Historian Sheds Gossipy Light on Clinton Years

In new book, ex-prez discusses Lewinsky, Yeltsin's drunken caper

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 21, 2009 1:07 PM CDT

Copied

Historian Sheds Gossipy Light on Clinton Years — Former President Bill Clinton speaks at the Clinton Foundation Millennium Network event in Los Angeles on Thursday, April 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)

Between 1993 and 2001, historian Taylor Branch met regularly with then-President Clinton for a series of taped interviews. The transcripts form the basis of a new book, The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President, to be released next week. USA Today got a look and singles out some highlights:

Secret Service agents had to corral a drunk Boris Yeltsin trying to hail a cab on Pennsylvania Avenue—wearing only his underwear. The Russian leader, who was bunking at Blair House, told them he wanted a pizza.

Discussing the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Clinton told Branch he "just cracked" under the pressures of the Whitewater investigation and the Democrats' congressional losses in 1994.
After Al Gore lost the 2000 election, the two "exploded" at one another in a heated conversation. Clinton accused Gore of underutilizing him on the campaign; Gore said the Lewinsky scandal had ruined his chances.
George W. Bush "was unqualified to be president … but he had shrewd campaign instincts," Clinton told Branch, John McCain "might make a good president, but he had no idea how to run."

(More Bill Clinton stories.)

Report an error