In the Shadow of the Oval Office: Profiles of the National Security Advisers and the Presidents They Served--From JFK to George W. Bush. This item is unavailable.In the Shadow of the Oval Office: Profiles of the National Security Advisers and the Presidents They Served--From JFK to George W. Bush

Traces the inside stories of how national security advisors throughout history have enabled the presidents who appointed them to exert greater control over American foreign policy, in a cautionary report that explores what the authors believe to be their roles in promoting White House secrecy and reducing its accountability. 40,000 first printing.

"Beginning with the Kennedy years, the role of national security adviser has grown to be one of the most powerful in government. Daalder and Destler provide a colorful, intimate, and revealing look at what it takes to do the job right. By describing the delicate balances, power plays, and personality factors involved, this book shows what really happens in the corridors of the White House." -- Walter Isaacson, author of "Einstein and Kissinger"

"This is a wise, important, and even urgent book. Its astute judgments on the relationships between the national security advisers and the presidents they served over a half-century -- the ways they made and implemented foreign policy, and the results, successful to disastrous -- should be taken to heart by the next U.S. foreign policy team, and alerts the rest of us to what to watch for." -- Elizabeth Drew, author of "Citizen McCain"

"Every national security adviser in the last fifty years had his or her strengths and weaknesses. Now, for the first time, a book focuses on each of them as individuals, succinctly and precisely. Essential reading for the new administration -- and anyone interested in the history of the National Security Council system." -- Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations

"Given the daunting array of national-security challenges facing the Obama administration, this lucid, insightful, and authoritative book could hardly be more timely. Drawing on their deep knowledge of how the White House and the world work, Daalder and Destler have shed light on one of the most important, but least understood, posts in the U.S. government at a pivotal moment in American foreign policy." -- Strobe Talbott, former deputy secretary of state and author of "The Great Experiment"

"With well-drawn examples, Ivo Daalder and I. M. Destler chart U.S. foreign policy through the prism of the vital but amorphous post of National Security Adviser. Their tracing of bureaucratic intrigue from McGeorge Bundy through Kissinger and Brzezinski to Condoleezza Rice is always fascinating, if not always reassuring." -- A.J. Langguth, "Our Vietnam: The War 1954-1975"