The Acting President

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Explores the roles played by Reagan's closest cabinet members--including Meese, Regan, Pointdexter, Baker, Haig, and Watt--in securing the president's absolute say in domestic and foreign policy

416 pages, Paperback

First published July 21,1989

About the author

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Bob Lloyd Schieffer is an American television journalist. He is known for his moderation of presidential debates, where he has been praised for his capability. Schieffer is one of the few journalists to have covered all four of the major Washington national assignments: the White House, the Pentagon, United States Department of State, and United States Congress. His career with CBS has almost exclusively dealt with national politics. He has interviewed every United States President since Richard M. Nixon, as well as most of those who sought the office.
Schieffer has been with CBS News since 1969, serving as the anchor on the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News for 20 years, from 1976 to 1996, as well as the Chief Washington Correspondent from 1982 until 2015, and moderator of the Sunday public affairs show, Face the Nation, from 1991 until May 31, 2015. From March 10, 2005, to August 31, 2006, Schieffer was interim weekday anchor of CBS Evening News, and was one of the primary substitutes for Katie Couric and Scott Pelley.
Following his retirement from Face the Nation, Schieffer has continued to work for CBS as a contributor, making many appearances on air giving political commentary covering the 2016 presidential election. Schieffer is currently releasing episodes of a new podcast, "Bob Schieffer's 'About the News' with H. Andrew Schwartz".
Schieffer has written three books about his career in journalism: Face the Nation: My Favorite Stories from the First 50 Years of the Award-Winning News Broadcast, This Just In: What I Couldn't Tell You on TV, and Bob Schieffer's America. He co-authored a book about Ronald Reagan, The Acting President, with Gary Paul Gates, that was published in 1989. In his memoir, This Just In, Schieffer credits the fact he was a beat reporter at CBS for his longevity at the network.
Schieffer has won virtually every award in broadcast journalism, including eight Emmys, the overseas Press Club Award, the Paul White Award presented by the TV News Directors Association, and the Edward R. Murrow Award given by Murrow's alma mater, Washington State University.
Schieffer was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame in 2002, and inducted into the National Academy of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 2013. He was named a living legend by the Library of Congress in 2008.
Schieffer is currently serving as the Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center.

Community Reviews

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5 reviews All reviews
April 17,2025
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Like biting into a moldy, urine-soaked madeleine, this book brings the grim corruption of the Reagan years back into memory with a pungent immediacy. Oh how it all came rushing back…the multiple deaths of language, the self-righteous, braying, mindless 'patriotism', the horrifying feeling that huge swathes of the populace had been replaced by pods that couldn't tell when they were being blatantly lied to, the criminalization of the homeless, the relentless greed.

It reminded me why I was happy when he died. And read now, after the Cheney Regency, it comes into even sharper focus: want to know how the Bush Administration turned out to be so morally & legally corrupt, and so staggeringly disconnected from reality? They had a script, passed down from The Great Actor himself.

An excellent book, but watch your blood pressure. Read about Manucher Ghorbanifar, and then reflect on the fact that he was reincarnated 20 years later as Ahmed Chalabi…and managed to steal yet another blithely ignorant American president blind once again.
April 17,2025
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Written shortly after Reagan left office but before the fall of the Soviet Union, this book focuses on the shortcomings of Reagan and his staff. The authors make valid criticisms from the critical perspective of journalists, but they fail to see the results of administration (the book being written so soon after Reagan left office).
April 17,2025
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Just embarrassingly biased. Not surprising that Bob Schieffer wrote this, but it is surprising that he still goes out of the way to remind people that he's a non-partisan, unbiased journalist after writing this.
Just sad.
April 17,2025
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This is in the middle of a list with a dozen other books I clearly read one summer in the 90's, but I have no memory of it.
April 17,2025
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Pretty cool perspective and really puts a human face on the presidents.
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