Presidents’ Secrets

"Succinct and well written."—Peter R. Kann, Wall Street Journal

“This is a timely, readable account of the management, and more often mismanagement, of secrecy by US presidents from Washington to Obama. Mary Graham . . . brings passion, first-hand knowledge and a sense of history to the subject.”—David C. Unger, Survival

"Presidents’ Secrets demonstrates that government secrecy long ago exceeded its legitimate purposes and has become a highly developed method for avoiding congressional oversight and public accountability, concealing mistakes, and protecting personal careers and bureaucratic prerogatives. Mary Graham’s history of the transformation—and analysis of the key presidential decisions that propelled it—is a remarkable achievement."—Christopher DeMuth, Hudson Institute

"Presidents from George Washington through Barack Obama have struggled to balance the citizens' right to know versus the government's need for secrecy. In Presidents' Secrets, Mary Graham tells this fascinating story from Washington's remarkably modern-sounding explosion about unauthorized leaks at the Constitutional Convention to the novel challenges posed by the Cold War and the new technology."—Mike Kinsley, Vanity Fair columnist

"Presidents’ Secrets is a work of scholarly merit and depth told deftly with rich narrative and compelling detail. Graham provides an historical context against a dramatic background. The portrayals of presidential decision-making bring with them an intimacy that elevates the book well above and beyond the usual wonkish  treatments—and does so without compromising scholarship. A splendid piece of work."—Ted Gup, professor, journalist, and author of Nation of Secrets: The Threat to Democracy and the American Way of Life

"Presidents’ Secrets brilliantly illuminates an issue as alive today as it was for George Washington—but with global consequences more ominous now: how much presidential secrecy can our democratic freedoms tolerate? Brisk, compact and readable, it describes the major secrecy battle presidents have fought, including Obama, and would be invaluable reading for the new administration."—Robert MacNeil, journalist and author