The Advance Man

de Jerry Bruno, Jeff Greenfield

The Advance Man is a memoir-style collection of stores from Jerry Bruno's time working on the presidential campaigns of John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy and in the J.F.K. White House. Bruno was an "advance man," charged with doing the ground work for the events and appearances by the candidate or President. Bruno's job was to make the events look flawless and on-schedule, the crowds look big and happy, and the candidates look popular and prepared -- even if none of those things actually was true. Written with politico-cum-journalist Jeff Greenfield, Bruno uses his experiences to illuminate some of the tricks of the business for advance men (and women) still plying the trade today. He shares some of what Mike Murphy calls "the backstage potion bottle that conjured up much of the remarkable Kennedy campaign magic." He also tells the stories of the assassinations of both Kennedy brothers from a front-row seat advantage. These parts of the book are personal and poignant, yet they still manage to focus on the importance of advance work -- and on the importance of improvising under duress. Finally, toward the end of the book, Bruno makes some prognostications that stand now as relics of an apparently unpredictable era in American politics.