Inside A Public and Private Life

Joe Califano grew up in a tight-knit working class family in Depression-era Brooklyn. His parents instilled in their son a work ethic, sense of self, and devotion to Church that stayed with him as he rose through the ranks of America's ruling class. From Jesuit undergraduate schools to Harvard Law, influential law firms, Robert McNamara's Pentagon, Lyndon Johnson's White House, and Jimmy Carter's Cabinet, Califano was hard charging, effective, and committed to his causes--whether that meant reforming the military, working for equal rights for all, his struggle to be a committed Catholic in America, or finally his passion to combat addictions that ruin so many American lives. The book is called Inside, and that's where it takes us--inside his public and private life--as Califano worked in the power centers of three Democratic administrations, He shows us how hardball is often necessary to make government serve its people. Califano remained "inside" even out of government, representing the Washington Post and Democratic Party during Watergate. Inside is history, memoir, and a profoundly revealing personal drama of a powerful figure involved in many defining events of the last half-century. It is a tale of how ambition, tenacity and courage, guided by deeply felt ethics, can move the world, from the inside. Where else could a kid from Brooklyn--who played punch ball on the street, bought loosies at a penny a cigarette, and stole cake from a bakery truck on the same day he served Mass as an altar boy--sit in the Pentagon E Ring, White House West Wing and Fortune 500 board rooms, walk the secret tunnels of Capitol Hill, and lead Washington and Wall Street law firms? Only in America. Therehave been plenty of ups and downs: the high of being called Lyndon Johnson's Deputy President for Domestic Affairs, the low of being fired as Jimmy Carter's Secretary of Health, Education. and Welfare. Fortunately my parents brought me up American with a capital A and Catholic with a capital C. instilling values to keep peaks and valleys in perspective. This is the story of how this Brooklyn kid got INSIDE during an era of political and social upheaval so vast and swift as to be unthinkable when I completed law school in 1955. The civil rights movement, the 1960s Great Society legislative explosion, the Kennedy administration's attempts to eliminate Castro, 1970s Democratic party restructuring, Watergate, pushing the First Amendment envelope, medical miracles blurring the line between Madame Curie and Dr. Frankenstein: I had no idea I would play a role in such momentous events, much less how changes in my country, church, profession, and party would change me.Califano, Joseph A., Jr. is the author of 'Inside A Public and Private Life' with ISBN 9781586483388 and ISBN 1586483382.