Another trip down the Crime Alley
- 22 Dec - 28 Dec, 2018
Ronald Kessler is not just one of the leading names when it comes to investigative journalism in the United States, but he is also one of the few reputed authors who has taken their readers inside the White House and showed them the true face of the American Presidents and their families. No one in The First Family likes him a lot and that can be considered an accomplishment for him because people look in his direction whenever a juicy story is leaked from the House at 1600. Let’s take a look at some of his books where he has revealed instances that couldn’t stay secret because they were either too big or too juicy to be ignored.
This is one of the best and most interesting books by Ronald Kessler who talks about the people who protect the presidents of the United States – the United States Secret Service agents. You may have seen them in films and on TV but trust me, unlike their onscreen depiction (and that of the President) there is a lot that you don’t know. With this book, you will get an eye-opening account of the happenings in the White House and around U.S. presidents, because there is more than what meets the eye when it comes to the most powerful men in the world.
This is not the first Ronald Kessler expose surrounding the White House but it has information that any government agency would like not to be shared. So, how did he get the information if it wasn’t available anywhere? That’s where his investigative instinct comes in as he spoke to over 100 current and former secret service agents who spent their days, nights and holidays protecting men who were as volatile as the enemy. From Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama, each and every president carried a secret which has some shocking revelations. For those who believed that Obama quit smoking after becoming the President or that Jimmy Carter would arrive at the Oval Office at 5 a.m. to work, think again because not only did Obama smoke, Jimmy Carter would nod off to sleep after arriving early morning just to give the impression that he was working. Then there was the story behind one American Vice President who refused protection because he didn’t want his voters to see him as weak; another President’s daughters would try to lose the agents while one President was in cahoots with his protectors as he suffered from extensive philandering.
Add the numerous other previously unpublicised allegations about the most powerful politicians in the world and their families and you get a fascinating exposé that would make you think twice before voting in the elections. Although many secret agents refused to divulge secrets about their employers, some thought of exposing their ‘masters’ so that people don’t elect monsters to the highest position in U.S. politics. The writing style describing the incidents is commendable and would be of help to many who still believe that their vote doesn’t matter!
And if you didn’t know that former First Lady Hilary Clinton once fired a handyman working in the White House because he was there at the same time as the first family, or that the assassination attempt at President Ronald Reagan could have been avoided had rules been followed, get your hands on this book where Ronald Kessler is at his best. President Bill Clinton had a blonde mistress who the secret service agents codenamed Energiser; they even had devised ways to alert the President of the First Lady’s presence on the premises because he was always with the wrong company in her absence. Incidents like Joe Biden’s personal use of Air Force Two and ignoring the rules to facilitate Hollywood star Bradley Cooper the day President Obama was to deliver an important speech are mentioned with proof, making the book an interesting read. And there should be points for guessing which First Lady was considered ‘the worst assignment’ and a form of punishment for the agents, because in public, she was exactly the opposite of her private persona, and that’s how most of the people in the First Family can be categorised! •
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is easily the most advanced domestic security service in the world but with great powers come great responsibility, and Kessler is there to reveal the many instances where the FBI didn’t act like the world’s best security agency. He widens his scope of investigation from presidents to their friends, mistresses, colleagues and some potential candidates for the highest position in the world who had no clue that their actions were being monitored. So, don’t be shocked to know that the longest-serving FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover was able to ‘hover’ for so long because he blackmailed his ‘masters’; there is mention of Robert F Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe in the same sentence that too of a meeting on the day she committed suicide making this book all the more interesting. Not many know that the car the brother of the U.S. President travelled in to secretly meet the actress was borrowed from an FBI agent, raising the reader’s suspicions to an all-new level.
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