The bulk of his writing describes planning and execution of receptions, ceremonies, and civic projects under his direction. He provides vivid imagery and background information regarding specific events such as ticker-tape parades for American heroes like Lindbergh after the completion of his flight across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris in 1927. Whalen also goes into great detail about the planning and intricacies behind the parades for returning World War II soldiers, most notably General Dwight D. Eisenhower in June 1945. Although Whalen claims that he wrote extensively about those accounts because he thought his readers would find them most interesting, many accounts are a subtle way of documenting his accomplishments over the course of his career. Taking into account Minton's encouragement to write about the transformative societal change of New York during the first quarter of the twentieth century, had Minton been alive to read the published version of Whalen's autobiography, he might have been disappointed. For a man responsible for implementing much of New York City's policies working in the Mayor's office and later as NYPD police commissioner, Whalen offers a limited perspective into the implications of his professional career on the transformative social and cultural change happening within the city.