The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry That Defined a Generation by Steven M. Gillon

From the Publisher

Most Americans saw President Bill Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich as staunch foes--"the polar extremes of Pennsylvania Avenue." But as Steven Gillon reveals in The Pact, these powerful adversaries formed a secret alliance in 1997, a pact that would have rocked the political landscape, had it not foundered in the wake of the Lewinsky scandal.
A fascinating look at politics American-style, The Pact offers a riveting account of two of America's most charismatic and influential leaders, detailing both their differences and their striking similarities, and highlighting the profound and lasting impact the tumultuous 1960s had on both their personal and political lives. With the cooperation of both President Clinton and Speaker Gingrich, interviews with key players who have never before spoken about their experiences, along with unprecedented access to Gingrich's private papers, Gillon not only offers a behind-the-scenes look at the budget impasse and the government shutdown in 1995--the famous face-off between Clinton and Gingrich--but he also reveals how the two moved closer together after 1996--closer than anyone knew. In particular, the book illuminates their secret efforts to abandon the liberal and conservative wings of their own parties and strike a bi-partisan deal to reform the "third rail of American politics"--Social Security and Medicare. That potentially groundbreaking effort was swept away by the highly charged reaction to the Lewinsky affair, ending an initiative that might have transformed millions of American lives.
Packed with compelling new revelations about two of the most powerful and intriguing figures of our time, this book will be must reading foreveryone interested in politics or current events.

Publishers Weekly

An unlikely, fleeting and largely unknown alliance between the former president and speaker of the House occupies center-stage of this thoughtful book that recreates the tumultuous years of the Clinton administration. Gillon (10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America) provides compelling evidence suggesting that political foes Clinton and Gingrich formed a secret alliance in 1997 and were prepared to forge a bipartisan compromise on Social Security and Medicare, a plan that was derailed when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. In slightly shapeless early chapters, Gillon surveys the parallels and divergences in the early lives and careers of both men, casting his two protagonists as mirror images of each other: deeply intelligent children of the 1960s greatly affected by the politics of the decade, they became passionate, charismatic leaders who succumbed to personal weaknesses and saw their brilliant careers overshadowed by ignominy. Though Gillon slightly overreaches in framing his story as an epilogue to the culture wars of the '60s, he nevertheless renders a fraught moment in American political history with clarity. (June)

Thomas J. Baldino - Library Journal

It's difficult to imagine how President Bill Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich could find themselves in a symbiotic relationship that ended with both their political careers in shambles. Gillon (history, Univ. of Oklahoma; The American Experiment: A History of the United States) explains that, despite their ideological differences, they shared a personal chemistry based in no small measure on their common formative experiences, from difficult childhoods to political maturation in the turbulent Sixties. Drawing on interviews with the two principals and with key aides, as well as Gingrich's personal papers, Gillon sheds more light on the political instincts of both men than any other book heretofore. Surely what will be most discussed is the revelation that Clinton and Gingrich were working on an agreement to bring Social Security and Medicare to solvency, perhaps forever. Both hoped to leave more than a legacy of bitter partisan division in Washington; each was willing to accept the political heat for an agreement that would improve Social Security's capabilities while adding some privatization to the system. But with the news of Clinton's sexual improprieties, the deal fell through; later, under investigation himself, Gingrich resigned as Speaker. Sadly, the greatest legacy of the Lewinsky scandal may have been the lost opportunity to resolve the financial solvency of Social Security and Medicare. An excellent book; essential for both public and academic libraries.

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