Brookings’ Stephen Hess, Washington’s most influential ‘Bit Player’

By Paul Bedard

Published November 14, 2018 4:56pm ET

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Brookings’ Stephen Hess, Washington’s most influential ‘Bit Player’ — Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., escorts Federal Appeals Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, June 16, 1993 during her nomination to the Supreme Court. Brookings' Stephen Hess helped to win the senator's help to shepherd her nomination. | (Marcy Nighswander/AP)

You’ve seen his name in stories about the White House and media, and on the spines of many influential books. And now Stephen Hess, the well-known Brookings Institution senior fellow emeritus, has finally written his story.

But Bit Player: My Life with Presidents and Ideas vastly underplays the role of the political guru who worked with five presidents and has been the go-to expert for hundreds of reporters.

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Books Brookings Institution History Presidents Richard Nixon Ronald Reagan Ruth Bader Ginsburg