A Time For Reflection: An Autobiography [VINTAGE 2004] [FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]

As new condition dark gray boards with gold spine lettering contained in an as new condition non price-clipped color photographic dust jacket. Includes Authors' Dedications; About the Authors; Foreword by President Gerald R. Ford dated August 2000; Foreword by George P. Shultz dated August 2000; Postscript by John M. Caher; Acknowledgments by William E. Simon, Jr.; Endnotes and Index. Illustrated with a section of black-and-white photographic plates. "William E. Simon -- quintessential American figure of the American century: Wall Street wunderkind, treasury secretary under Presidents Nixon and Ford, successful entrepreneur, U.S. Olympic Committee president, bestselling author, pioneering philanthropist, and devout Catholic. Simon's insightful and often humorous autobiography, A Time for Reflection, includes a diverse cast of characters whose lives intersected with Simon's: from the president and his advisors at the White House; to the highest realms of the Catholic Church (in particular, Cardinal Egan); to celebrities, such as actress Meryl Streep; and sports figures, like basketball coach Bobby Knight. In A Time for Reflection, Simon offers us some behind-the-scenes glimpses of history being made, including: President Nixon as Simon knew him, both in office and after; How Simon confronted Ronald Reagan during the Republican convention in 1980 to help nix the idea of a co-presidency with Gerald Ford; The tumult of the 1980 Moscow Olympic games, boycotted by the United States, and the 1984 Los Angeles games, boycotted by the Soviet Union; How Simon battled the Arab "oil crisis" as "energy czar" for President Nixon; Simon's fight in the Ford administration against Vice Presient Nelson Rockefeller on how to help a bankrupt New York City; Making the case for freedom with his bestselling books A Time for Truth and A Time for Action. Simon's fascinating life also encompassed sailing adventures -- including conquering the Northwest Passage from Alaska to Greenland and being named king by a group of Fiji islanders -- as well as adventures of the soul: giving away millions to charity; becoming a eucharistic minister; and helping to care for the sick, the poor, and the dying." -- from the inner front and rear jacket flaps. "[Bill Simon's] life story is one that should be read and understood and appreciated by Americans of all walks of life for generations to come -- for in the great defining struggle of the twentieth century, liberty had no greated champion, and freedom had no greater friend, than Bill Simon." -- President Gerald R. Ford. "I am delighted to have this memoir, so full of detail and so full of the real Bill Simon. Like so many other Bill Simon fans, I welcome this opportunity to celebrate the life of this man of many and diverse interests and talents and to learn what I can from the renewed exposure to the life, the views, the battles, and the exhilaration of BIll Simon." -- The Honorable George P. Shultz. "Knowing Bill Simon was a singular grace . Confident, demanding, exact, and intolerant of nonsense -- all of this he certainly was. However, his ability to feel the hurt of his fellow human beings and his irresistible urge to alleviate that hurt made him a truly noble gentleman. I count it a privilege to have been his friend." -- Cardinal Edward M. Egan, Cardinal of New York. "If Bill Simon was on my basketball team, he'd be my captain because of his leadership qualities, because of his determination, because of how responsive he would be to my dictates to him as a player on the floor. I can tell you without reservation that Bill Simon, on my team, is the captain. He is one tough son of a bitch." -- Bobby Knight, basketball coach. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: William E. Simon passed away in June 2000, but his autobiography, written in conjunction with and completed by John M. Caher, is now published for the first time, a testimony to one of the truly impressive Americans of the twentieth century.…