Black Man in the White House is not about a Negro as president. It is a diary by the first Negro to serve as a policy-making presidential aide, during the Eisenhower years 1956-1960. As a political autobiography this is not a stunning book. As a kind of frank, first-hand revelation of the treatment a Negro can expect in high political office, this is just about the only book available. And surprising is the weary toil of trying to live up to what Negroes expect from a Negro in office. In fact, the diary's final effect is one of humiliating triumph. Mr. Morrow's writing is pedestrian but his anecdotes are arresting and many of his comments about the presidency have a good deal of insight. Mr. Morrow's sketches of Sherman Adams, James Haggerty, Nixon and Ike are heatedly loving, not to say tender. He is a man without bitterness for the indignities he necessarily had to accept during his years in office. His book has a double-edged smile, of candor and good grace and -- of less grace. Recommended for most collections.