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10A | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2020 | SIUSLAW NEWS B Timely Book Reviews by Mark Brennan/Siuslaw News “Tough Love” by Susan Rice There have been few Americans who have served in the highest levels of our govern- ment in as many dif- ferent capacities with the grace and intelli- gence of Susan Rice. Rice was born Washington D.C. and graduated as valedic- torian of her High School class. Rice’s parents were academ- ics and her father, Em- met J. Rice, was gov- ernor of the Federal Reserve System. Rice’s mother helped design the federal Pell Grant system and was later a scholar at the Brook- ings Institution. These examples of intellectu- al excellence provid- ed Rice the early role models which would inspire her to dedicate her energies towards a career in public ser- vice. In her book, Rice speaks warmly of her parents and points to the social influences she encountered grow- ing upon in Washington D.C. The experience of living in a place that was at the center of government was also one of the reasons she entered public service. Another main impetus for Rice was simple: as a resident of Washington D.C., her family had no representation in Congress. “My enthusiasm was tempered only by the realization that I lived in the one place on the mainland that had zero U.S. Senators. Washington D.C. had no vot- ing representation in Congress and still does not,” Rice writes. “D.C.’s disenfranchisement is one of the major injustices of our political system. Over 700,000 people pay full federal tax- es. They can be conscripted into war — but have no right to elect leaders whose vote counts in Congress.” Rice has always been in- terested in sports, participat- ing in varsity level tennis and basketball teams during her school years. She has taken the lessons learned regard- ing teamwork and prepara- tion, leaning on those lessons throughout her life. “Sports taught me to be fearless and even to use my body as a weapon. While en- during the frustration of sit- ting on the bench, I reveled in the success of my teammates,” Rice said. “Playing point guard taught me how to lead a team in which everyone adds value and my optimal contribution is not as an individual, but in eliciting the best performance from all the players in uni- son.” In 1979, Rice took her first job in life, as a Senate page. The work agreed with her and she spent three summers working as a page and spend- ing off-time with older pages, some who had traveled from California, Texas and Florida. Rice attended Stanford after graduation from high school, where she received a Truman Scholarship for academic ex- cellence and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. This work experience would set her on the course of learning as much as she could about the political process and creating the relationships needed to forward her policy ideas in a meaningful way. Rice next took a position on staff at the National Secu- rity Council, where she was employed from 1993 to 1997, eventually being promoted to Senior Director for African affairs by President Bill Clin- ton during that time. Rice left public service for a brief period and worked in the aca- demic world before returning to assist with the campaign of a relatively unknown Senator from Illinois named Barack Obama. This decision would thrust Rice into a central role in the formulation of policy posi- tions for the newly elected Senator. O O K M A R K S Estate Sale Fri. 2/21-Sun. 2/23 9am-5pm 1713 2nd & 1705 30th Street Furniture, Housewares, Décor. Priced to sell. In 2008, Rice left her position as se- nior fellow at the Brookings Institute to advise Obama during his campaign for the presidency. The arc of her work with the eventual president makes up a substantial part of “Tough Choices” and the stories from that time are often read here for the first time. After defeating Arizona Senator John McCain to become the 44th President of the United States, President Obama nominated Rice to serve as the U.S. Am- bassador to the United Nations. She was confirmed by the Senate and became the first African American women to repre- sent the U.S. at the U.N. In 2013, Rice was chosen by President Obama to become the country’s 24th National Security Advisor (NSA). It was during this time that Rice developed what she would refer to as a personal re- lationship with the President and First Lady and remains a close friend to both. Rice was the first African American women to serve in both of these critical positions and was considered a formi- dable spokesperson for the interests of the Obama administration. Rice did have some difficult times at NSA related to the tragic events that un- folded in Benghazi, Libya in 2012, when Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed, along with three other embassy staff in an attack that spurred 10 con- gressional investigations. Rice had been one of the first admin- istration officials to address the Beng- hazi situation and her initial account was eventually shown to have been in- accurate. It was later understood that the infor- mation provided to Rice at the time of the attack by the American Intelligence Services was deliberately misleading. The reason given for the misdirection was one of ongoing concern for the safe- ty of the embassy staff and uncertainty of the developments on the ground. The Republican-controlled House In- telligence Committee conducted a two- year investigation into the Benghazi killings and determined that Rice had not acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people. There were nine other high-level in- vestigations into the deadly attack, and all found Rice had acted properly when confronted with the trying circumstanc- es on the ground. Rice discusses in de- tail this incident in “Tough Love,” along with many other situations that she was party to as the primary national security advisor to President Obama. Rice also shares discussions and de- bates that went into critical decisions on Syria, Ukraine and how the U.S. decided to respond to the uprising that came to be known as the “Arab Spring.” One of the most interesting situations Rice shares continues to dominate the headlines. John Brennan, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency handed Rice a file folder in 2017 and said. “We have strong evidence that Putin himself is trying to interfere in our election. This is not a low-level operation. It comes from the top,” Brennan said to Rice. After glancing at the Top Secret re- port she had been handed, Rice’s re- sponse was brief but clear and indica- tive of her decisive nature and fearless approach to her duty. “We gotta go upstairs and tell the boss,” Rice recalls telling Brennan. This recounting of what turned out to be a major development in the rela- tionship between Russia and the United States is just one of the startling revela- tions Rice shares in “Tough Choices,” a compelling autobiography that captures her unique insight into the important events that took place during the Clin- ton and Obama administrations. “Tough Choices” is just one of hun- dreds of new books available at the Siuslaw Public Library, as are all of the books reviewed in Bookmarks. A LOCAL BANKER who understands your BOUTIQUE BUSINESS Kim Erickson (top) Oregon Pacific Bank Lynne Twombly (bottom) All About Olives Meet Lynne and hear what she and others have to say about Oregon Pacific Bank at www.opbc.com/testimonials Not your ordinary bank. 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