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Articles by Eric Dezenhall
The Numbered Man Haunts Independence Day
Growing up several miles from Philadelphia, I thought the Bicentennial in 1976 was a local thing. It never fully registered that it was a national affair. Yes, I knew that America was born a few miles from my house, but it seemed as if everybody who was talking about it had a Philly accent as they hawked their goods and services on local TV.
Conspirator in Chief: The Long Tradition of Conspiracy Theories in the American Presidency
When we think of conspiracy theories, it’s easy to wrongly assume they’re a byproduct of our squalid age of tech-fueled disinformation. The notion of, say, an esteemed Founding Father like Thomas Jefferson or an antebellum swashbuckler like Andrew Jackson industrializing vicious junior-high gossip doesn’t ring true. The harsh reality of pernicious political gossip, however, is demonstrated in Stephen F. Knott’s primer, Conspirator in Chief, with clear, indisputable evidence.
Gavin Newsom makes dyslexia an issue — but is it disqualifying for president?
A big swirling bucket of the latest rumors, celebrity news and Hollywood gossip. The premier celebrity gossip app. The only apps that gives you a comprehensive real time celeb news stream. Gossip Bucket aggregates and streams the latest gossip news and headlines from the top sources in one place.
Gavin Newsom makes dyslexia an issue — but is it disqualifying for president? Original
As Gavin Newsom considers a presidential run and promotes his new book, he draws provocative attention to his dyslexia — and not in an ideal way. Newsom’s discussion of his bad test scores and inability to read a speech famously prompted President Donald Trump to dismiss the California governor’s presidential prospects for having a “mental disability,” which implies a serious impairment to one’s intellectual capacity.
The Tyranny of the Metamucil Gangster
At 63, I’m an entry-level senior citizen. While part of me is in denial about this, another part is paying thoughtful attention to the things that come with age. Here’s where I’m down with the Old Guy thing: It is beyond my understanding that most parents of young children today are fine with blood-curdling shrieking in public libraries and make no effort to shush them. Moreover, the librarians don’t say a word because loud libraries are where we are now.
Truman, Trump, and Mafia Candor
When Donald Trump is accused of doing something untoward, such as not paying his taxes, he says, "That makes me smart." Love him or hate him, he may be right. Trump has been equally audacious in how he talks about dealing with organized crime during his business career: He admits it. Repeatedly, including referring to mobsters as "very nice people" on David Lettermans late-night TV show. Trumps strategy was not unlike that of a predecessor, Harry Truman, who had a similar mafia problem.
Truman, Trump, and Mafia Candor
When Donald Trump is accused of doing something untoward, such as not paying his taxes, he says, “That makes me smart.” Love him or hate him, he may be right. Trump has been equally audacious in how he talks about dealing with organized crime during his business career: He admits it. Repeatedly, including referring to mobsters as “very nice people” on David Letterman’s late-night TV show. Trump’s strategy was not unlike that of a predecessor, Harry Truman, who had a similar mafia problem.
Wiseguys and the White House: Gangsters, Presidents, and the Deals They Made
In the Rolling Stones’ infamous anthem to the 1960s, “Sympathy for the Devil,”the evil creature of the title materializes wherever hell breaks loose on Earth — at the crucifixion of Jesus, the Blitzkrieg, the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas, etc. Similarly, in Eric Dezenhall’s Wiseguys and the White House,the Mafia intersects with practically every president from Franklin D. Roosevelt through Joe Biden. Maybe.
"Wiseguys and the White House" Author Eric Dezenhall talks Presidents and Mobsters
When I worked in the White House in the 1980s, my boss remarked that I came from a “Mafia town” after I told her I was raised in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. She said the Mob killed John F. Kennedy, as if this was a fact. For decades afterward, I’ve been researching and writing about organized crime, my latest book wrestling with the mythology—and reality—of the Mob and the presidency. My biggest surprise was the omnipresence of the Mafia in presidential politics for much of the last century.
Has the Mafia Ever Really Penetrated the White House?
On a hot summer day in the early 1980s, I followed two women I worked with in the communications office of the White House out to the South Lawn for a media opportunity with President Ronald Reagan. I was in my early twenties, and my role that day was routine and minor, ensuring I got the contact information for the media in attendance for potential follow-up. Article continues after advertisement One of the women, Sue, asked me to remind her where I was from.
Israel and Antisemitism: It’s About Crisis Management Not “Image” – Jewish Policy Center
It has become clear to me in the year since Hamas’ October 7 pogrom that an alarming number of people in my life — and for whom I have deep personal affection — were all right with it and wouldn’t be overly put off if it happened again.
WISEGUYS AND THE WHITE HOUSE
Entertaining history in which mobsters often come off better than presidents. Journalist Dezenhall, author of Best of Enemies: The Last Great Spy Story of the Cold War, opens by warning that America’s fascination with mobsters owes much to pop-culture fantasy. It exists, but the reality lacks the “cool and sexually dangerous” efficiency of the movies. With this disclaimer, he proceeds with an often stunning account of gangsters and presidential politics.
Was Trump
When the story broke about classified documents turning up at Mar-a-Lago, a reporter friend called me and said with exasperation, “Why would he take that stuff?!” My response was, “Why wouldn’t he?” It wasn’t my first quip like this. A week before the 2016 election I ran into an acquaintance who was working on Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He asked for my prediction, and I told him I thought Trump would win. He asked if I was serious given that the polls were giving Clinton an inevitable win.
Bankman-Fried and the Rise of Shtickbait
Here’s my new business model: I’m going to meet with venture capitalists wearing only a Speedo and a monocle and ask for a billion dollars. I don’t know what my product is yet, but that’s not important now. Because this is where commerce is headed — a construct where business is anchored in exquisitely crafted tics and as little clothing as possible.
Opinion | The Media Stonewalls on the Steele Dossier
‘Why don’t they just fess up and say they’re sorry?” That is the question journalists have asked about the corporate and institutional clients of my crisis-management business. It’s a question media companies should be asking themselves amid the implosion of the Steele dossier. Here we are, a few weeks after the dossier was discredited, and no one has paid a price.
Mr. Meyer Lansky, and the Perfect Capitalist Myth
Mobster Meyer Lansky was once quoted as saying that he kept his business in his hat. It must have been some hat. Or maybe not. A new cinematic character study, Lansky, was just released. As the author of a book and articles on Lansky, what interested me most is the film’s approach to him as a myth and meme of capitalism. Read Full Article »
Meyer Lansky and the Perfect Capitalist Myth
Mobster Meyer Lansky was once quoted as saying that he kept his business in his hat. It must have been some hat. Or maybe not. A new cinematic character study, Lansky, was just released. As the author of a book and articles on Lansky, what interested me most is the film’s approach to him as a myth and meme of capitalism. Harvey Keitel delivers the most accurate elderly movie Lansky to date. The two men were the same age, Keitel at just over eighty during filming, and Lansky toward the end of his life.
Cuomo's Uphill Battle
People survive scandals when we want them to. At the moment, the dominant media vibe is that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is going down. And he may, but there are a few variables that need to be considered in the meantime, such as why somebody who was being talked about as a presidential contender a few months ago is now cable TV roadkill. The cliché is that the media like to build people up and tear them down. The problem with this construct is that it doesn’t address why.
Op-Ed: Gov. Andrew Cuomo's uphill battle
People survive scandals when we want them to. At the moment, the dominant media vibe is that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is going down. And he may, but there are a few variables that need to be considered in the meantime, such as why somebody who was being talked about as a presidential contender a few months ago is now cable TV roadkill. The cliché is that the media like to build people up and tear them down. The problem with this construct is that it doesn’t address why.
Book Reviews, Sites, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s new novel sends the protagonist of The Sympathizer to the City of Light. On a special bonus episode hosted by Editor-in-Chief Tom Beer, Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen discusses his new novel, The Committed (Grove, March 2), a “quirky intellectual crime novel that highlights the Vietnam War’s complex legacy” (starred review).
Washington Independent Review of Books
The Removed: A Novel by Brandon Hobson (Ecco). Reviewed by K.L. Romo. “Spirituality is woven into the story like a soft thread of silk, binding the everyday lives of the characters with otherworldly warnings and messages of strength. Just as The Removed is rich in Cherokee folklore and culture, it also reflects the historical suffering of Native American communities and the modern-day strife they yet endure.
Washington Independent Review of Books
The novel False Light is presented as “a thrilling tale of revenge,” but it turns out to be a lighthearted romp featuring the first-person narrative of a protagonist who suffers from TICU — “Things I Can’t Use.” He is old-fashioned in every respect. Anything faintly technological (like, say, a cellphone) baffles him. He is a classic comical buffoon. His name is Sandy Petty, called Fuse by his friends.
Character assassination ruins the little people too
Character assassination, sometimes referred to as cancel culture, is not some harmless meme that only levels the mighty. It is a weapon deployed toward strategic ends, sometimes worthy and sometimes monstrous. Nor is there any sanction for destroying a target under shaky pretenses. The reasoning is that, in the end, it’s all for a greater good.
Why fake news is here to stay
ANALYSIS/OPINION: Despite Donald Trump’s impending departure from the White House, “fake news,” as both a slogan and a phenomenon, is here to stay. When it comes to fake news, human beings have been particularly addicted to the narratives of character assassination from time immemorial. The future of reputation assaults will be the distant past — the informational viruses of inquisitions and witch hunts that tap into pre-existing fears that spread without intervention from referees.
Ronald Reagan and the press: Adversaries vs. enemies
ANALYSIS/OPINION: The Showtime documentary series, “The Reagans,” makes the preposterous suggestion that media bosses, deep in the hypnotic thrall of White House spin doctors, either worshipped Ronald Reagan or ordered their minions to cover him favorably. Some of us who spent time in Reagan’s White House and Reagan political organizations have very different memories.
Companies pushing their brand during the protests are out of touch
Business Insider Corporations have been speaking out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the death of George Floyd. But civil unrest is not an opportunity to promote your brand or try and push your products. Eric Dezenhall is the CEO of Dezenhall Resources. This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Covid-19 Demands Corporate Experts Unbound by Modern PR Fetishes
A client at a chemical company years ago told me he knew it was time to retire when, after a dangerous spill, the CEO called him and said, “Get up here, Harry, we’ve got a big PR problem.” Prior to that call, Harry said crisis management was about evacuating endangered people and cleaning up the mess. Public relations came later. Harry looked like Wilford Brimley after a bar fight.
How Robert De Niro Tried to Rescue a Russian Spy
In 1978, veteran CIA case officer—and irreverent thorn in the side of Agency brass—Jack “Cowboy” Platt, orchestrated a meeting with a new KGB arrival in Washington, Lt. Gennady Vasilenko. The two took an immediate liking to one another, and in short time each abandoned their assignments to try to “flip” the other into betraying his country as a spy.
So, Rolling Stone Got it Wrong -- Now What?
The Rolling Stone story about rape at the University of Virginia has been dissected and retracted, but its targets, like other scandal figures, remain bloody, muddy and desperately in search of vindication. I have spent my career with individuals and organizations whose lives and businesses have been destroyed by the allegations made against them. I am hired strictly to defuse reputational crises.
Are Russian Bots Controlling Your Thoughts?
Our present culture doesn’t believe in concepts like the zeitgeist or Occam’s razor; we prefer tangled webs and evil geniuses. This is especially apparent after elections, when candidates’ victories are often laid at the feet of singular wizards with names like Rove, Plouffe and Bannon. And it’s in the best interest of said wizards to wink as if they—rather than fresh candidates with resonant messages and good timing—pulled off the great win. Italian thinkers have a word for this.
Why Crisis PR Faces a Crisis
Specializing in crisis management wasn't always considered as normal as it is today. It was considered a bit offbeat 30 years ago. 1987 was a year that saw a massive stock market crash on Black Monday and the first airing of The Simpsons on The Tracey Ullman Show. Were there enough crises on which to base a business? Wouldn’t clients in crisis just use their existing corporate PR firms? And what was crisis management anyway? Three decades later the specialty finds itself in, well, crisis.
Don’t assume Puerto Rico’s outrage will permanently damage Trump’s reputation
Presidents are often criticized for their handling of natural disasters, but after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma hit Houston and Florida, Donald Trump's administration received very little blame. His luck ran out, however, after Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico. In the aftermaths of Harvey and Irma, the news was replete with visuals of rescue activity, including food distribution and local officials praising the support they were getting from the federal government.
The backlash to Trump’s response to white supremacists is telling
Some might try to delude themselves that the melee in Charlottesville was about something other than race, but in the instantly iconic photo of the maniac's Dodge Challenger plowing through the crowd, an African American man rolling off the trunk after being hit, makes the spectacle of bigotry overwhelm any parsing of the rally's motives and beliefs. Trump's initial response that "many sides" were to blame inflamed liberals and conservatives alike because it violated two deeply held principles.
Scaramucci's out! Another one bounced from the White House clown car
In the 1980s I was a twenty-something aide in the Reagan White House Communications Office and one of the first things I was told was that the communications department must, by its nature, maintain a "passion for anonymity." Whatever youthful egos we may have had, it was made abundantly clear that even Reagan's top aides were servants. "You want to be a rock star, start a band," one of my bosses said in a staff meeting.
Shaking up his communications staff won't solve Trump's biggest problems
The top communications officer at a big chemical company once told me that he knew it was time to quit his job when they had a chemical spill and the CEO called him and said, "Get down here, we have a PR problem." His point was that a chemical spill was an environmental and health disaster first and foremost, not some kind misunderstanding that needed to be addressed with public education or spin.
Here's the one thing United CEO Oscar Munoz should not do
Crisis management is a twenty round fight where you almost always lose the first round. Badly, as United Airlines is learning in the wake of a video showing a passenger with blood oozing from his mouth being forcibly removed from an airplane. The running joke in my office is that you always want to be the second crisis management team because the first crew at bat will likely be fired for botching the job even if it's not their fault.
Will Trump's war on the media actually work? Here's what this crisis-management expert thinks
Trump is preparing his supporters for the avalanche of ongoing investigations about his Russian ties and potential business conflicts. Will these yield an impeachable offense? Who knows, but we can be certain there will be negative optics and atmospherics — black puffs of smoke that may or may not signal anything meaningful, but will certainly make the administration squirm.
Yikes! Most CEOs aren’t prepared for Trump’s guerrilla-style attacks
Complicating matters is how Trump decides which businesses and leaders are naughty or nice: He chooses his targets in part by who and what he sees on TV and what's said about him. Corporate America has no model for dealing with guerrilla-style attacks from the leader of the free world. Businesses make and sell stuff; they are not qualified to be contestants in reality TV. There are a few things corporations need to consider as they puzzle through the Trump phenomenon.
Why Trump can get away with saying anything
The transcript of an interview Donald Trump did with Washington Post reporter Robert O'Harrow in May recently resurfaced on Twitter, revealing that he boasted about making deals where others were hurt by his bankruptcies. "They were great decisions for myself," Trump said in the interview. "I mean, I'm representing me.
We need to give Donald Trump a chance
I believe that every man and woman, no matter their personality, background, or political ideology, deserves a chance. Donald Trump does, too. Too often, Americans base their opinion on politicians before they even have a chance to watch the politician act. Currently, politics in America need a fresh start with open-minded people who can find common ground. It all can start with American voters keeping an open-mind and listening to the most intense opposition.
Trump vs. Clinton: It's a battle of the brands
Meanwhile, Trump is the sum total of his pathological insecurities. He cannot abide criticism from even the most collateral parties and one imagines him wanting to use the nation's intelligence services to track down and punish someone who called him a doody-face in third grade. He flirts with psychosis at the very suggestion by reporters that he may not be a billionaire.
Chipotle is stuck in a 'fiasco vortex'
In recent weeks, Chipotle has endured an E. coli outbreak on the West Coast and novovirus incidents on the East Coast that have reportedly sickened hundreds. These events have been aggravated by the kind of flashy anecdotes that explode in the media and on the Internet, such as the charges that half of the Boston College basketball team got so sick from eating at Chipotle that they lost a big game against Penn State.
Glass Jaw: A Manifesto for Defending Fragile Reputations in an Age of Instant Scandal: Eric Dezenhall: 9781455582976: Amazon.com: Books
In an age when scandal can destroy a company's brand or anyone's reputation in an instant-GLASS JAW is anguide to modern crisis management.In boxing terms, a tough-looking fighter who can't take a punch is said to have a "glass jaw," and so it is these days with targets of controversy. Down the rabbit hole of scandal, the weak are strong and the strong are weak. Just consider this slate of recent reputational body blows: Toyota, Susan G.
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