The exuberant, worldly-wise autobiography of a Washington/Wall
Street insider who thrived despite the hard blows life has dealt
him on more than one occasion. A product of Brooklyn, Garment (who
turned 72 in May) does not recall his comfortable childhood with
any particular fondness. Indeed, he left home early to pursue a
career as a clarinet/saxophone player in jazz bands. Released from
the WW II army for medical reasons within weeks of induction,
Garment turned his back on music and earned a law degree; his
academic record was good enough to land him a coveted job with the
Waspy Manhattan firm of Mudge, Stem, Williams, and Tucker. A
partner by the time Richard Nixon joined the fold in 1963, the
self-styled "ethnic icebreaker" soon became a close friend of the
former vice president's. An important member of the team that
helped put him in the White House, Garment became an all-purpose
troubleshooter for Nixon. The tough-talking administration's
informal envoy to both US Jewry and Israel, Garment (who
characterizes his ex-boss as operationally progressive but
rhetorically retrogressive on social issues) also worked on
civil-rights programs. Garment was untainted by Watergate, on which
he comments with perception and compassion. He eventually returned
to New York City. With time out to serve as Daniel Patrick
Moynihan's special assistant for human rights during his stint as
US ambassador to the UN, he resumed the practice of law. While
personal tragedies (including the suicide of his first wife) took a
toll, the resilient Garment bounced back. Happily remarried, with a
new young daughter to raise, the globe-trotting attorney is again
ensconced in Washington with a world-class clientele. The engaging,
often ingratiating, recollections of a free-spirited agent and
advocate who has learned a lot from his varied experiences close to
the seats of power. (Kirkus Reviews)
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."
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