Sample Book Club Discussion Questions
1. How original and unique was the story?
2. What did you already know about Watergate and the Agnew scandal before you read Downstairs at the White House?
3. What new things did you learn?
4. What questions do you still have?
5. Which of the characters (living or dead) would you most like to meet?
6. Which areas of the White House would you like to know more about?
7. What did you think of Don's description of President Nixon? Was it different than you expected?
8. What story (or stories) did you think were the funniest or most surprising?
9. What did you find to be Don's most unusual or intriguing comments about the White House?
10. If you were making a movie of Downstairs at the White House, who would you cast as Don?
11. Do you think that the book properly reflects the world of the early 1970's?
12. If you had been the book's editor, what would you have changed? The length? The cover? Anything?
13. What feelings did the story evoke?
14. What did you think of Don's writing style? Would you read another book he wrote? Why or why not?
15. How do you think you'd have reacted to the celebrities and the aura of the White House if you'd been in Don's shoes?
16. At the end of the book, President Ford appears to summon Don into the Oval Office. What do you think happened?
2. What did you already know about Watergate and the Agnew scandal before you read Downstairs at the White House?
3. What new things did you learn?
4. What questions do you still have?
5. Which of the characters (living or dead) would you most like to meet?
6. Which areas of the White House would you like to know more about?
7. What did you think of Don's description of President Nixon? Was it different than you expected?
8. What story (or stories) did you think were the funniest or most surprising?
9. What did you find to be Don's most unusual or intriguing comments about the White House?
10. If you were making a movie of Downstairs at the White House, who would you cast as Don?
11. Do you think that the book properly reflects the world of the early 1970's?
12. If you had been the book's editor, what would you have changed? The length? The cover? Anything?
13. What feelings did the story evoke?
14. What did you think of Don's writing style? Would you read another book he wrote? Why or why not?
15. How do you think you'd have reacted to the celebrities and the aura of the White House if you'd been in Don's shoes?
16. At the end of the book, President Ford appears to summon Don into the Oval Office. What do you think happened?
