April Ryan - The Presidency in Black and White: My Up-Close View of Four Presidents and Race in America

The Presidency in Black and White

The Presidency in Black and White

My Up-Close View of Four Presidents and Race in America

April Ryan

Foreword by the Honorable Elijah Cummings

Rowman & Littlefield

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Copyright 2015 by Rowman & Littlefield

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ryan, April, 1967

The presidency in black and white : my up-close view of four presidents and race in America / April Ryan.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. PresidentsUnited StatesRacial attitudes. 2. United StatesRace relationsPolitical aspects. 3. Clinton, Bill, 1946-Relations with African Americans. 4. Bush, George W. (George Walker), 1946-Relations with African Americans. 5. Obama, BarackRelations with African Americans. 6. PresidentsPress coverageUnited StatesHistory20th century. 7. PresidentsPress coverageUnited StatesHistory21st century. 8. United StatesRace relationsPress coverage. 9. Ryan, April, 1967- 10. African American women journalistsBiography. I. Title.

E176.472.A34R93 2015

305.800973dc23

2014033007

ISBN 978-1-4422-3841-1 (cloth edition)

ISBN 978-1-4422-3842-8 (electronic: cloth edition)

ISBN 978-1-5381-0663-1 (paperback edition)

ISBN 978-1-5381-0664-8 (electronic: paperback edition)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to the loving memory of my mother, Vivian Ryan, to my father, Robert Ryan Sr., and my brother, Robert Ryan Jr., and last but not least, to my two daughters, Ryan and Grace.

Habakkuk 2:23

And the LORD answered me, and said,

Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie:

though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Acknowledgments

T hank you, American Urban Radio Networks, for providing me with this unique perch for almost twenty years.

Thank you to Ron and Judy Davenport for your support that put this entire journey in perspective. Mr. Davenport, from the beginning you said, Close my eyes that I might see. I have been following the formula for the vision.

To Jerry Lopes, it has been a great roller coaster ride. Lets keep breaking news and setting the pace.

A special thank you to all those who participated with on-the-record quotes for this project: it means so much as people rarely like to go on the record for anything in Washington, D.C.

To Samantha Ible, thank you for your make-up artistry always, be it for TV, the White House Correspondents Association Dinner, or this book cover. You are the best!

To Diane Nine, the literary agent of all agents who never gave up on this project as it was years in the making. You made it happen! Your insight is why we are here today! I am so thankful for you. To Dave Smitherman, you are so witty and simply amazing. This team rocked, and I could not have done this at all without you! You are wonderful!

Rowman & Littlefield, thank you for believing in my vision and making my dream the reality it is today. I cannot express how much I appreciate you, Jon, for having the guts to tackle this project, and to the rest of the Rowman & Littlefield family, I am grateful for your support.

To Norman Hall, thank you for encouraging me from day one to journal and write my White House story.

To Valerie, you support the vision. For that I am eternally grateful. The fabric of America at its best. You are indeed the best!

To my incredible friends who have supported me, stood by me, wiped my tears, and listened to me in good and bad times. Whew, we made it. You all have kept the positive thoughts and words going to give me inspiration to move forward with this book.

To my very large family. My mother would be so pleased. I love you and thank you for loving me back in each way you have. It is a very special love and bond we share!

To my Aunt Pearl who has been there since my birth. You have been my rock. I could not have fulfilled this dream if you had not loved me and my kids.

To my baby brother! Robbie, I love you tremendously. You started this all by lending me your office without hesitation in the early morning hours to begin writing this book. Now it is done. We did it!

To my father. You have given me the courage to speak truth to power as you have done all my life. Thank you, and I love you.

To my late mother! You encouraged me to keep writing when times were not the best. You encouraged me from my infancy that I could do anything I put my mind to with hard work. Even though you are not here, we completed this project.

To my children, Ryan and Grace, you are my heroes and continue to inspire me every day to do more and be a better person. God has blessed me tremendously with the love and care of you two. I am so thankful for you both. Mommy loves you both. Ryan and Grace, you dont have to ask any more if I am finished writing my book. Here it is! Ryan and Grace, this book is for you to understand you both can do anything.

Foreword

The Honorable Elijah Cummings

O black boy of Atlanta!

But half was spoken;

The slaves chains and the masters

Alike are broken;

The one curse of the races

Held both in tether;

They are risingall are rising

The black and white together.

John Greenleaf Whittier

I have begun this brief preface to The Presidency in Black and White with an excerpt from Whittiers nineteenth-century poem to emphasize an insight about our rapidly evolving and increasingly diverse twenty-first century society. Either our children will inherit a nation that offers universal opportunity and a truly color-blind respect for the dignity and potential of every Americanor they will face a far more problematic destiny.

April Ryans window into presidential decision making on racial issues offers grounds for both optimism and concern. Her first-person observations of the four Presidents she has covered on a daily basis have value for all Americans, whatever may be our ethnic heritage. Americans need to know far more about the decisions that each President has made in addressing the challenges of racial division in our country, as well as those opportunities for progress that they have missed. The Presidency in Black and White offers a compelling insiders exposition on both points. The author does so in the context of a very personal narrative of her own journey behind the veil that, all too often, hides the humanity of our leadersand those who report upon themfrom the citizens whom they serve.

I have been listening to April Ryans reports and commentary on Baltimore radio for longer than either of us might comfortably acknowledge, longer even than her seventeen-year sojourn as a distinguished member of the White House Press Corps. I have paid attention to what she has to say because she is a serious and insightful journalist who works very hard to fulfill the three cardinal duties of a free press in our democratic republic. She is truthful, carefully distinguishing between the objective facts that she is reporting and her opinions about what those facts should mean to her audience. She is tenacious, willing to dig below the surface to give her audience something closer to the whole truth. Equally important, I have found her reports to be consistently relevant, offering her audience news that is useful to the better-informed public that is the ultimate foundation of any successful democratic republic.