Matt's Presidential Bios

LA Time article

2006-02-20T09:26:00.000-05:00

Interesting article in today's LA Times about the surge in presidential biographies in recent years. It certainly has been a golden time for people like me. The writer asks several historians and publishers what might be driving this sensation. Some of the reasons are a little speculative to me. I think the bottom line is that history tends to be filled with great stories and great stories will always find a market.

Check it out. It's called The Biographers' Hail to the Chief. I think you might need a password.

Presidents Day - 2006

2006-02-20T08:25:00.000-05:00

Sorry about that. I'm still reading, but descriptions got put on hold for a bit as work and family obligations grew. Since it's President's Day (yet I have to work - grrr), I feel I'd be remiss without an update.

First things first. Lileks is one of my favorite writers on the net and his comments on President's Day are not to be missed.

Now then. An update on the project. I recently finished two books to get to a total of 30 presidents read. That means I have about 7 years to finish the other 13. I think that's manageable. Brief notes.

Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President by Robert J. Raybach. True story. When I was in college, my roommates and I arranged to take a group of ladies on a group date. The time was to be on a Saturday afternoon, so wining and dining didn't really seem to be appropriate. We were struggling for ideas, so I grabbed a Rand McNally and looked for the most bizarre historical landmark I could find. There it was. About an hour away. "Birthplace of President Millard Fillmore." The gameplan was to pack a picnic and go see this landmark, whatever it was. In the meantime, we would get totally geeked up on Millard Fillmore and beguile our dates with an avalanche of useless information. Thus, I learned that Fillmore was a self-made man, that he moved to Buffalo, that he assumed the presidency upon the death of Zachary Taylor, and that he was renominated as his party's candidate.

We get there and the landmark was essentially a sign in the middle of a field. Gathered nearby were some volunteers for a trail race that was being run that day. They were really curious as to what a group of college students would be doing in the middle of a field. When one of our group explained, their leader responded "So you're just having a Millard day?" Pretty much. Good times.

As for Dr. Raybach's book...well, it's Millard Fillmore. What are you going to do? He's one of the nation's more obscure presidents. In office, he tried very hard to arrange a compromise that would head off sectional discord. He succeeded in passing the Compromise of 1850, but history shows that all concerned parties seemed to focus not on what they received in that compromise, but in what they gave up. War was averted, but only for a time.

The most interesting part of the book was about his feud with Thurlow Weed, a newspaper editor and self-styled party boss for the Whigs in New York. Weed and Fillmore had a number of disagreements about patronage in New York politics and Weed used the power of his pen to lacerate Fillmore and his legacy. One of Raybach's theses about Fillmore's decline in history is that the predominant source for so many years was Weed and Weed was less than chartiable in his descriptions of Fillmore. I'm sure that's true, but it's not Fillmore is most charismatic figure even when examined in his own light.

Time and Chance : Gerald Ford's Appointment With History by James Canon. This one was great. Canon was on Ford's staff in the White House, so that's the point of view you're getting, but that's not a problem. Ford's legacy has been that he brought honor and dignity back to the presidency after the scourge of Watergate. Canon spends a good amount of time describing Ford's upbringing and how honesty and integrity became foundations for his public career. Ford is interesting to me since he's probably the last president to assume the office who did not hold it as a major ambition. Every president since him has burned for the office to some degree or another. Ford was ambitious, but for the office of Speaker of the House, not President. He agreed to be Nixon's vice president only after it was clear to him that he would never be speaker.

The book has a lot of information on what was happening in the background as Watergate fell around Nixon and Ford lined up to assume the presidency. Ford walked a difficult line of having to publicly support Nixon and not appear to be staging a coup, but privately preparing for the office. The book is valuable for this information, if nothing else.

Presidential History site

2005-08-12T09:08:00.000-04:00

Stumbled across this today. It's a blog out of George Mason University (right down the street from me) that focuses on presidential history. A new feature today is that the host has invited 15 eminent presidential historians to join him in a group blog. I confess to not being well-acquainted with the totem pole of academic experts in this field, but I do recommend a couple names on the list. Take that for what it's worth.

At first glance, I'm not particularly impressed. I've only read what's on the opening page, but I have two problems. One, there's not much here that's actually interesting. Two, the author seems to be in the camp that believes conservatives are evil. Sigh.

Now, I'll be honest and confess to you that my own politics tend to be in the libertarian/conservative schools and I generally vote Republican, even though I hold my nose at times while doing so. That said, I respect that others have different opinions and appreciate constructive discourse and dialogue. I even find myself admiring a few people in the Democratic camp like Joe Lieberman, who I find to be a decent, honest man.

But in the July 29 post, this author believes that it's a "problem" that "most Americans are conservatives". Maybe I'm misreading him here. If so, disregard all this. But if he's saying what I think he's saying, then I don't have much use for his blog. For one thing, I hate the notion that the other side (whether it's the right or left) doesn't simply disagree with your positions, they are wrong, evil, stupid, etc. Good grief. How patronizing do you really want to be? For another thing, I find that people who insist on viewing history through a certain political prism end up not telling the story very well and producing poor work.

Maybe it's different in academia, but my own view of history as a craft is that the historian should collect, protect, and draw out the stories of who we are as a people---the good and the bad, the sublime and the ridiculous, the beautiful and the ugly. America is a fascinating place and how she came to be so is a fascinating story. It can best be told forcing through a contemporary liberal colander.

Check the link for yourself. I'll plan on viewing it a few more times before I make my final determination on it. If nothing else, it could prove to be a good place for sources for my project and interesting articles for patrons here.

The next generation

2005-07-22T13:39:00.000-04:00

Like any good parent, I try to read a lot to my kids. My older one, Ally, is really into her books. She has several favorites and likes us to read to her all during the day, not just at bedtime. So, when I saw The Story of George Washington at Barnes and Noble...well, I couldn't help myself. I had to get it. It's her first, and hopefully not last, presidential biography. She still likes Toot and Puddle better, but she asks for this one once in awhile and that makes me very happy.

Non-presidential reading

2005-07-15T10:20:00.000-04:00

As noted previously, I'm spending the rest of the summer doing some non-presidential reading. I want to save my book budget for the bios, so I'll be headed to the library quite a bit for material. On this last trip, I came back with 4 things. I've finished two, am almost done with the third, and will probably start the fourth one on Monday.

I was really into the Great Brain series by John Fitzgerald when I was a kid. I don't know anyone else who read them, but I read all of them at least 10 times each. When I think of going to the library as a kid, I think of those books, so while I was there this last time, I grabbed one. Still fun. Looking on Amazon now, I see that there's an 8th volume to the series that I have never heard of before. I won't buy it, but I'll keep an eye out for that one at the library.

Next up: a book I've been wanting to read for quite some time. The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by Julian Rubenstein. This is the story of Atilla Ambrus, a backup goalie for a semi-professional hockey team in Hungary. Ambrus was a terrible goalie, but loved living the fast life. Not seeing much opportunity in post-Communist Hungary, but having a voracious appetite for the fast life, he took to robbing banks. And found that he was pretty good at it. He ended up becoming a modern folk hero and completely embarassing the Budapest police until he was caught. This book is funny, sad, poignant, fun, and educational all at the same time. Ambrus comes off as a flawed, but likable figure.

Currently reading The Numbers Game by Alan Schwartz. I'll post a brief review when I finish.

Benjamin Harrison

2005-07-05T11:10:00.000-04:00

I got fooled on this one. Actually, it's my own fault. I didn't do enough due diligence. I put Benjamin Harrison: Hoosier Statesman by Harry Sievers on my Amazon list, assuming it was a single volume. It's not. It's actually the second of a three (!?) volume set. I only realized this as I opened the book and wondered why Harrison was in his 30's. Rats. I hate when I do that. See, now I'm committed, even though had I known beforehand that this was multi-volume, I would have passed on it for something shorter. I don't intend to pick up the fist volume, but I will eventually get #3 and read that one since vol. 2 leaves off with his election to the presidency. So, this counts for the project, but I consider it unfinished business.

Quick notes. My exasperation at my own sloppiness should not be read as commentary on the book itself. It's well-researched and well-written. Sievers does a great job of describing Harrison in the context of the times. Harrison was a staunch Unionist, serving in the Civil War and rising to the rank of General. He was a fiercely partisan Republican, a waver of the bloody shirt who considered Democrats essentially to be traitors who should never hold government office again. He was a talented lawyer who took on all types of cases and usually won, making himself a wealthy man in the process. He was considered one of the top public speakers of the time and he was often in demand to appear for Republican candidates all over the country.

Can't comment on his presidency since I haven't read that part yet, but I found this book to be an interesting look at an overlooked figure. Harrison strikes me as another man who was quite important during his time, but has faded through the course of history.

Now, I'm taking a few months off from presidents to do some other reading. I'll be looking for some fiction, sports, theology, and adventure reading in the next few months. I welcome any suggestions.

Shelby Foote

2005-06-29T12:30:00.000-04:00

I was saddened to read of the death of Shelby Foote yesterday.

I missed the hoopla over Ken Burns' Civil War series when it originally aired. I was a freshman in college then and wasn't watching much TV. But I saw the entire series on VHS on sale at Costco a few years ago and bought it impulsively. My wife was out of town at the time and so that's what I watched while she was gone. It had a profound impact on my life and the major point of attraction was Foote's series of commentaries. I loved his blending of folksy storytelling with intimate knowledge of the facts and personalities. He made figures from the Civil War into real people for me.

I was well into the President project by then, but watching that expanded my history passion from the presidents to the whole of American history. It also moved me into the 19th century for the first time with any seriousness. I grew up in Virginia, near Williamsburg, so had always attached to Revolutionary-era history. Burns' series and specifically, Foote's role in it, shifted me into an era I had never read much about before.

Now, I'm still not the most authoritative Civil War devotee, but I know a lot more than I used to. And the credit for that, in large measure, goes to Shelby Foote. For that, I thank him. Someday I hope to read his anthology on the Civil War. In fact, I've just added it to my wish list on Amazon.

William Henry Harrison

2005-06-16T17:29:00.000-04:00

Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time by Freeman Cleaves. This book is old. Original publishing date is 1939. Yikes. One would think that someone had done research since then, but nope. Well, if they have, I can't find it anywhere.

The elder Harrison is probably most famous for serving the shortest tenure of any president. He was in office for merely a month before he died of pneumonia. He had a pretty interesting life prior to that, though. He joined the military at a young age and managed to make quite a life for himself. He was born into a prosperous family in Virginia, but decided to make his life in the West. He ended up settling in Cincinnati and was the first territorial governor of Indiana. He fought a lot of Indians. A lot of Indians. But he had a very large family and always struggled with money. At the time of his election, he was a court clerk back in Cincinnati. Why the political leadership of the time chose an essentially retired general to run for President isn't explained too well. But it happened.

I think there's probably a more interesting story here than this book tells. But, hey...1939. What are you going to do?

Back to it

2005-06-16T17:23:00.000-04:00

Ok, we're back.

I read the Franklin Pierce book. It's not bad. It doesn't compare to some of the other works I've read, but it's a pretty detailed look at an obscure president. I did note something that bothered me a bit. The books puts a lot of focus on Pierce's role in New Hampshire state politices. That makes me think this was written to fulfil a commission or something of that nature. Frankly, I'm not that interested in that. I would be much more interested in Franklin's view of the national issues. That gets treated here, but not that much. Which is sad, considering there was so much activity during that time with the Texas annexation and the Mexican War, which he served in.

But hey, when it comes to guys like Franklin Pierce, something is better than nothing. This is volume one and leaves off with his election to the White House. The presidential years will come in the next volume.

Interesting note. Pierce's best friend from college was Nathaniel Hawthorne. How cool is that?

Caught up on LBJ

2005-03-01T13:54:00.000-05:00

I finished Volume 3 of Caro's LBJ series a couple weeks ago. It left me exhausted, but satisfied. It won a bunch of prizes and awards, so I don't feel the need for a full review, but suffice to say it a) deserves every honor it received and b) is a worthy successor to his earlier books. I eagerly anticipate Volume 4.

Now, I'm onto Franklin Pierce. I've decided that from this point forward in the project, the next book on the agenda will be whatever president is lowest rated according the rankings I'm working from and happens to be on my shelf. Thus, Pierce now, followed by William Henry Harrison and his grandson Benjamin.

Update on Pierce later this week. I hope. I think.

In the meantime, this should be fun for you audio enthusiasts out there.

Happy President's Day

2005-02-21T09:34:00.000-05:00

On this President's Day, it would be unbecoming not to post. Rather than some boring treatise on the meaning of the day or something like that, I decided to use the occasion to provide an update on the project. A State of the Union, I guess.

How many presidents are you up to?: As of this moment, I have completed biographies for 23 US Presidents. I started Franklin Pierce today, so within two weeks, I'll be at 24.

Wow. That's a lot. What's the goal again? The goal is to complete them all by the time I turn 40 years old. That would be 8 years from now. Of course, I'm giving myself a little grace on that one. I don't expect appropriate books to be available for Mr. Clinton or the younger Mr. Bush. Maaaaaaaaaaaybe the older Bush within the next few years. We'll see.

What's this about anyway? I have always had a fascination with the office of the presidency. I believe it dates back to October 1983. My family and I attended a reenactment of the surrender at Yorktown in honor of the bicentennial of that event. President Reagan was in attendance and we waited for over an hour to get a glimpse of his motorcade. Something about that experience stuck with me and presidents have been something of a hobby ever since.

Would you ever want to be president? Heavens, no. The ceremonial aspects would be very cool and the fact that everyone in the world knows who you are would be pretty good on the ego, I imagine, but politics is not for me. I wouldn't want to have to raise the money. Nor would I be a big fan of everyone criticizing my every action. Things like that cause me to have enormous respect for men who assume the office. It's a heavy burden.

Which one is your favorite? Tough to pick just one. Truman and John Adams by McCullough are pretty obvious. I'm proud of myself for getting all the way through Caro's LBJ series. John Quincy Adams was really good. The one I've come away with the most improved opinion was Jean Edward Smith's Grant. And I'll always have a soft spot for the one that started it all - TR: The Last Romantic by H.W. Brands.

Happy President's Day. I hope you enjoy a couple chapters of your favorite biography sometime today. Since the holiday is basically a morphed version of George Washington's Birthday, perhaps a reading from Ellis' new work would be in order. Whomever you pick, enjoy it.

Help me get an ipod

2005-02-18T09:21:00.000-05:00

Ok, I've seen this offer a few times now and I've also seen people vouch that it's legit. I signed up at a site called freeipods.com. The idea is that you sign up for one of their consumer offers, get five people to do the same, and then they send you a free ipod.

Here's the link that will help me out.

http://www.freeiPods.com/?r=15338712

So that this isn't totally unrelated to presidential biographies, a couple of the offers involved book clubs, so it might be a great way to get your collection in shape.

Oh sure, quote a historian.

2005-02-15T09:34:00.000-05:00

Until this site reaches its fruition and establishes me as THE authority on presidential biographies, major news organizations are going to continue to seek the opinion of actual historians on these matters. It's only a matter of time, of course, but people! We've got to get to work on this.

Previewing the upcoming President's Day holiday (no, I don't get the day off work), USA Today features a quick Q&A with noted Princeton historian James McPherson. He and I actually hold similar opinions, it seems. We both liked McCullough's Truman very much (who didn't?) and we think Grant gets short shift. We also both think Lincoln was THE MAN.

Grr

2005-02-11T16:26:00.000-05:00

Some thoughts on Dallek's JFK book. Good stuff. Shows the extent to which Joseph Kennedy dominated his childrens' lives and wouldn't have let Jack settle for anything less than the White House. But it also shows that JFK was wicked smart (little New England tribute) and was perfectly capable of the job, even if Dad's bucks had to help him in the election. There is a wealth of information about Kennedy's health, and let me say as someone who has occasional stomach troubles, I could understand a little bit of what he was going through. Man, that guy was sick all the time. Doesn't dwell on the assassination very much, so if you're a conspiracy buff, this isn't the book for you.

By the way, for what it's worth, Dallek seems to assume that JFK had lived out his term, he would have pulled the US completely out of Vietnam. I'm not sure I agree.

Now I'm almost done with volume three of the Caro series on Lyndon Johnson. Big book. Really big book. I'm getting bogged down in some of the specific bills going through the Senate, but overall, it's a really good book. I had no idea who Richard Russell was. That led me to think about people who, in their time, among the most important figures in American society, yet all but forgotten today. Mark Hanna would be another one. And maybe Roscoe Conkling.

I'm like Nixon, I keep coming back

2005-01-19T13:55:00.000-05:00

Long delay, which I hate. I apologize to my 5 readers. But I have a good excuse! Honest! My daugher Lexi was born December 31 and I haven't had much computer time since then. I should be back in the groove now, though.

First things first, between my birthday and Christmas, I am awash in new bios. New on my shelf are Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time by Franklin Cleaves, Benjamin Harrison: Hoosier Warrior by Katherine Speirs and Harry J. Sievers, and two books I've mentioned in this space before: American Sphinx by Ellis (Jefferson) and last year's work on Franklin Pierce. That last one is especially meaningful because my sweet wife took the time to track it down and order it for me. To do so, she googled my name and used the link in my blog. That, my friends, is true love.

I finished the Dallek book on Kennedy. I'll have more thoughts on that later. I just started volume 3 of Caro's LBJ series. So far, it is excellent, as I've come to expect.

The best book I've read recently doesn't even involve presidents. Do yourself a favor and find a book called The Big Year by Mark Obmascik. It's the account of three men trying to break the record for most species of birds viewed in a single year. Previous to this, I had basically zero interest in birds, but this book made me want to hang a bird feeder on my deck. It's the story of three mens' separate attempts to see as many birds as possible and the crazy things they have to do to meet their goal. Captivating and funny. I couldn't put it down and I bet you won't be able to do either.

Validation, baby!

2004-12-02T09:50:00.000-05:00

So, I'm watching ESPN this morning about the big story with Jason Giambi admitting steroid use. Linda Cohn is doing a Q&A with Buster Olney, who covered the Yanks for a few years. Olney is standing in front of a bookshelf. Featured prominently on the shelf behind him are two books that I have read. A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan and Lincoln by Donald Herbert David. What they have to do with Giambi taking steroids is beyond me, but I feel pretty smart.

Shopping for that Presidential history fan...

2004-11-24T10:51:00.000-05:00

The holidays are fast approaching (some of us even have a birthday approaching...um, hint). If you need some help with gift advice for the presidential history fan in your family, you've come to the right place.

First of all, I have a wish list on Amazon that would be a useful guide. It contains a bunch of presidential bios and other interesting books. Granted, it's what I'm interested in, but hey, it's my list.

And why yes, I think a Franklin Pierce biography would be a great gift!

We published this a couple months ago, but there is a list on the internet that notes the "best" biography of each president. It needs some updating, but is still a useful guide.

Happy shopping.

Happy Thanksgiving

2004-11-24T10:47:00.000-05:00

Some of you may already know this, but Thanksgiving was first suggested by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. You can read the proclamation here.

41 Years Ago

2004-11-22T17:09:00.000-05:00

On this date, 41 years ago, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. I hadn't realized the timing when I started Robert Dallek's book about him, but now I'm really glad things worked out that way.

I started the book on Friday and my early verdict is that I think this book could end up being among the more enjoyable of the project. It is amazingly well-researched. It's as if Dallek lived in the Kennedy presidential library, using sources such as letters, personal papers, academic transcripts and interviews. And while Dallek seems favorably disposed toward Kennedy, he gives the whole man, shedding new light on the full extent of the president's medical history and his unfathomable penchant for womanizing. It's caused me to think about how I view historical figures.

On the one hand, Kennedy's gifts are undeniable. Few men have ever held the office who knew how to handle the reins of power with such skill. He had an incredible capacity to assemble and process information and then move into potential solutions. On the other hand, much of his public life was a lie. Rather than the fit, active, family man his handlers portrayed him to be, he was a desperately feeble sexual compulsive.

Of course, part of Kennedy's mystique is that he died so young and his unfulfilled promise hangs over so much of the troubles of the 1960s, particularly on Vietnam. It will be interesting to see how the author handles some of those issues.

Not about the Benjamin anymore

2004-11-18T11:22:00.000-05:00

Ok, I finished the Ben Franklin book. Very solid. And I can't say this about very many books, but this book actually taught me a few things that I never knew before.

I knew Franklin was a self-made man, but I did not realize to what extent. The guy shows up in Philly with literally nothing in his pocket and turns himself into a genuine rich guy. He always maintained a middle-class existence, but he had some cash in the bank due to an unfathomable work ethic and good financial sense.

He was a whiz bang scientist. I knew about the lightening thing, but I never understood why that was a big deal. Turns out that no one had ever thought about studying lightening and lots of people (a surprising amount) just figured it was the manisfestation of God's wrath. The lightening rod that he invented quickly came into use all around the world. Not so much with the theoretical stuff---Isaac Newton could do that stuff much more so than him--but he was one of the best ever at advancing science with the sole intent of benefiting human existence. Good stuff.

He spent the bulk of the Revolutionary period overseas. Franklin was the colonies' representative in Britain trying to avert the Revolutionary War and then spent most of the war in France trying to secure an alliance.

Issacson uses a great device in this book. He divides the chapters by time period, which makes sense, of course. But within each chapter, he has sort of sub-chapters describing Franklin's relationships or specific events. It's a good way to organize the book and avoids the confusing situation of jumping back and forth between scenarios. It makes for a great flow and easy reading.

Next up is Robert Dallek's JFK book. I'll provide a little more commentary when I get into it a little bit. I hope to finish it by the end of this year.

Election thoughts

2004-11-05T13:26:00.000-05:00

I don't get into personal politics very much in this space. I certainly have thoughts and opinions, but I can't articulate them any better than others out there, so my general feeling is that my rantings would just be noise. Plus, my sincere hope with this space is to build something of a community of people interested in presidential scholarship and biography without regard to politics.

That said, let me declare this: I voted for Bush. I'm glad he won. I'm sure those that voted for the other guy feel bad. I don't necessarily blame them, but this is way, way out of line. Unfortunately, the tone and content of this article are consistent with much that I have read and heard in conversation this week.

So, to this writer and others, I must say the following.

I am not stupid.

I am not ignorant.

I am not lazy.

I am not a NASCAR-lovin', beer-swillin' redneck. (Though I know my share and usually enjoy their company.)

I am not naive.

I am not racist.

No, friends, I am just as educated, intelligent, sophisticated, well-traveled, and well-cultured as you. I voted for the candidate I believed would do a better job. He happened to win. The name-calling and psycho-babble spewing from your ranks is not serving you. You'd be better off to note lessons, pick a better candidate, and try again in four years. Good luck.

It's Election Day!

2004-11-02T09:54:00.000-05:00

I love voting. I got up early and was at my polling place when it opened. I had to wait about a half hour. Anyone who got there later than me will probably have to wait an hour or so. I wouldn't mind waiting. I'd wait all day, except that I have other things to do. I get jazzed about exercising my rights.

The Post magazine had an article this weekend about non-voters. I wouldn't call it a must-read, but some may find it interesting. It is, however, very long.

The article got me to thinking about why I should vote. I came up with a few reasons. I don't believe these are necessarily universally compelling. That is to say, I don't think these are why anyone else should vote. They are simply why I vote.

First, for good or for bad, it's our system and it doesn't work if we don't vote. My feeling is that if you don't vote, you can't gripe. And I want to be able to gripe.

Second, so many brave men and women through our history have paid the ultimate sacrifice to secure this right for me. If nothing else, I vote in honor of them.

Third, many people around the world right now are paying the ultimate sacrifice to secure this right for themselves in places like Burma, the Middle East, and Africa. I vote to salute their courage.

My favorite Election Day story involves Harry Truman. At the end of the 1948 campaign, most observers thought New York Governor Thomas Dewey was a shoo-in. (There's the famous picture of Truman holding up the erroneous Chicago paper with the headline Dewey Defeats Truman.) The night of the election, Truman snuck out of his Missouri home and had the Secret Service drive him to a hotel a few towns over. While his staffers listened anxiously to the results, Truman took a nap. He told his staff to wake him up when the results were final. They finally woke him up at about 2 am to tell him he'd won. In this era of hyper-responsiveness to polling data and instant info, I love the thought of Truman taking a nap. To me, that shows a level-headedness that is unthinkable in today's political climate.

So, everybody. Go vote. And then take a nap.

G Dub is all the rage

2004-10-26T10:57:00.000-04:00

Readers will be aware that I recently finished James Flexner's George Washington and enjoyed it. Now comes a new Washington bio from the famous (and infamous, but that's another story) Joseph Ellis.

Ellis is the critically accaimled author of American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson (which I plan to read for this project) and Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation (which I read last year---it's outstanding). Though Ellis has gotten into some hot water for embellishing certain aspects of his personal history, his scholarship has never been called into question; thus I feel confident in reading and recommending his work.

The title of this one is His Excellency: George Washington. From the editorial desciption, I see two things: one I like, the other gives me pause.

The aspect I like is that this book seems to be drawn primarily from Washington's personal papers and letters. This has the appeal of telling Washington's story from his own point of view, which is an aspect missing in much of the other Washington research. Because of G Dub's iconic stature, discussions of him often seem to be focused on how respected and admired he was. This is important, but it would also be valuable to have an understanding of how Washington viewed himself and the events of his time, so many of which he played a large part in driving.

The aspect that concerns me is the language around the idea of "clarifying" Washington or "setting the record straight". Many such books have already been written and Ellis' talent would be wasted on such a work. In my view, Washington's life and work is compelling in and of itself and needs no such defense. I hope the book doesn't spend too much time on this.

Ben Franklin update: I continue to read and enjoy the Walter Isaccson book. Unfortunately, with travel, the baseball playoffs, and running a ten-miler this weekend, I haven't had much time for leisure reading lately. After today, when I finish the Sports Illustrated NBA preview, I should be able to dive back in. I continue to press toward the goal of finishing this book and one more president (probably Madison) before the end of the year.

It's all about the Benjamins

2004-10-04T17:21:00.000-04:00

This weekend, I finished Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde. Like I said before, I can't really explain the books--they're just too bizarre. But I love them and this one was probably my favorite so far. I can't wait to see what Thursday Next's next adventure is.

Now, I'm going back to biography, but not a president right now. Instead, I'm reading Walter Isaacon's Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. I've been looking forward to this for awhile. Franklin, Winston Churchill, and George Marshall are the primary non-presidents I've wanted to read about, so this knocks out one of those three. I'm not sure how long it will take me. It's pretty thick and with the baseball playoffs, the NFL in full swing, an active toddler, and a pregnant wife, I don't have very much home time for reading these days. So, if you see me on the Metro, I'll probably have my nose in this. Sorry if I don't say hi.

Grover Cleveland and Jeopardy!

2004-09-24T13:44:00.000-04:00

Before a certain software engineer in Utah showed up, my friend Tom Walsh was the all-time Jeopardy! champion. He's back in action this week as he competes on the show's Tournament of Champions. Incidentally, he's blogging the experience over at www.criticalcondition.org, so go check him out. Besides being wicked smart, he's really funny and a good guy. He gets mad props from me for using the bulk of his J! winnings to address the problems of suffering people in Burma. Shout out to T-Bone!

This week, the Final Jeopardy question involved good old Grover Cleveland, the only president to serve non-consecutive terms. I forget the exact wording, but it involved the fact this his wife lived for another 40 years and married an engineer or something. Tom got the answer right, which cinched the game for him and allowed him to progress to the next round. To celebrate, I'll summarize An Honest President : The Life and Presidencies of Grover Cleveland by H.P. Jeffers.

Truthfully, it's been awhile since I read this one, so my grasp of it isn't as good as it should be. It was an impulse buy at Costco. Since I couldn't imagine there being that many books about Cleveland, I grabbed the first one I saw. I've come to discover that there are several other books about this president. Had I taken the time to research him more diligently, I probably would have selected another work.

I do remember that he wasn't particularly fond of the White House itself. He preferred to spend time at a private residence in what's now known as Cleveland Park (near Rock Creek Park). He was mayor of Buffalo, NY and Governor of NY for a short time before being tapped as the Democratic nominee. In winning, he became the first Democrat elected President since James Buchanan.

During the campaign, it came out that he had fathered an illegitimate child. Jeffers casts some doubt as to whether or not Cleveland was the actual father of the child in question, but Cleveland never shyed away from the topic and provided financial support throughout the child's life.

Cleveland ended up marrying a much younger woman and their daughter Ruth was the first child born to a sitting President. It was this occasion that inspired the creation of what we know as the Baby Ruth candy bar.

Overall, the book is really nothing special. Jeffers is a competent enough researcher and writer. He obviously admires the subject, though Cleveland doesn't seem to have had a particularly interesting personality. Good old Grover does have some historical quirks to him, so he's worth reading about. The book was published not long after the Monica Lewinsky story became public, so there are a few cheap shots about President Clinton. They're lame. Gloss over those.

While there might be better books on him than this, you're not cheating yourself to read this book. How's that for a ringing endorsement? Not one of my favorites, but not a waste of time either.

Odds and ends

2004-09-21T16:54:00.000-04:00

I finished Harry Potter and now I'm on to Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde. I couldn't even begin to explain the premise of these books to you. Suffice to say it includes living inside books, time travel, registered stalkers, pet dodos, and some of the wittiest dialogue I have ever read. As I've said before, I don't read a ton of fiction, but Fforde's books are fantastic.

The Washington Post reviewed two new Ulysses Grant books this past weekend. I've already crossed Grant off my list with Jean Edward Smith's excellent book, but if you're a Grant fan, one or both of these may be worth a look. One of them seems to be part of Arthur Scheslinger's series called the American Presidents. I haven't read any of these, but for some of the more obscure presidents, I may end up having to. If anyone has read one (I think John Dean did the one for Harding), I'd love to know your thoughts. Feel free to post in the comments.

And last but not least, I picked up Dallek's JFK book in paperback this weekend. So, if you were thinking about getting that for me for Christmas, sorry. I had a gift card and it was on sale. Had to to do it.

Finished!

2004-09-08T13:26:00.000-04:00

I finished the Flexner book last night. Most of the final third of the book discusses Washington's efforts to safeguard US neutrality in the war between France and Britain. One of the casulties of his work here was his friendship with Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was convinced that by not supporting France, Washington was harboring ambitions to bring about British style monarchy in the US. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Jefferson was brilliant of course, but he could be very wrong about things and when he was, he was usually spectacularly so. I'll deal more with Jefferson when I get around to his bio, but suffice to say, if GDub hadn't been an elderly man by this time, he would have ridden his horse down to Monticello and beat the crap out of TJ. And TJ would have deserved it.

This book has a very odd ending. The final chapter is about Washington's death, as one might expect. And then, that's it. Literally the last paragraph describes the moment he dies and then the book ends. There's no summary chapter. No indication of how the nation reacted. No narrative about what happened to his family or property. He dies. Book ends. That's it. It struck me as odd and even wrong. Most of the other bios I've read note the nation's reaction to the president's death and at least try to describe whatever legacy the man happened to leave behind. Not this one. I think the book could have used such a device. After all, Washington only happens to be the most important figure in American history.

So, now we're onto the next book. Or books, I should say. I'm not a huge fiction reader, but I do enjoy the Harry Potter series. I'm re-reading book 5 right now. When I finish that, I intend to read the latest offering in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. These books are really sharp and witty and are very quick to read. Loads of fun. Can't wait to get started.

Update on Pierce Book

2004-08-27T10:23:00.000-04:00

I did some looking around and the only place I can find to get the new Pierce book is from the publisher itself, which is NH Booksellers. I emailed them to see if anyone in the Washington area was carrying it. I got a very nice response that said no. However, they do say they can get the author to sign a copy for me, which is very good. I intend to order the book soon. I'd like to try and arrange a blog interview with the author soon after I read it.

Nothing to report on the Washington book. I've made some more progress and expect to finish next week. However, I haven't covered any material that stimulated enough thought to comment on here.

What did G Dub look like?

2004-08-24T11:37:00.000-04:00

Ok, I have to admit this strikes me as a little odd, but I'm such a sucker, I will check it out. According to this story on CNN, researchers are using hair samples, clothing, and first-hand descriptions to try and produce a replica of George Washington. There will be three versions: one as a young surveyor, one as Commander-in-Chief during the Revolution, and the third as President. Once complete, they will be taken on a tour of the US. Very strange, but I have to admit I will go see it when it debuts at Mt. Vernon.

Speaking of Washington, I'm about halfway through the Flexner book. At this point, I am well into Washington's presidency. The author does an outstanding job of recounting the political controversies of the time and Washington's thoughts on them. The emerging rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson is masterfully described and put in context. Not only does Flexner establish why the dispute was important in the 1790's, he draws a compelling line between those contrasting worldviews that confluences several decades later in the Civil War. Moreover, without the author quite saying it, the reader gets the impression that Washington knew exactly where all this would lead and desperately tried to get in front of the issue. I'll have to read a bit further before I can flesh thought out anymore.

Big news! New Franklin Pierce book!

2004-08-23T15:05:00.000-04:00

Ok, so maybe it's not big that a deal to you. It doesn't seem to be to Amazon or Barnes & Noble. But today's Washington Post does describe a brand spanking new biography of Franklin Pierce that just got published. And if I can ever find it, I plan to buy a copy and read it. So, in answer to the Robert Caro aid who asked me what I was going to read for Franklin Pierce, I have an answer!

The book is called Franklin Pierce: New Hampshire's Favorite Son and it's written by Peter Wallner, a former history teacher. It's published by an independent house and I can't find a place to order it online. Good lord, do I actually have to go to a bookstore for this one? I can't even find the article on the Wash Post website, so I did a Google search and came up with this.

This work covers Pierce's life right up until he assumes office. Wallner is working on a second book about Pierce's presidency. From what I can tell, it seems like an interesting read and I'm eager to secure a copy. If you see it in a bookstore near you, let me know.

G Dub as military man

2004-08-20T11:05:00.000-04:00

In my reading, Washington has come to end of his service as Commander-in-Chief and has returned to private life at Mt. Vernon. So far, I think the strongest parts of the book are the glimpses into Washington's private life. He loved being a farmer and enjoyed hosting the many guests who stopped in to see him.

But I'm slightly bothered by one aspect of the book so far. It seems to give Washington short shift as a military leader. According to the author, the French basically planned and organized every aspect of the Yorktown campaign. I grew up near Yorktown and actually know a bit about that battle. I've never heard anyone say it should be chalked up to the French. Maybe I've just been reading the wrong sources so far. I'll have to check some other writings and see what they say. While I don't think any military historian would confuse Washington with Napoleon, I do believe he deserves a little more credit as a field general than he's given in this book.

One thing the book emphasizes well is Washington's strong belief that war was as much a civilian experience as a military one. Somewhat in the spirit of Moneyball, he saw the need to strategize for victory over a superior force with more resources. Washington saw that a series of straight-up battles would mean a short Revolution. The Continental Army had little hope against the best force in the world at the time. But GW understood that if he could win just enough to keep public opinion in the colonies strong, eventually the British would have to withdraw. He saw military victory primarily as a flashpoint for civilian resistance. He was right and it changed the world.

That's actually a point that I'm not sure our current president understands well enough. (To be fair, I'm not convinced his opponent understands it very well either.) Though there's no question that the United States' military achievements in Iraq are impressive, public support has dwindled to the point that it's sometimes hard to remember what all this is supposed to be for. I was stunned yesterday to read comments critical of the president from members of the Iraqi soccer team.

These are people that suffered brutal treatment under a criminally insane leader until just a year ago. If anyone should feel liberated and grateful for new freedom, it is this group of people. The fact that they don't cannot be seen as anything less than a failure of leadership on the part of George W. Bush.

G Dub!

2004-08-06T14:43:00.000-04:00

I started Washington: The Indispensable Man James Thomas Flexner earlier this week. So far, so good. Much better than John Paul Jones. Flexner's book fits exactly into my criteria: it's a single volume, it's readable, and it treats the subject well without building him up to be something he's not (I'm looking at you, Herbert Hoover.)

I'll post some thoughts as we go. I imagine most of them will be along the lines of "I did not know ____". For example, I did not know that Washington had the hots for Sally Fairfax in quite the way he did. I had known of her, but figured she just faded from the picture as he went about defining the country. Turns out, he was majorly into her and she never really requited in the same way. It was only four months after finally giving up on Sally that GDub married Martha. It seems like eventually he ended up being very, very happy with his choice, but to hear that the great George Washington had some serious love problems was something I'd never really heard before.

Two great articles

2004-08-03T13:13:00.000-04:00

I don't usually do links like these, but these are too good to pass up. There are two spectacular stories on the web today that merit sending along.

The first is on the Sports Illustrated site. It's about possibly the strangest bit of fandom I've ever heard of. This guy sounds seriously nuts. But I like him and if I were on the tennis tour, I bet we would be friends. He'd be my "yeah, he's weird, but he's really nice and fun to have around" friend.

The other article is very, very long, but totally engrossing. A man in London started listening to shortwave radio and became captivated by random stations that just carried recitations of numbers. He turned the experience into an album. Incidentally, if you're a fan of the band Wilco, there's a section that will be of great interest to you.

Ending Radio Silence

2004-07-28T14:32:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of communication here. That is, assuming you missed me. The silence is only because I haven't been reading anything that I truly thought worthy to comment upon. I re-read Moneyball by Michael Lewis. Tons of have been written about that book elsewhere, so I didn't feel compelled to add any thoughts of my own.

Right now, I'm reading Dare to Discipline by James Dobson. My daughter is definitely starting to have a will of her own, so I think it's best to get out in front with the parenting thing. This one's not too long, so I expect to start a president next Monday.

I got two votes. One for Madison. One for Washington. I'm going to go for Washington only because it's shorter. Not sure I'm ready to lug around Madison just yet. Once I get started, I'll provide the full scoop.

Living in Washington

2004-07-15T09:09:00.000-04:00

Lileks is a daily read for me. I think he's just flat-out the best writer on the web. Plus, he captures and articulates a lot of my own political sensibilities. He has a line today that made me think about the fact that I live where I do.

"It's odd, but it's true: I never felt more disconnected from this nation than when I lived in its capital."

I do like living in this area (and will even more so if Bud sends us the Expos), but I am a somewhat rare creature in that I live here without any connection to government or politics. That's not as rare as it used to be, but I think when you ask most people why they live here, you'll get some response along the lines of "this is where it all happens." "It", I think, usually relates to the government and/or the political process.

Yet increasingly, I'm seeing that we have the wrong "it". Yes, the seat of government is here and yes, that is very cool in a lot of ways. But when it comes down to it, a lot of what government does is boring. And the people who really, I mean really, make a difference don't live here. They live out in the rest of the country. Government is not what makes this country great. People are what makes this country great. And the vast majority of them, go figure, don't live in Washington, DC.

There's still time.

2004-07-15T09:05:00.000-04:00

You still have time to help me pick my next read. Yes, it's lame that I'm asking an unseen group of people to help me select a book to read. Be a man! Pick your darn book! It's still sort of fun, though. As a reminder, here are your choices.

Washington
Madison
LBJ (third volume)
Nixon
Ben Franklin (yes, I know he wasn't a president)

In the meantime, I'm enjoying a couple magazines that arrived this week and browsing through Moneyball again.

Next on the reading docket

2004-07-14T09:25:00.000-04:00

I like Evan Thomas. I admire that he admitted publicly that many in the media are rooting for John Kerry. I'm not sure exactly how true that is, but it's nice to see a media type not running away from the "bias" issue. Thomas is a consistently sane voice one of the local talking head shows here in Washington. Last year, he published a biography of John Paul Jones. My parents gave me a signed copy of it for Christmas. I was pretty excited. I wanted to like it. I don't. Sorry Evan.

Maybe it's just bad timing on my part, but I have had a hard time getting into this one. Jones seems like an interesting figure, but he's buried in a nautical dictionary here. I got tired of flipping back to the nautical dictionary in front of the index to know what in the world the author was talking about. I'm about a quarter of the way through, but I think I'm going to put it aside for awhile.

So, I need to pick something else to read. I do have a couple presidents on the shelf and it's been a few months since I finished the last one. The ones I'm most interested in staring now are Nixon, Washington, Madison, or the third Caro book on LBJ. I also have Walter Isaacson's book on Ben Franklin.

I'll let you help me pick. Leave a vote in the comments section and at the end of the week, I'll make a final selection considering all your suggestions. Of course, I reserve the right to make the final selection myself, but any input is welcome.

A Great List

2004-07-09T10:46:00.000-04:00

An anonymous poster put this deep in the comments section. I decided to pull it out for general consumption.

Scanning the list, I've read a great number of these. Nice to see my taste is validated. Heh. As the poster notes, this list pre-dates McCullough's John Adams, which would probably become the text of choice for that president.

Other quick notes. I stand by Jean Edward Smith's Grant book. I haven't read the one mentioned here, so I'm not disparaging that one. It's just I was immensely satisfied by Smith's work.

No Robert Caro mention for LBJ? This list cites Robert Dallek, whose book on Kennedy I plan to read. My guess is that Dallek is good, but it's hard for me to believe his books beat out Caro's.

Chester Arthur

2004-06-30T09:26:00.000-04:00

Good old Chester was one of those that I read because I had to for the project. I didn't know anything about him and didn't expect him to be particularly compelling.

I was surprised at how much I liked him after reading Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester Alan Arthur by Thomas C. Reeves. Arthur wasn't anywhere near as dynamic as someone like Theodore Roosevelt, but he does have a pretty interesting story.

Arthur rose to prominence in the New York Republican machine of Roscoe Conkling. Through connection, he got the job as Collector for the Port of New York, which was essentially the fourth most important government job in the latter half of the 18th century. By having the post, Arthur had control of a large number of federal jobs and saw to it that the people who got those jobs were Republican supporters and donors. It's hard to say it was corruption because there was no secret about how things worked. It definitely was not a meritocracy. Toward the end of the Hayes administration, a few people raised a fuss about Civil Service reform and Arthur was essentially handed to them on a civil platter.

Imagine Arthur's surprise at the next presidential election when he was picked to be James Garfield's running mate. His benefactor Conkling was locked in a power struggle with other Republican factions and demanded that he reject the nomination. Arthur refused, stating that he had never dreamed of being honored in such a way and he intended to take the job.

A few months after assuming office, Garfield was assassinated and Chester Alan Arthur found himself assuming the office of President of the United States. There is no more accidental president in the history of our country. Many were justifiably concerned that the great patronage dispenser would now set up shop in the White House and continue the practice on an unforeseen scale. Arthur fooled them. He became an eager champion of Civil Service reform and ensured the passage of the Pendleton Act, which forbade assessments against government workers.

In addition, Arthur was something of a visionary for US military power. He was horrified at the state of the US Navy and oversaw the construction of a new fleet. He intervened in a British attempt to tighten control of the Virgin Islands and even considered adding the islands as a new state.

At the end of his term in 1884, Arthur was not renominated by the Republicans. Though he wished to be re-elected, he was actually somewhat relieved as he had been suffering a fatal kidney disease for years. Two years later, he passed away.

Arthur's tenure is best summed by publisher Alexander K. McClure who stated, "No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted, and no one ever retired ... more generally respected."

Cool article in Time

2004-06-28T16:58:00.000-04:00

We'll get back into the swing of some bios this week. But first, this helpful service.

Time seems to have a cool article about Thomas Jefferson in this week's issue. You have to be a subscriber to view the whole thing online. I'm not, and I don't like to buy magazines unless I'm traveling. I guess I'll have to schedule a doctor's appointment so I can read the article. Or maybe my barber carries Time.

I'm saving Jefferson for last in the project. My father-in-law has almost all of the Dumas Malone set. The tentative plan is to start reading those about 8 years from now. If anyone has read them and can comment, that would be great. I know there are plenty of Jefferson bios out there. I want to make sure I read the best one.

Great blog to check out

2004-06-25T09:46:00.000-04:00

My friend Andy is the smartest person I know and the best writer. He usually has a keen and funny perspective on things. He's decided to blog the 2004 election, using the candidates blogs themselves as his anchor.

He calls it the Indie Voter and I bet it will consistently be worth checking out in the next few months. Stop by and say hi.

Completely Random Post

2004-06-25T09:41:00.000-04:00

They're going to make a movie out of Speed Racer? Wow. That was my favorite cartoon when I was a kid. The MACH 5. Trixie. Racer X. All very cool stuff to an 8 year old. When I was in college, some cable station aired re-runs and the episodes made zero sense to me. I have some nostalgic feelings for it, but I can't think this movie is going to be interesting.

All this reminds me of an odd conversation I anticipate having with my kids some day. When I was young, you ran home from school, watched cartoons from 3 to 4 and then went out and played. Do kids still do that? I'm not home on weekdays very often, but it doesn't seem like there are afternoon cartoons anymore. Nor is Saturday morning a big cartoon time. And when I was a kid, if you had told me there'd be a day when you didn't watch cartoons on Saturday, I would not have believed you.

Ok. End of silly old guy rant.

Andrew Johnson

2004-06-23T11:46:00.000-04:00

In honor of Mr. Clinton's book, we'll celebrate the only other president to be impeached: Andrew Johnson.

The book is Andrew Johnson: A Biography by Hans L. Trefousse. It was written well before Clinton's impeachment, so there's no comparison in the book. Actually, come to think of it, a book detailing both impeachments side to side might be interesting. If someone is willing to get me a publisher and make sure my bills are paid for a couple years, I'll go write it. Any takers?

Johnson is one of those figures who is fascinating, yet overlooked in history. He is considered a failed president and rightfully so. But his life makes a pretty good story. Born to a very poor family in North Carolina, he made his way to eastern Tennessee and made a pretty good life for himself. He apprenticed as a tailor (he would make many of his own clothes even during his term in the White House) and then gradually worked his way into politics.

Johnson came to national attention during the Civil War as the only Senator from a seceding state not to vacate his seat. He adamantly opposed secession and was a strong Union supporter. This got him an appointment from Lincoln as the War Governor of Tennessee and later the vice-presidential nomination. His record showed that he was a brilliant orator, but terrible legislator as he had very little political skill beyond winning elections. Ascending to the presidency upon Lincoln's death, Johnson was way over his head, had no political allies and no creativity to work his way out of his dilemma. Yes, his impeachment was largely politically motivated, but Johnson did nothing to help himself avoid it. He did not stand for re-election, but did later return to Washington later as a Senator. How odd it must have been for him to join the body that tried to throw him out of office.

This is an academic biography and it shows. Yet, it's still readable for the casual observer. Trefousse did his homework. The book is well researched, making great use of Johnson's personal papers. The author keeps an objective viewpoint throughout, letting the reader learn about Johnson mostly from the man himself.

Mr. Bill

2004-06-22T10:08:00.000-04:00

Bill Clinton has a book out this week? Really? How come no one told me about this?

In all seriousness, I've stated before that I don't intend to read the book. That still stands. It doesn't fit the criteria for my project, so I'm going to pass on it. Well, OK, truth be told, my curiosity may end up getting the better of me. I have some friends that intend to read it. If they recommend it, maybe I'll try it. But it doesn't count for this project.

I'm already tired of the media blitz. It's like the 90s all over again---the bickering, the posturing, the foaming at the mouth. Washington in the 90s was just plain no fun. For all his shortcomings, I always wondered why the Republicans insisted on setting their phasers on liquidate all the time. It seemed like they could have just let him stir in his own juices. Clinton was always his own worst enemy and nothing anyone could do to him could damage him more than he could damage himself.

I do note that he seems to have a special place in his heart for Ken Starr. The BBC got a nice clip of him launching a couple at the former special prosecutor. Starr and I happen to go to the same church. I've seen him there many times, but we've never met. I do know people that know him fairly well and I'll say this: based on what I know about Ken Starr and what I know about Bill Clinton...I'm with Ken Starr.

If anyone reads the book and wants to post some thoughts, feel free.

Yet another reason not to like Presidential rankings

2004-06-16T09:05:00.000-04:00

Great piece in the Wall Street Journal last week. Presidential rankings are usually conducted by academics. Academics tend to be liberal. Thus, rankings usually skew in favor in favor of left-leaning presidents.

Here's a killer line that I will dedicate to my friend John Vampatella. "The Gipper had done only slightly better in a Siena College survey two years earlier, finishing 20th out of 41...well below Lyndon B. Johnson (13th). It's hard to agree that the president who won the Cold War was less successful than the one who escalated the Vietnam War."

Read the full article. It's great.

Defending FDR

2004-06-15T10:58:00.000-04:00

I've found myself in the unusual position of having to defend the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt lately. In their zeal to celebrate the legacy of President Reagan, some of my friends rated him better than FDR. Now, as I've said before, I don't actually like the practice of rating presidents---it's too subjective and historical context moves presidents up and down the list through the years. Moreover, I don't think you have to denigrate the accomplishments of Roosevelt in order to celebrate Reagan. They were both great presidents for their times.

That said, I think there are solid reasons that FDR shows up so high on most lists of rankings. And though my friends are certainly entitled to their opinions, I believe the ones offered to me thus far are uncompelling.

First quibble-Roosevelt knew he was dying, yet never met with Truman to brief him on post-war plans. Um, OK. I don't have much to say about that except that historically, presidents and vice presidents had almost no relationship. One of the great questions of the vice-presidency when the Constitution was written was "what would this guy do?" Heck, some VP's never even lived in Washington. John Tyler was lazing happily on his plantation in Virginia when William Henry Harrison died and he had to slog up to DC to take the oath. So, maybe FDR should have briefed Truman more, maybe he shouldn't have. All I can say is that, historically speaking, his actions weren't unusual. I would also note that presidents since then have looped their vps in to a much greater degree.

Second quibble-Roosevelt stacked the Court with liberal justices. This one is demonstrably false. A quick glance at justices appointed by FDR and one can see that only one of the 9 justices he appointed would be what most of us consider "liberal." And the justices that normally draw the ire of conservatives for decisions on abortion and school prayer were appointed by Eisenhower and Nixon.

Third quibble-Roosevelt's role in ending the Great Depression is overstated. To this one, I would say maybe, but it depends on what data you look at it. One of the big debates in Roosevelt scholarship is when the Depression should be counted as ending. Some say as early as 1935. Some say not until well into World War II. In my view, whatever date you pick, FDR was president and should be afforded some of the credit. For example, one can see here that Gross Domestic Product started rising in 1934, and except for one slight dip, rose fairly steadily right through to the war. Now, economic production rose dramatically in the 40's, but using some basic economics, I think one could say that at least some level of recovery was in place before the war started. I'm no economist (though my dad is), but I think those numbers mean something and Roosevelt was president at the time.

Moreover, one of the underlying causes of the Depression was the relationship between consumer confidence and investment. FDR insisted on more federal oversight for markets and financial institutions and the resulting consumer confidence in those institutions is one factor that led to the great sustained boom we now enjoy. Simply put, if not for FDR, imagine every company being Enron.

Fourth and final quibble-Roosevelt should have done more to prepare the US for the war. This one is just silly. In 1940, the US had the 18th largest army in the world. Two years later, it had the biggest. And best. Was that a happy accident? I don't think so. And bear in mind, peacetime drafts were illegal until 1940. And oh yeah, Lend-Lease. When we consider that isolation was the overwhelming sentiment of the American people right up until Pearl Harbor, it becomes clear that rather than chastising Roosevelt for not building up fast enough, we should laud him for mobilizing such an impressive force as quickly as he did.

Two interesting op-ed articles

2004-06-14T09:15:00.000-04:00

The Washington Post Outlook section had two interesting articles this weekend. Both support points that I've made in this space lately.

History in the Remaking, by Lewis Gould, makes the point that history often reframes a president's term for us after he leaves office and we have a chance to place his accomplishments and failures in perspective. As evidence he cites the funeral of Warren Harding in 1923. Upon his death, Harding was mourned on a level comparable only with Abraham Lincoln. Yet less than a year later, the full details of his corruption (Teapot Dome scandal) became public and he was forever consigned to the list of presidential failures.

Gould notes that while it may be fitting to celebrate Reagan's life at this time, two items require caution. First, the entire series of funeral events was scripted by his old political team and they clearly want to "make the case for their hero's greatness before a national audience." Also, historical context may give us a different view of Reagan's accomplishments. For example, Reagan's decision to recall US armed forces from Lebanon after the Marine barracks bombing may come to be seen as the Big Bang of our current War on Terror, as terrorists learned that if you hit America hard and inflict a lot of casualties, they will pull away rather than raise stakes in the engagement.

I think Reagan's legacy is pretty safe, but the article raises some interesting points.

The other article of note is All the President's Books by Mark Perry. Its point is pretty simple: most presidential memoirs are boring. The lone exception is Grant (possible note of interest: Perry has a book about Grant). Bill Clinton's book, due to be published later this month, is likely to be added to a long list of presidential memoirs that are light, self-serving, and poorly written. We'll see. I have a couple friends that tell me they intend to read it. I'll see if I can get some of their thoughts and post them here.

RIP

2004-06-11T11:42:00.000-04:00

I never did make it to the Capitol, but I did get to go see the funeral procession. The route happened to pass by just a block from my office, so I took a quick walk over there with some colleagues.

It is a cool and misty day in Washington, but that didn't seem to deter people. The sidewalks were fairly crowded. We had a spot right on the street in front of Starbucks at 20th and Pennsylvania.

The procession came by just after 11. There's a construction site right across from where we were standing. Many of the workers removed their hardhats in tribute.

I got a quick glimpse of the hearse. The whole group sped by at a decent pace. It was a nice moment though and I'm satisfied at my little brush with history. My wife is watching the service at home and she promises to share the details with me. I'll catch the highlights on the news tonight when I get home.

The funeral

2004-06-10T09:14:00.000-04:00

I didn't go down to Constitution Avenue yesterday. I thought about it, but ultimately decided against it. For one thing, it's hot as Hades in Washington right now. Heat index is up near 100 and I'm in work clothes, which are fine for light travel, but wouldn't serve me well standing in sweltering heat. Call me a wuss if you want, but to me, there's no point in going to an event like this if you're going to be miserably uncomfortable.

I did watch on TV when I got home last night. I missed parts of it because I was putting my daughter to bed, but the parts I saw were poignant. The one thought I had was that Reagan was such a master of words---much more so than any of the speakers---and that aspect was missing. I would have had maybe one speaker and then just read some of Reagan's speech's and letters.

I love all the pomp and circumstance. Love it all. Love the caisson. Love the honor guard. Love the 21 gun salute. Well, I don't quite love it all, I guess. I don't really understand the purpose of flyovers. My dad was in the Air Force, so maybe he can explain it to me. Seems like that's a lot of expense for about 5 seconds of tribute.

Anyway, the line at the Capitol to view the casket stood was a four hour wait as of 7 this morning. By now, it's probably up to five hours and will grow. I told my wife that if the wait is less than 3 hours at 5 this afternoon, I would go over. If nothing else, I plan to sneak over to Mass Ave. on Friday and watch the funeral procession drive by on their way to the National Cathedral. That way, I get to sneak a peek at history, but don't have to bake in the heat.

Rankings, Schmankings

2004-06-08T11:57:00.000-04:00

Emailing with some friends and the topic of Reagan's rank in history came up.

I actually don't like the practice of rating the presidents. Kennedy once said that the only people truly qualified to rate presidents were the ones who actually held the office and I suspect he's right. Unless you feel the pressure and know what the true options are, I think it's difficult to sit in judgement. That said, I do keep a few sets of rankings around and consider them from time to time. And common sense tells us that some presidents are better than others.

The latest rankings I have are from 2000 (I don't have the link handy, but I'll see if I can dig it up) and they rate Reagan 11th -- just behind LBJ and ahead of Polk. That's too low. I suspect that he'll rise in stature over the next few years. The publishing of his personal papers a few years ago seemed to give him a nice bump with a lot of scholars. There was some insight there that they felt they hadn't had access to before. I haven't read them yet, but I plan to someday.

The top three are Lincoln, FDR, and Washington, as they are in most polls of this nature. It's pretty much consensus among presidential historians that those are the three most successful presidents in US history. I take no issue with that.

Going up the list, I think Reagan was better than Eisenhower and Kennedy, which pits him up against Jefferson. That's a tough one. I'll consider them tied, but I think both of them are better than Wilson, who sits at 6th in this ranking. Next up is Truman and TR. Hmm. I'd consider them all successful for slightly different reasons.

So, after the top three, I'd put Reagan, Truman, TR and Jefferson as the next best group of presidents. I don't put them in any particular order.

Potentially interesting George Washington book

2004-06-07T13:46:00.000-04:00

I had intended to save this day just for Reagan, but if I don't do this today, I might forget. The Washington Post Magazine over the weekend had an article adapted from an upcoming book by Joel Achenbach. The book is entitled The Grand Idea: George Washington's Potomac and the Race to the West and it covers the period after Washington's leadership in the Continental Army and before he becomes president. The article was really interesting and even pretty funny in places. It discusses an episode soon after the War where Washington had a legal skirmish with some tenants on land he owned in Pennslvania. The article is worth a read and I might even pick up a copy of the book.

Ronald Reagan

2004-06-07T09:11:00.000-04:00

There will be many more astute observations and tributes to Ronald Reagan than I am qualified to offer, but I thought it appropriate to remember him on this day.

President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime by Lou Canon is what I give myself credit for with the President project. Two caveats, though. First, I acquired the book for a course I took in college and have never quite finished the entire thing. Second, my reading actually pre-dates this project. Eventually, I will have to officially finish the book and read the two related works on Reagan that Canon also wrote.

Canon had a long history with Reagan, covering him from his early political days as Governor of California through to the White House. There are few writers with as much opportunity for insight into Reagan as Canon. He is sympathetic to Reagan, but does not shy away from some of the more difficult aspects of Reagan's life and presidency. Reagan is often cited as an enigmatic figure and Canon notes that well. For someone held up as an icon of religious conservatives, Reagan seldom attended church. For someone who harkened a return to "family values", Reagan was often distant from his own children. For someone who espoused fiscal discipline and paring back of government, the federal deficit grew exponentially during his two terms.

For many people of my grandparents' generation, when they think of "the President" their first image is of FDR and rightfully so. For me, when I think of "the President", I think of Ronald Reagan. He was regal, yet seemed to connect with common people. He was idealistic and visionary, yet the most pragmatic president of my lifetime. To me, he is the last great political icon and I don't know that I'll see anyone quite like him for a long time. God bless you, Ronald Reagan. Rest in peace.

What I'm reading now

2004-06-04T09:21:00.000-04:00

For all the talk about presidents, I'm not actually reading about one now. The book I'm reading now is A Bright Shining Lie : John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan. I first encountered the book for a paper I had to write in college. I used the appropriate segments for my research, but never read the rest, even though it seemed interesting. I got my own copy a few years ago, but it sat on my shelf until a few months ago.

The book is both a history of America's involvement in Vietnam and a biography of one of the conflict's significant figures told by a journalist who was there for the formative years. Sheehan was a UPI correspondent in Vietnam for the early years of the war and later became an editor at the New York Times where he would oversee the paper's handling of the Pentagon Papers.

John Paul Vann was a highly decorated Army officer who early on saw that the US style of engagement in Vietnam was totally wrong. He tried everything he could to convince his superiors to try a new way, but failed and resigned seemingly in protest. Later, as a civilian, he would return to Vietnam, but with a different viewpoint, having bought into the fallacies he once railed against.

I've been enjoying the book all along, but yesterday it hit me just how brilliant this book is. Sheehan spends the first few sections treating Vann as a flawed, yet sympathetic figure. On my way home last night, I began to read the passage that explored more deeply Vann's exit from the Army. The man was a sexual predator of the first degree and his indiscretion finally caught up with him. As I read it, I was at once horrified at the behavior I was learning about and impressed at the reaction it brought out in me. Few works have evoked that level of response from me.

Abraham Lincoln

2004-06-03T16:47:00.000-04:00

There are a million bios of Lincoln. And that's not even counting books on the Gettysburg Address or his role in the Civil War or anything like that. The one I picked to read was Lincoln by David Herbert Donald. The sucker won a Pulitzer, so I think it's safe to say it's pretty good. Unless you have something against Pulitzers, which I don't. (Actually, now that I think about it, maybe the book didn't win, but the author won for something else. I'll have to double check. I'll get back to you on that.)

Anyway, folks already know a lot about Lincoln, so I won't spend time here rehashing his history. I would recommend this one for several reasons. First, it's a complete bio in a single volume. Second, it covers Lincoln's childhood and early career extremely well. Third, it is honest about Lincoln's personal challenges. For a man we think of as a giant, it's surprising to read how insecure he could be and how he struggled with lonliness and melancholy.

So, if you only want to read one book about Lincoln, pick this one. Trust me.

John Tyler

2004-06-02T09:23:00.000-04:00

John Tyler was an obscure enough president that I did not expect to find a substantial bio of him to read. Thus, I felt no hesitation to pick up John Tyler: A President of Many Firsts by Jane C. Walker even though it's only 60 pages. I would later find out that a full-fledged bio of Tyler existed entitled John Tyler: Champion of the Old South. Oops.

I may come back around to that some day, but for now, I'm going to count the short one and keep going. I'm on a timeline here, people.

Tyler has maintained a decent profile through the years, thanks to the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too!" that helped get William Henry Harrison elected. Harrison took ill and died only a month into his presidency leaving Tyler to become the first vice president to ascend to the chief executive position. Tyler helped avert something of a constitutional crisis as he insisted that he was then president in his own right and not merely a placeholder until Congress could appoint someone else to the office. He was in a tough position, though, since he agreed to run on the Whig ticket mostly out of expediency. Tyler alienated the Whigs by not going along with their program and couldn't find a home with the Democrats since they felt betrayed. Thus, when his term ended, Tyler went back to Virginia, having not been renominated.

Tyler had a really interesting personal life. His first wife died early in his term. Soon after, Tyler became smitten with a young socialite named Julia Gardner and married her. By the end of his life, Tyler had fathered 15 children, the most of any president. Also of note: at the end of his life, Tyler served in the Confederate Congress. His home, Sherwood Forest, is actually near where I grew up, but I've never visited it. Next time I pass that way, I intend to stop by.

Memorial Day

2004-05-28T09:37:00.000-04:00

My grandfather served as an army medic in World War II and Korea. Like many others of his generation, he kept quiet about his wartime experiences. No one in our family has any idea about his service. He never, and I mean never, talked about it. To get a sense of what that time must have been like for him, I have to turn to works such as Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan.

This weekend marks the opening of the World War II Memorial here in Washington. Security is tight and the crowds are expected to be huge, so it will probably be a few weeks before I get down there to see it. When I do, I'll be looking for my grandfather's name. To say thanks.

But even to say thanks is such an understatement. When I read what these young men went through and when I look at the world and see that so many people enjoy freedom because they answered the call, words don't really express the admiration I have. The Greatest Generation is probably a tired phrase at this point (but good for you Tom Brokaw), but I really am in awe of what those men and women accomplished.

James Monroe

2004-05-27T11:48:00.000-04:00

For what it is, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity by Henry Ammon, is pretty good. It's much more of an academic work than most of the others I've read, but once you get used to that, it's not bad to read. Casual readers looking for something breezy like McCullough's work should probably pass on this one.

Monroe was the fifth president, the fourth from Virginia. He generally receives less coverage than his compatriots, mostly for good reason. Next to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, few men compare favorably. Ammon spends large portions of the work holding Monroe up to his neighbor James Madison (who I haven't read about yet). And going deeper, he shows that both men owe a great deal of their career success to Jefferson, a fact which wasn't lost on TJ as he played the father figure even after both of them had been elected on their own. Of the three Albemarle County residents, Monroe probably stacks up as the most purely political. Jefferson and Madison tended to think in ideals. Monroe tended to think in terms of political expediency.

But Monroe has nothing to be ashamed of, having served as a young officer in the Revolution and demonstrating great competence as a diplomat, Senator, cabinet officer, and governor. In fact, one of the striking things about Monroe is how many different roles he served in the early days of the Republic. Ammon does a good job of describing a man who may have lacked the personal charisma of his peers, but served with just as much dedication and whose contributions were nearly as valuable.

Zachary Taylor

2004-05-26T10:24:00.000-04:00

Oh boy. This one was tough. Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest just doesn't give a reader much to work with. As one reviewer put it, this book is "well-written but not interesting." And that's due to the subject, not the author.

Taylor doesn't seem particularly interesting to begin with, though that's not helped by the fact that most of his papers were destroyed during the Civil War. But even with the material we have for him, he doesn't seem to have much intellectual prowess or curiosity. As a soldier, he had a fairly mediocre career, capped by a remarkable campaign in the Mexican-American War. An interesting note here is that way down the chain of command from Taylor was an officer named Ulysses S. Grant, who was impressed with Taylor's ability to keep supply chains operational. Later, when Grant took command in the Civil War, he made a point to organize his supply groups in the same manner that Taylor did.

The Whig Party was desperate for a nominee in 1848, so they threw Taylor's name in and he accepted and won. He wasn't really prepared for the office and certainly wasn't prepared to deal with Henry Clay, the master politician of the age. He died of natural causes after serving only 16 months.

There was an interesting story about 15 years ago when some historians speculated that Taylor might have been poisoned and thus, would have been the first president to be assassinated. They dug him up and conducted an autopsy that revealed nothing.

Lyndon Johnson

2004-05-25T14:14:00.000-04:00

I usually try to stick to single volumes of any president. That lessens the time commitment and the amount of books I have to buy. But for LBJ, I am reading a series, though the decision to do so came about by accident.

My lovely wife Kristy is a big fan of this project and so, for one of our early gift-giving occasions, she presented with The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent by Robert Caro. I flipped it open, expecting to start reading about Johnson's childhood. I was surprised to be right in the middle of the story. It seems Kristy had picked up volume two of a series without either one of us realizing that. She was willing to take it back, but I told her I would read a little of it first and decide whether or not I liked it. I loved it and have since gotten the other two volumes in the series.

Volume 1, The Path to Power, details Johnson's childhood and early adulthood. What struck me is LBJ's frightening level of ambition. Though he came from a dusty town in the Texas Hill Country, he never doubted that he would be important and set his sights on the White House very early in life. Johnson was also highly insecure and arranged his life so that he controlled everyone in it and they could never betray him. A brutal man in many ways, a master of psychological torture.

Volume 2 primarily relates the story of the hotly contested 1948 Senate campaign, which Johnson narrowly won over former Governor Coke Stephenson. Caro presents a great deal of evidence that the election was probably tampered. My favorite part of the book was actually the background chapters about Stephenson and how he taught himself finance and law by reading mail order textbooks by campfire light.

Volume 3, Master of the Senate, covers Johnson's career in the US Senate, during which he rose to the post of Majority Leader. I haven't read this one yet, so I will refrain comment, but if it's anything like the first two, I'm sure I will enjoy it.

Caro is a master researcher and a gifted, fluid writer. He actually moved to Austin for several years to conduct the research for these books. In addition to poring over Johnson's papers, he has first-hand interviews with most of the important people in Johnson's life. All the hard work pays off.

Final note: I had the pleasure of having Caro sign all three volumes at last year's National Book Festival. I told him about this project and he was intrigued. His handler wanted to know what I had found for Franklin Pierce. The answer: nothing yet, but I will eventually.

This looks interesting

2004-05-24T10:00:00.000-04:00

I got tipped to this book from Instapundit.

Normally, I stay away from books about "Presidential Leadership." Mostly, they all say the same thing and I've found that they're usually partisan screeds. But the list of writers on this one includes many people I respect and who have written extensively about the presidency in general and one or two presidents in depth. In this book, each president is the subject of an essay. Robert Dallek (author of a popular Kennedy bio last year) writing on LBJ piques my interest. And I would read anything that Peggy Noonan writes.

I'm not sure I'll get to this one this year, but if anyone picks this up and has some thoughts, feel free to share here.

Ulysses S. Grant

2004-05-21T08:59:00.000-04:00

I promised you Grant last week and I always try to keep my word, so here you go. With Grant, Hoover, and Garfield this week, that makes three Republicans. I'll have to do some Democrats next week to keep things balanced. ;-)

Alight, let's get to it. Grant by Jean Edward Smith is outstanding. Among its fans is William Jefferson Clinton. I saw him discuss on C-SPAN one evening last year.

Though I got a minor in history at Syracuse, my coursework concentrated primarily on early and 20th century America. I didn't study the 19th century very much and skipped over the Civil War almost entirely. And since I went to high school in Virginia, pretty much all I learned about Grant was that he was a drunk who happened to be on the winning side of the "War Between the States" and later ended up being a corrupt president. Smith, thankfully, set me straight on this.

First, let's not soften the subject -- Grant was not a particular success as president. However, he wasn't the failure that most of us learned he was. He didn't have very good political skills (he was a soldier after all) and tended to lean on the advice of others. His primary flaw was that he usually picked very bad advisors, but he was a man of great courage and integrity and honestly tried to do his best and had more success than he generally gets credit for. Smith relates an event in which Grant learned of a scheme of some acquaintances to corner the gold market and manipulate the price. Grant released enough of the US reserves into the market so that the price maintained stability. Smith says this is the first instance of a US president using government resources to try and manage the economy. That's a practice we take for granted today, but it was highly controversial at the time.

Though Grant has been portrayed in history as an alcoholic, Smith shows that that wasn't the case. Grant had a hard time holding his liquor, so one or two drinks would do him in. But he only ever drank when his wife Julia was away, doing so out of loneliness and boredom. And of course, there's Lincoln's famous line when counseled to fire Grant for drunkenness--"Find out what he's drinking and give it to the other generals." Smith shows that Grant's drinking was exaggerated by segments who wanted to see him dismissed.

Most of the bios I've read have confirmed whatever opinion I had of a president. This one actually changed my mind. I hope a lot of historians read this and it raises Grant's stature. He was a great American and doesn't deserve the shabby treatment he's traditionally been given.

I will miss Austin Bay

2004-05-20T08:59:00.000-04:00

This is not a current events blog and I don't intend for it to become one. There are a multitude of other places on the web that do that and I seldom have anything unique to add to such discussions. From time to time, I may express a thought here, but I suspect I'll only do so as it relates to a book I'm reading or to the presidency as an institution. Never say never, but that's my intent.

That said, let me say here that I have appreciated the work of Austin Bay and I am sad that he will not be writing for the near future. As an army reservist, he is being sent to Iraq to help with the war effort. I found his send-off column to be inspiring.

James Garfield

2004-05-19T09:52:00.000-04:00

The most recent bio I read was Garfield: A Biography by Allan Peskin. This sucker is hard to pull up on Amazon due to all the comic books with that stupid, fat cat! Ugh.

Anyway, the first thing that caught my eye on this was the cover price--40 bucks. Yikes! That's a lot to spend for myself and it's also a lot to ask others to spend for me. But the Lord must have wanted me to read this book. Seriously. Days after I saw this in a store, I got a postcard in the mail from Mercedes-Benz. It offered me $75 in credit to Amazon if I was willing to go test drive one of their new cars. Cha-ching! How I got on Mercedes' mailing list, I will never know. Frankly, there's no way I'll ever purchase one of their cars. But one Saturday, I cruised to my local dealer, showed them the postcard and they stamped it with no questions asked (I didn't take the test drive). A few days later, I got the little gift card and Garfield was dispatched to my home.

The book is a worthy read. It's long, but pretty fun. Garfield was a really interesting guy. He was very religious, experiencing a profound conversion in his teens. Thereafter, he very much saw himself as being in the hand of God. So much so that despite keen political ambition, he never actually declared himself to be a candidate for any office. If the people called, he would accept, but he refused to step forward of his own initiative, believing that if God wanted him to have a certain office, the Almighty would see about making it happen. As noble as that sentiment may seem, Peskin reveals that Garfield actually did quite a bit to help God with that part.

And of course, there is a whole chapter about Garfield's assassination. It's very sad because Garfield was starting to come into his own in the office by the time he was shot. Having achieved the presidency through a complicated series of political deals, Garfield had made some appointments that angered some important bosses in the Republican party. In fact, his assailant claimed that as one of the reasons for taking his life.

Herbert Hoover

2004-05-18T09:50:00.000-04:00

I was actually pretty excited to read Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive by Joan Hoff Wilson. I always heard that Hoover had botched the Great Depression, but I figured that he was probably misunderstood and couldn't be as bad as history made him out to be. After all, he'd been a pretty accomplished engineer at one point. And Stanford named their government school after him. They wouldn't do that for a dud, would they?

Well, yes they would. Hoover was pretty boring. At one point, he was considered the best engineer in the world and he made quite a living at it. He should have stuck with it. Instead, he decided to take his engineering skills into public service, serving 8 years as Secretary of Commerce for Presidents Harding and Coolidge before winning election on his own.

The books goes on and on about Hoover's ideal of an America made up of voluntary response systems. I think the idea was that any problem the country had could be solved by a network of voluntary experts who would mobilize to lend their expertise. Government's role should be to match these volunteers to the need. Or something like that. Frankly, trying to read all that made my head hurt. In any event, things never really worked out the way Hoover envisioned. And when the Depression hit, it blew all those theories out the window for good.

Apparently Hoover kept very little of his personal correspondence and what little there was, he had destroyed. Thus, this book has little insight into Hoover's personal life. It's difficult to get a read on the man himself. He spent many years abroad for his engineering practice, but there are few tales from those adventures. He lived in Washington during all of the Roaring Twenties, but there are no anecdotes.

Alas, Wilson's book seems to be the only single volume work that encompasses Hoover's whole life. There are some books about his response to the Depression, but the only other project that covers his entire life is a multi-volume work by George Nash. When I get to the end of this project, I may considering reading at least one volume of that, though it appears to be out of print.

A couple obvious ones--John Adams and Harry Truman

2004-05-17T10:02:00.000-04:00

Like many other people, I read and enjoyed both John Adams and Truman by David McCullough. In fact, I got copies of each signed by the author the National Book Festival in 2002. Both have won many awards and received stellar reviews, so I have very little new to say about either.

But why should that stop me?

For Adams, I was impressed with the way he countered Jefferson. McCullough has said that the original book was going to be a story of the friendship between those two men, but that he switched it to just Adams. I'd still like to see that first book. Ellis gets to some of that in Founding Brothers, but I suspect there's more to the story.

What struck me about Truman was it was the story of an otherwise ordinary man who happened to become President of the United States and then lived up to the challenge. Truman had very little education and no particular success, but when history called, he answered. Not that he wasn't ambitious; McCullough clearly reveils him to be so. But for someone not born into privilege to acheive his level of success is an incredible story.

No, I'm not reading Bill Clinton's book either

2004-05-14T13:42:00.000-04:00

Several people have asked me if I plan on reading President Clinton's forthcoming memoirs. Nope.

As a rule, I try and stay away from autobiographies. I may make an exception for Grant, even though I've already read about him (more on that next week). Even setting aside Mr. Clinton's normal self-absorption, I've found that it usually takes a third party to give a biography the best treatment.

My guess is that it will be at least 10 years before there's a decent Clinton bio. I look forward to reading it at that point.

The Jimmy Carter book I won't be reading

2004-05-14T09:33:00.000-04:00

At some point, I'll get into how I choose what book to read about a given president. One of the basic criteria is that I try and choose a work where the author is sympathetic to the subject, but can be objective enough to give honest analysis of the man's life and work. In other words, I try to stay away from pure hatchet jobs.

Given that, I think you can understand why I won't be reading this new book about Jimmy Carter.

I'm not a particular fan of Carter. I would tend to agree with this author's basic premise that Carter's contributions as a former president have been overstated. But this one looks to be a little over the top to me. I'm going to pass.

John Quincy Adams

2004-05-13T08:50:00.000-04:00

In the first of what I hope will be many comments and contributions, Jerry (the author of the previously linked Amazon list--thanks Jerry!) mentioned John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life by Paul Nagel. I second his recommendation. This book was one of the highlights of the project so far. Truly excellent.

Quincy has been downplayed in history due to his less than stellar presidency and overshadowed by his father's towering reputation. That's a shame because he was a truly great American. One could argue that being President was the only thing in his life at which he did not excel. As a teenager, he was America's first diplomat to Russia. In his twenties, he joined the faculty at Harvard. Later, as Secretary of State, he fashioned what became the Monroe Doctrine, the dominant force in US foreign policy until the 20th century. Later in his life, he was elected to the House and labored tirelessly to eliminate slavery. He also laid the groundwork for what became the Smithsonian Institution. He even wrote racy poetry to his wife! How cool is that?

My favorite part of the book is the personal anecdotes. Seems good old JQA had some quirks. For one, he liked to go skinny dipping in the Potomac. Once, a reporter caught him on his daily swim and refused to leave until he got an interview. Word quickly spread around town that the President of the United States was buck naked down on the river bank. Bizarre enough in its own time, but can you imagine something like that today?

All in all, a very fun book and well-researched, due in no small part to the massive diary that Adams kept for most of his life. An overlooked figure in history in many ways, but definitely a worthy biography.

At least one list

2004-05-12T17:09:00.000-04:00

If you type "Presidential bios" into google, you get this. It's pretty good, but I hope to improve upon it.

I've read a bunch of the stuff mentioned, but a few are new to me. I'll likely add those to my wish list and pick them up in due time. Amazon's been extremely helpful for this project. I see something I like, wishlist it, and when my birthday comes around, I have another president to check off. Good system.

Anyway, the only problem with this list is that it stops at Andrew Johnson. Maybe there's more and it just got cut off. Boo. Here you'll find more.

First subject: Theodore Roosevelt

2004-05-12T09:54:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned earlier, the first book as part of this project was TR: The Last Romantic by H.W. Brands. I think it's safe to say that if it started all this, I liked it.

Edmund Morris gets lots of pub for his series of bios on TR. I confess I haven't read any of those and don't intend to anytime soon. They receive excellent reviews and he's been awarded many prizes for them, so they must be pretty good. But the whole thing about inserting himself into Reagan's biography still gnaws at me. Not enough to have him tarred and feathered or anything. Just enough so that I don't want to read his books just yet.

Anyway, back to Brands. The author was sympathetic to TR; he obviously admired him very much. There was a great amount of detail to his personal life, which I always like. I really enjoyed the sections about TR going west after his first wife died. I think that experience is one of America's undertold stories. It really shaped how Roosevelt thought not only about himself, but about the country and its role in the world. It solidified his belief in the rugged individual and in bringing that ethic to the rest of the globe.

I was also touched by some of the post-presidency tales. TR initially was a big supporter of WWI, even begging President Wilson to let him form a group of troops and go over himself. But when one of his own sons died, it changed him. He never recovered from the grief.

All in all, an excellent book. It was a breeze to read and made me a big fan of Teddy.

How this got started

2004-05-11T12:08:00.000-04:00

Christmas of 1998, my parents gave me the paperback of TR: The Last Romantic by H.W. Brands. I read it in a week. About a year later, my then-fiancee gave me Truman by David McCullough. That was it. I had so much fun reading those that I decided to read 'em all. And so that I wouldn't let the idea slip away, I gave myself a goal--do 'em all by age 40.

Once I decided to do that, the trick became to find an authoritative list of bios to read. I had taken a Presidential History course at Syracuse, so I emailed my professor to see if she had one. She never wrote back. I cruised through the websites of history departments at major universities. Never found one. Scanned the web. Couldn't find what I was looking for. Thus, I decided that part of the project is not just to read these suckers, but to compile the definitive list.

The list turned into a website. But because I don't have the time to create and manage a site from scratch, we have this bloggy thing. Maybe one day, I'll sit down and design the real site I have in mind. Until then, this will have to do.

And since I'm here, I might as well do some stuff that other blogs do. Expects some links and occasionally some commentary. Mostly, I'm here for the books.

It's all downhill from here

2004-05-11T11:51:00.000-04:00

So, this is the first post. I suppose you have to start with something. I have to go to a meeting in ten minutes, so you won't get much in this one.

I'm Matt and this is my attempt to document and share what has become a fun and important pursuit in my life. I am trying to read a bio of every US president by the time I turn 40 years old. Here you can see what I've read, what I'm reading, my thoughts, opinions, and screeds. I'll share the basic version of how I was inspired to do this and some of the victories and setbacks along the way.

Once in awhile, I'll even throw in some other stuff.