Consequences: A Personal and Political Memoir

Following his 1985 retirement from the Senate after 23 years, Tower (R.,Tex.) served as chief U.S. negotiator for the Strategic Arms Limitation talks, then chaired the special review board that issued the Tower Report on the Iran- contra affair. In 1989 he was nominated by President Bush to serve as secretary of defense. In this highly charged memoir he relates his four-month-long ordeal before the Armed Services Committee and the bitter debate in the Senate over his fitness to serve. Tower lost the confirmation battle, largely due to the opposition of Senator Sam Nunn (D., Ga.) and others who trusted the accuracy of FBI reports suggesting that Tower was a womanizer with a drinking problem. The book reviews the political crosscurrents affecting Tower's nomination, explores the media's coverage and mounts a convincing defense of Tower's qualifications for the post. Disappointingly, this story of a raw deal fails to provide a clear explanation for the animosity Tower's nomination aroused. Photos. (Feb.)