The Chow Dipper: A Personal and Political Odyssey

The first quarter of Towery's autobiography concerns his experiences in a Japanese POW camp during WWII, where as ``chow dipper,'' his job was to distribute rations. After winning a Pulitzer Prize as a reporter for a small Texas paper, he was offered a position in Washington, D.C., working for Senator John Tower, eventually becoming his chief of staff. During the Nixon and Ford presidencies, Towery served as deputy director for policy and plans at the United States Information Agency; President Reagan appointed him to the board of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Except for his account of his wartime ordeal, Towery's memoir of his commendable public service is disappointingly lackluster. Photos. (Nov.)