In this one book is collected an amazing store of minutiae about White House life during World War II into early Eisenhower days. The author, for 11 years the naval aide to Presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower, retained an immense bulk of material from those history-packed years. Unfortunately, little of it is of lasting value. Anecdotes abound about Roosevelt's seagoing voyages and his historic meetings with Churchill and Stalin. More stories concern cross country jaunts, White House protocol even to jokes about Roosevelt's dog, Fala. The day the Atom Bomb was dropped is also given special attention. But the book still relies heavily on information such as the menus offered on certain occasions, the personnel involved in serving those meals, the ships, planes and trains the Presidents travelled on, and so on. Personal insights and rare inner views of the workings of White House life seem conspicuously lacking. It is a book which, one would think, only a few Americana fans or collectors of Presidential tidbits would find interesting.