Loving and Leaving Washington: Reflections on Public Service

2016 | Biography

Middle ground lost John Yochelson was seventeen when he first heard President Kennedy'scall, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can dofor your country." Responding to the call to public service, he had afront-row seat from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s, when thepower game in Washington was played across party lines. Loving andLeaving Washington is his inside account of the lives of public servantsfrom the perspective of a lifelong moderate. The Center for Strategic and International Studies brought Yochelsoninto close contact with such heavyweights as Henry Kissinger andFederal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker; work with the Council onCompetiveness kept him at the center of action. But the rise of bareknuckledpartisanship soured him on DC. In 2001 he left power politicsto fight for a cause that he believed in, launching a San Diego-basednonprofit to increase the participation of women and underrepresentedminorities in science and engineering. Funding realities and familyties, however, drew him back to the Beltway. The bittersweet experience of disengaging and returning to Washingtonprompted Yochelson's candid look at the loss of middle groundin U.S. politics and the decline of public trust in government.

In thisilluminating memoir, he reflects on the current generation's dedicationto their country and considers the rewards, limitations, and uncertainfuture of public service.

John Yochelson (Author)