Author: Bill Brockett
Moderator: Mike Ebbing
Showcasing more than 65 high-resolution, mostly never-before-published, official White House photographs and documents, Bill Brockett’s memoir, Follow The Yellow Line: A soldier’s journey from the Selective Service Induction Center to the White House Oval Office, tells a most unique story of a Vietnam-era Army draftee who became a trusted confidante of the President of the United States.
Assigned to the White House Communications Agency one month before President Richard Nixon's resignation, Bill is believed to be the only person, living or dead, to have physically attended all four major events at the White House on August 8–9, 1974…Mr. Nixon’s resignation speech, his farewell address to the White House Staff the following morning, the Nixon’s final South Lawn helicopter departure, and the swearing in of the new president, Gerald Ford.
“Fascinating. Fun to read. For presidential historians, dog lovers, and all the rest of us.” — Pavel Palazhchenko, Soviet interpreter for Mikhail Gorbachev
By November of 1974, Bill had taken on the additional duty of training the president’s new 8-month-old puppy, a Golden Retriever named “Liberty.” In early 1975, the president called Bill at home, very excited about breeding Liberty and raising a litter of puppies in the White House. Although just a sergeant in the Army at the time, Bill emphatically told the president “No” when asked if he would help, explaining that liberty was far too young to be bred. Three days later, after a very brief meeting with Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld, Bill met privately with Mr. Ford and was offered a third job, that of unofficial personal advisor to the president.
Six months later, Bill accompanied Liberty to Oregon, where she was bred to a stud dog of Bill’s choosing. On September 1, at the Ford’s request, Bill and his wife moved into the White House to assist with the birth and raising of Liberty’s nine puppies. During the time that Bill lived with the Fords, two assassination attempts were made on the president. Bill discusses these with facts that have never been pieced together or published before, showing just how close the first attempt actually was to being successful.
Bill remained friends with the Fords after the White House, attending both of their memorial services in Palm Desert, California, the First Day of Issue ceremony for the Ford stamp, and the christening of the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford.
Bill's experiences and the easy-to-read, often conversational way he shares them make for a compelling read for anyone interested in the White House, the “unseen” presidency, and a great man's love story with his dog.
