John Dickerson Quotes

It is hard for people outside the White House to understand the constant daily problems and issues that come up that require the president's attention, but he can not let himself get too personally involved.

Whose leadership, whose judgment, whose values do you want in the White House when that crisis lands like a thud on the Oval Office desk?

I've worked for four presidents and watched two others up close, and I know that there's no such thing as a routine day in the Oval Office.

My liberal friends love to dismiss Reagan. You know, they'll say something like, 'Oh, didn't he, like, only read one-page memos when he was in the White House?' Well, that's just good managerial practice. I mean, Franklin Roosevelt made people write one-page memos.

If you want to understand what is going on in the White House today, you have to begin with Barack Obama.

The unknown has undone many a president, and no matter the popularity of an Oval Office occupant, any and all presidents are vulnerable. Of course, one thing that seems to set Obama part from his recent predecessors is his ability to keep an inner calm about tough issues.

I had worked for George Bush as a speechwriter, and I read a lot of White House memoirs. They all have two themes: 'It Wasn't My Fault' and 'It Would Have Been Much Worse if I Hadn't Been There.'

It’s always difficult for a President to explain his policies through the filter of the media and the crises of the day.

In the White House there is always struggle and contention.

No White House staff person wants to conflict with the First Lady who goes home and has the ear of the President all night.

Every first-term president has to learn something after he comes into office. Nobody can be completely ready for the inevitable crises.

There's a normal tendency in the campaign, during a crisis, for the country to rally around the White House. vThat may help Al Gore in this campaign, but on the other hand, George W. Bush handled himself so well the other night on foreign policy that I think it fortified him just before this crisis broke.

Working in the White House is a relentlessly demanding responsibility.

No one is ready to be President. If you end up with the title, you adjust to the position.

This is the sort of decision that presidents must make: Hard choices with insufficient information.

Nancy Reagan was the Personnel Director of the White House.

Very few presidents create their own greatness. Greatness is thrust upon them by a crisis.

Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president and the secretary of state, in that order, and should the president decide he wants to transfer the helm to the vice president, he will do so. As for now, I'm in control here, in the White House, pending the return of the vice president and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course.

The nature of the presidency is such that you cannot isolate yourself.

The nature of the Presidency is such that you are always asking yourself what else could you be doing?.

That is the way it is in America and it is what makes us a great nation. True leaders must handle difficult situations or have competent people who handle those situations. Sources did give information of a general nature to the Administration and it is obvious that an attack still occurred. This is a more 'impeachable' offense than what was brought before the Congress. Fortunately, George W. Bush will in just a few days become our President. I can assure you that such situations will not be mishandled by his Administration. However general the information might be, the President-elect will act with authority to prevent such tragedies

The White House staff [under Richard Nixon] viewed Congress in much the same way that the chairman of the board of a huge corporation regards his regional sales managers.

You can never predict what problems a President will face.

It used to be that a journalist covering the White House had trouble getting news because each person there worked for the same person, while in Congress they are all independent contractors and you could get news. But today, the White House Staff are all independent contractors and that is a great place to get news.

People who work for the Donald Trump admonistration do not know from day to day whether there job is there or what it is.