Crazy Rhythm: From Brooklyn And Jazz To Nixon’s White House, Watergate, And Beyond

Leonard Garment was a successful Wall Street attorney when, in 1965, he found himself arguing a Supreme Court case alongside his new law partner—former Vice President Richard Nixon. It was the start of a friendship that lasted more than thirty years. In Crazy Rhythm, which the New York Times Book Review called "an eloquent memoir," Garment engagingly tells of his boyhood as the child of immigrants, and the beginning of a life-long love affair with jazz. After Brooklyn Law School, Garment went on to Wall Street, where encountering Nixon changed the course of his life. Crazy Rhythm allows us a rare, intimate look at Nixon's extraordinary tenure in the White House. More than that, the book tells stories from a life that has included close encounters with characters such as Benny Goodman and Billie Holiday, Henry Kissinger and Alan Greenspan, Golda Meir and Yasser Arafat, Giovanni Agnelli and Marc Rich, and moves like the best jazz, in a writer's voice that is truly one-of-a-kind. To quote former U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "A century from now, I cannot doubt Americans will still be reading Crazy Rhythm. This is a story of our time, written for the ages."

now In Paperback: From Jazz Saxophonist To One Of President Nixon's Closest Advisers-i Zipped Through Crazy Rhythm In Record Time And Enjoyed Every Last Page.-saul Bellow.

publishers Weekly

a Self-described Birthright Democrat And Lifelong Liberal Born In Brooklyn To Immigrant Eastern European Jews, Garment Never Really Satisfactorily Explains How Or Why He Became Richard Nixon's Friend, Campaign Strategist And Political Crony, Serving As The President's Special Consultant And Counsel. They Met In 1963 As Partners In Garment's Wall Street Law Firm, After Nixon, Having Lost His Bid To Become Governor Of California, Moved East To Make A Fresh Political Start. Garment, Who Acted As Nixon's Informal Liaison To The American Jewish Community And To Israel, Also Defused Native American Protests And Worked On Federal Arts Programs And School Desegregation. He Lamely Defends His Attempt To Help The President Ride Out The Watergate Scandal. He Offers Valuable Close-ups Of Nixon's Rise To Power And White House Maneuvers. His Candid Life Story Includes Moments Of High Drama, Such As A 1969 Diplomatic Mission To Moscow During Which He Fed His Kgb Hosts Hours Of Disinformation; As Well As Personal Tragedies, Notably The 1976 Suicide Of His First Wife, Depressive Soap-opera Scriptwriter Grace Albert. Currently A Washington, D.c., Lawyer, Garment Writes With An Open Mind And A Fine-tuned Sense Of Humor. His Biography Is A Moving Testimony To A Remarkable Career. Photos. (mar.)

Leonard Garment was a successful Wall Street attorney when, in 1965, he found himself arguing a Supreme Court case alongside his new law partner -- former Vice President Richard Nixon. It was the start of a friendship that lasted more than thirty years.In Crazy Rhythm, Garment engagingly tells of his boyhood as the child of immigrants, and the beginning of a life-long love affair with jazz. After Brooklyn Law School, Garment went on to Wall Street, where encountering Nixon changed the course of his life. Crazy Rhythm allows us a rare, intimate look at Nixon's extraordinary tenure in the White House. More than that, the book tells stories from a life that has included close encounters with characters such as Benny Goodman and Billie Holiday, Henry Kissinger and Alan Greenspan, Golda Meir and Yasser Arafat, Giovanni Agnelli and Marc Rich, and moves like the best jazz, in a writer's voice that is truly one-of-a-kind.To quote former U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "A century from now, I cannot doubt Americans will still be reading Crazy Rhythm. This is a story of our time, written for the ages." Crazy Rhythm is a smart, swinging memoir that answers the question "How did a liberal Jewish jazz musician from Brooklyn become one of President Richard Nixon's most trusted advisers and one of Washington's most influential lawyers?". Leonard Garment was probably the hippest man ever to serve in the White House - a jazz musician with an affinity for artists, African-Americans, Jews, American Indians, and the "rabble-rousers" of post-1960s American politics, a man as comfortable with Dick Gregory as he was with Dick Nixon. Garment presents a rare view of Nixon, showing us the man as he ascended to the presidency - brilliant, fascinating, and complex. Garment describes his advocacy on behalf of Israel at the United Nations, his efforts to expand government support for the arts, his crisis management of American Indian protests, and his ideological wrestling matches with Pat Buchanan. He also writes poignantly of his tumultuous first marriage to Grace Albert, a talented television writer who, one day, mysteriously disappeared.