on CNN about the Vice Presidency and then I read this, which had some of the information that was on the CNN program. However, this was much more in-depth and looked at the relationships between Eisenhower/Nixon up to Trump/Pence. It did also......more