Thomas W. Evans

Thomas W. Evans, a lawyer and avocational politician, has supervised a successful New Hampshire presidential primary and established a national citizens' campaign organization. He has served as adjunct professor of educational administration and board chairman at Columbia University's Teachers College. He was chair of the Reagan administration's national symposium on partnerships in education and counsel to the Points of Light Foundation under George H. W. Bush. His previous books in the field of education include The School in the Home and Mentors: Making a Difference in Our Public Schools.

Evans's skills as a Wall Street litigator equipped him to wade through hundreds of pages of court, senate, and federal agency documents, penetrating the opaque curtain that General Electric drew over much of its operations. Evans's subsequent interviews with former GE employees led him to a cache of key private papers that had never been published and to archives of GE documents (housed not at the company but at a museum) that had not been seen for over half a century. His background in education and politics enabled him to review the evidence, revealing how GE created a conservative political force and the unique manner in which Ronald Reagan was able to master the huge volume of material produced, and to write and deliver his speeches, in the course of GE's efforts to win the hearts and minds of its blue collar workers and their neighbors.