Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History

Kati Marton

Sep 2010 · Sold by Anchor

About this ebook

An engrossing look at twelve presidential marriages—from Edith and Woodrow Wilson to Laura and George W. Bush—that have profoundly affected America’s history.

“Insightful.... Colorful.... A shrewd and illuminating look at the juncture where the personal and the political overlap.” —The Wall Street Journal

Marton uncovers the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the ultimate power couples, showing how first ladies have used their privileged access to the president to influence staffing, promote causes, and engage directly in policy-making. Edith Wilson secretly ran the country after Woodrow’s debilitating stroke. Eleanor Roosevelt was FDR’s moral compass. And Laura Bush, initially shy of any public role, has proven to be the emotional ballast for her husband. Through extensive research and interviews, Marton reveals the substantial—yet often overlooked–legacy of presidential wives, providing insight into the evolution of women’s roles in the twentieth century and vividly depicting the synergy of these unique political partnerships.

About the author

Author and journalist Kati Marton was born in Hungary and has spent two decades writing and reporting from the United States, Europe, and the Far East. Ms. Marton is a director and former chairperson of the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists and a member of the Freedom Forum’s Media Studies Center Advisory Committee. She also serves on the board of directors of the International Rescue Committee, the New America Foundation, the J. Anthony Lukas Memorial Foundation, the Central European University, and is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. Ms. Marton is the author of HIDDEN POWER, a book about presidential marriages, published by Pantheon Books (Fall 2001).

Since 1980, Ms. Marton has published four other books and contributed as a reporter to numerous news organizations, including ABC News, Public Broadcasting Services, National Public Radio, Atlantic Monthly, The Times of London, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, and The New Republic. Her first book, Wallenberg, a biography of Raoul Wallenberg, was published by Random House in 1982. From 1983 until 1984, she was a columnist for the Sunday Times of London. Her second book, a novel entitled An American Woman, was published in 1987. Her investigative history, The Polk Conspiracy--Murder and Coverup in the Case of CBS News Correspondent George Polk, published in 1990, has been acquired by Mel Gibson for a feature film. Her fourth book is A Death in Jerusalem--the Assassination by Extremists of the First Middle East Peacemaker, published by Pantheon books in the fall of 1994. From 1995 until 1997, Ms. Marton hosted America and the World, a weekly half-hour broadcast on international affairs from National Public Radio, produced by the Council on Foreign Relations.

From December 1977 until December 1979, Ms. Marton was Bonn Bureau Chief and Foreign Correspondent for ABC News. While based in West Germany, Ms. Marton reported from many countries, including Poland, Hungary, Italy, Holland, Northern Ireland, and East Germany.
Ms. Marton was a news writer/reporter at WCAU-TV, the CBS-owned and -operated affiliate in Philadelphia, from January 1973 until November 1977. At WCAU, Ms. Marton covered City Hall, the courts, and labor-related stories, and anchored newscasts, documentaries, and talk shows. From March 1971 until October 1972, Ms. Marton was a reporter for National Public Radio in Washington. In addition to diplomatic and political assignments, Ms. Marton was involved in the development of NPR’s program, All Things Considered.

Ms. Marton has received several prestigious honors for her reporting, including a Gannett Fellowship in 1988 and a George Foster Peabody Award for a one-hour documentary on China in 1973. She was a Freedom Forum Media Studies Center Visiting Scholar at Columbia University from 1992 until 1993. She also received a Philadelphia Press Association Award for Best Television Feature Story and a Channel 12 (PBS) Award for reporting. Most recently, she received the Marc H. Tanenbaum Foundation for the Advancement of Interreligious Understanding Media Bridge-Builder Award and the Kyriazis Foundation award for the promotion of press freedom, both in 1997.

Ms. Marton attended Wells College in Aurora, NY, the Sorbonne, and the Institute des Etudes de Science Politiques in Paris. Ms. Marton was awarded a BA in Romance Languages and an MA in International Relations from George Washington University in 1971.

Kati Marton is married to Richard Holbrooke, the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, and lives in New York City with her children, Elizabeth and Christopher.