Where the Evidence Leads: An Autobiography

By Dick Thornburgh

Book Overview

Set in any era, Dick Thornburgh's brilliant career would merit study and retelling. He was the first Republican elected to two successive terms as governor of Pennsylvania (1979-87). He served in the United States Department of Justice under five presidents, including three years as attorney general in the cabinets of Presidents Reagan and Bush (1988-91). As undersecretary-general of the United Nations (1993), he was the highest ranking American in the organization and a strong voice for reform.

Thornburgh's twenty-five year path through the highest levels of local, state, and national government has coincided with some of the most compelling events of the American century. In this book, he follows his well-known mantra to pursue the trail of evidence wherever it leads as he candidly presents both the public and private stories of a life fully engaged with public service to his country.

Nationally, Thornburgh is best remembered for his three years as attorney general, when he managed some of the most vexing legal matters of the modern age: the Savings and Loan and BCCI scandals; controversy over the \u201cIraqgate\u201d and INSLAW investigations and the Wichita abortion clinic protests; and prosecutions of Michael Milken, Manuel Noriega, and Marion Barry, as well as those involved in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and the Rodney King beating.

As governor of Pennsylvania, he faced the nation's worst nuclear accident, weeks after his inauguration in 1979. Thornburgh's cool-headed response to the Three Mile Island disaster is often studied as a textbook example of emergency management. He recounts his efforts to transform the state's ailing smokestack economy and the controversy over \u201cThornfare, \u201d an early welfare-to-work program. His historic 1992 battle against Harris Wofford for the late John Heinz III's senate seat is one of several political campaigns, vividly recalled, that reveal the inner workings of the commonwealth's political machinery.

Thornburgh reveals painful details of his personal life, including the 1960 automobile accident that claimed the life of his first wife and permanently disabled his infant son. He presents a frank analysis of the challenges of raising a family as a public figure, and tells the moving story of his personal and political crusade that culminated in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822942208
• ISBN13: 9780822942207
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Length: 386 Pages
• Weight: 1.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Honest Politician

Mr. Thornburgh came into office just as I was taking the lead in our family business. I was becoming aware of the incompetence and corruption of Pennsylvania's Democrat-led government. He gathered the business community to his side to make some hard decisions, particularly in the bankrupt unemployment compensation fund, to make the state solvent again. He achieved a budget surplus and created a "rainy day" savings account. He reduced the number of patronage jobs and returned the highway department to competence. I wish he were young enough to come back to be our governor again. He is dead-honest and loves his wife.

Autobiography of a Leading Legal and Political Leader

As the title of this autobiography suggests, and the pages that follow confirm, this is the story of Dick Thornburgh, who has a strong and lengthy legal career. That this legal career was interrupted by eight years of service as Governor almost would appear a diversion from someone who rose from the Board of Directors of his local ACLU to be a United States Attorney and ultimately U.S. Attorney General. Yet, as the book informs, Dick Thornburgh was definitely a politician who successfully balanced switching between political and legal careers. It was Dick Thornburgh's poltical work that caught the attention of Republican Party leader Elsie Hillman that led her to successfully push the political buttons to get Thornbugh the position of U.S. Attorney. Thornburgh had earlier worked in a Senate campaign and run a losing race for Congress. Although his preparation for the job was lacking, as Thornburgh admits his initial reaction was "What does a U.S. Attorney do?", Thornburgh had a distinguished career as a federal prosecutor. He went after organized crime figures and public corruption, although his zeal fadedat times, as when he refused a request by Arlen Specter to investigate some fellow Republicans on allegal illegal campaign payments. A weakness of the book is it lacks depth of analysis in explaining how he chose many of his policies as Governor. The book excels in describing the Three Mile Island crisis. Here, the book is descriptive and reflective and leaves readers with useful advice on crisis management. Readers of legal history and Pennsylvania politics will find this an important book to examine.

An outstanding public servant

This book describes in fascinating detail the political life and governmental experience of a man who has held numerous offices. Dick's life has included tragedy and triumph, and Dick holds no punches in describing all significant events. The book is well written, candid, insightful, honest and interesting. Regardless of your political party or your politics, it is must reading.