When President Warren G. Harding fell ill in 1923, Steve Early, a reporter for the Associated Press, became skeptical of the innocuous bulletins being issued by the White House. He remained at the hotel where the president was staying, and when Florence Harding called out for a doctor, Early scrambled down a fire escape to file the story. His Associated Press report was six minutes ahead of others with the news of Harding’s death.

A decade later, when Franklin D. Roosevelt entered the White House, Steve Early became the first person to hold the title of presidential press secretary. Mike McCurry, Jody Powell, and Marlin Fitzwater have all become familiar names.

But how has the role of the White House press secretary changed over the years? We see these spokespeople at White House briefings, hear them quoted by reporters-but what do they really do? Whom do they really serve: the president, or the press?

In his latest book, former Associated Press journalist and White House reporter W. Dale Nelson provides an insightful look at what has gone on behind the scenes of the White House press podium from the 1890s to the Clinton administration. Nelson draws on interviews with former press secretaries, press office records, and his own experience as a White House reporter to trace the history of the position, from its early, informal days to its present, seminal role in the Clinton administration.