President Book list

My path to nerd-dom continues

In a fit of seeking to learn more (and after watching the series The Presidents on the History Channel), I decided to read a biography of every U.S. President. I like learning new things, and this will do it. So, here the list begins with tidbits I picked up from each book.


George Washington.
His Excellency--Joseph J Ellis
This was a fascinating read. Washington was quite an man. He was very tall for that era (6'4") and reputed to be pretty attractive. As a young man, he desired more than anything to move up the social ladder due to his envy of the aristocracy of the Virginia colony. He was born to a regular family and generally, outside of marriage into such, you didn't move up socially. His wife Martha was married to such a man and he died early on. Its hard to say if he married her just for the social status and land she possessed or not, but its obvious he loved her. They never had children of their own (she had 2) and he raised them as his own. Washington was extremely ambitious and joined the Virginia militia in his early 20's. Without going through it all, he wasn't much of an officier early in his career. When the American Revolution began, he was a delegate to the Continental Congress and was later chosen as the commander in chief of the army. Amazingly, Washington is the losingest general in history of any army that won its war. He lost battle after battle, especially early on in the Revolution. Many today try to credit him with setting up this country as a bastion for Christianity, but nothing in his letters suggest that he was anything more than a lipservice sort of Christian. He was far more concerned with freedom and shaking off the tyranny of the British. Much of how the Presidency of today was set by the example that he showed. He refused to be setup as a Monarch (it was offered), he only served 2 terms and he had a hand in the design of Washington, D.C.. Its a longish read, but this is well worth reading for the individual that seeks knowledge of this subject.


John Adams
John Adams by David McCullough
I must say, Adams was a mystery to me going in. Little seems to be known by most, much to their detriment. During the mid to late 1770's, there may not have been a more important member of the Continental Congrss than Adams. Without going into detail, he steered the CC towards Independence and had a major hand in the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Even larger in importance, he spent almost a decade as an ambassador to England, France and Holland. His efforts in Europe led to treaties with 2 of the 3 and secured drastically needed loans from Holland early in the infancy of the new nation. His time as President were not notable in comparison as some of his peers, thus he tends to be overlooked. Prone to personal vanity and singleness of mind on issues, he wasn't particularly beloved in his time by the nation. Not until after his defeat by Jefferson for the Presidency did he receive the due and respect that he dearly sought for himself. An interesting note, both he and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day in the same year, July 4th (on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration). This book was 651 pages long, so unless you really enjoy history.Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson--R.B. BernsteinJefferson is an odd and confusing man. On one hand, he helped usher in perhaps the greatest governmental revolution ever but he was also a contradiction of beliefs. He believed in liberty and freedom for all men, only white men. Not Native Americans, not blacks and not women. It seems he had a tendency to intrigue and dishonesty as well. On top of his overt racism, it appears that he probably fathered several children by one of his slaves. His Presidency was very important in several regards. He doubled the size of our nation with the Louisiana Purchase along with acquiring Florida from the Spanish. But, he also caused some other negatives with some of his policies (a depression and the War of 1812). Though one of our great Presidents, he was pretty flawed but brilliant in the creation of our democracy.

James Madison


James Monroe
James Monroe--Gary Hart
Monroe was the last of the "Virginia Dynasty" Presidents. Not nearly as gifted or intelligent as Madison or Jefferson, he probably had as big or bigger an effect on the Nation as his more famous friends. Monroe is best known for his "Monroe Doctrine" that is still "in effect" today. He can be credited for directing our nation through a perilous time and greatly improved our chances of survival in a dangerous time in world history.


John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams--Robert V. Remini
JQA may have been the most intelligent and best trained/educated President ever. He also may have been one of the worst. The son of John Adams (2nd President), he had the benefit of growing up in Europe and learning multiple languages and studying in some of the best schools. JQA was a very good foreign diplomat while serving in Russia, France, England and Belgium. Unfortunately, he was prone to depression most often brought upon himself. He constantly felt the pressure of trying to attain greatness and felt he routinely failed at most endeavors. He also had a lousy personality and had a huge personal ego. He felt he had to return every attack upon his character, even if there wasn't really one there. JQA truly desired a life in literature or science, but his lack of self discipline would probably have plagued him in those fields as well. I found that I didn't care for him as a person from reading this memoir. His was a life that was probably never quite fulfilled.

Andrew JacksonAndrew Jackson--Sean Wilentz
Its amazing the quality of our early Presidents. Though Jackson doesn't measure up to the 4 or 5 "great" Presidents, Jackson's Presidency still reaches to us today. He had a fiery temper and held grudges deeply, yet he still accomplished much. He can also be taken to task over making the slavery issue worse and some of his decisions brought the Civil War on.

Martin Van BurenMartin Van Buren--Ted Widmer
MVB was the first President to be born in the US (post 1776), the first ethnic (he was of Dutch origin and spoke it primarily as a child) and only 1 of 2 that was neither college educated and/or had military experience. He can be largely credited for creating our 2 party system as we know it. He also had a hand in creating in the Republican Party as well as the Democratic Party. An interesting tidbit, the term "ok" can be directly attributed to MVB. It has its roots in a campaign of his and meant a vote for MVB would make everything "ok". The "ok" also stood for "Old Kinderbrook" which is the name of the city he grew up in. MVB was also the first of numerous Presidents from New York. He won't go down as one of our greatest President's, but he did have a profound effect on the office and politics as we know it. Things conspired against him as a President that make him forgettable for most American's (Panic of 1827) otherwise he might have been thought of in the company of Lincoln, Washington, Roosevelt, etc.


William Henry Harrison
The Life and Times of William Henry Harrison--Samuel Jones Burr


John Tyler


James K Polk James K Polk--John Seigenthaler
Polk was another President that doesn't get his due today. He acquired Oregon, California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah Nevada, Idaho, Washington and Montana during his administration as well as created the precursor to the Federal Deposit system we have today. Polk though was not an appealing person nor did he drive people to follow him. He had his faults and he made some mistakes that probably keep him a mystery to us today.

Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor--John S. D. Eisenhower (6/2015)

Millard Fillmore


Franklin Pierce
The Expatriation of Franklin Pierce:  The Story of a President and the Civil War--Garry Boulard  (3/2014)
Pierce was a complete unknown to me.  You will always find his name around the top of all "worst Presidents" lists.  Mostly a surprise candidate, he was largely ineffective as a leader and seemingly unable to make the hard decisions.  One term and then out of office, he hovered on the edges of national politics yet largely known as a failure in his time.  A few things of note, all 3 of his sons died young.  His wife HATED public life.  He was close friends with the author Nathaniel Hawthorne.  



James Buchanan
James Buchanan--Jean H. Baker (7/2015)


Abraham Lincoln


Andrew Johnson


Ulysses S Grant
Grant--William S. McFeely
Grant turned out to be an interesting guy. He probably wasn't among the top Presidents in intelligence. In fact, he really wasn't good at anything in life but leading an army. He's been criticized throughout history as a lousy President and in broad terms, that label seems to stick. But, the big problem for him was he was terrible at choosing leaders in his government. Many ended up being crooks but for whatever reason, he tended to turn a blind eye to it. But in other ways, he was ahead of his time. He pushed hard for the Panama Canal. He wanted to annex Dominica and create a state for black people to govern. He managed to keep us out of wars (post Civil War) when we were probably vulnerable to defeat. Much of Grant's life was full of personal failure. It drove him and late in life he lived for the adulation of the common people. There have been far more interesting Presidents, but Grant is high on the misunderstand President list for sure.

Rutherford B Hayes
Rutherford B Hayes--Hans L. Trefousse (11/09)
Hayes is one of the forgotten Presidents during the Gilded Age. The Presidency was marked with weakness during this time but Hayes stood up to Congress during his one term in office. An honest man, he sought to undo some of the harm Grant's corruption did. Hayes was a good President but he's doomed to obscurity along with a few of his peers in this era.

James A Garfield
James A Garfield--Ira Rutkow (1/09)
Garfield can be best described as unlucky. He was assassinated by an unstable man, but was ultimately killed by his doctors. His gunshot wound wasn't life threatening, but the medical profession was still operating on ancient ideas. He contracted infections due to dirty hands and instruments and died a very painful death. He was a driven man and had a lot of potential to be a very good President, but he only served four months. Not a lot came of his Presidency, therefore he is largely forgotten by history.


Chester A Arthur
Chester A Arthur-- Zachary Karabell (11/09)
Arthur is another in a long line of Presidents that COULD have been great, but due to factors beyond his control, he ultimately is forgotten. Arthur never desired to be President and hated the job. He is also one of the most surprising, in that he brought about reform in areas he was best known for partaking in (spoils system).

Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland--Henry F Graff (1/09)
Cleveland was the only President to serve non consecutive terms. Known throughout his life as being honest, he used his upbringing as a basis for how he conducted government business. He was driven to cleanse the government of fraud and wasteful spending. He's probably best known for being very overweight and for not marrying until he was in his 50's. He was able to accomplish some very important things while in office but will largely be forgotten by history.

Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison--Charles W. Calhoun (11/09)
Harrison has some distinct notables. He's the grandson of a former President. He's the only President to serve his term between a reelected President (Cleveland). He's part of the "Ohio Seven" that had a nice dynasty in the late 1800's (Harrison, Grant, Hayes, McKinley, Garfield). He served in the Union Army along with Sherman and Hayes in the same regiment. He also might be the most devout Christian President we've had as well. Unfortunately, despite doing some far reaching things in his term, he was not reelected to another term. It would seem he didn't enjoy the office although he probably was more involved in legislation than most have been.

William McKinley
William McKinley by Kevin Phillips
This was a tough read. This author made this more of an academic work than a biography in the vein of the other President's Series works. McKinley was a major transition President in our history that was robbed of truly changing our country due to his assassination.


Theodore Roosevelt
A Strenuous Life by Kathleen Dalton
TR is a very interesting subject. His father worked within the Lincoln Presidency. He came from a very affluent family and his father was very active in reform. TR idolized his father and lived his entire life trying to live up to his example. He had severe asthma as a child and was haunted by the fact that he couldn't live the life he felt he should. Roosevelt became active in politics and was very liberal for his time. From today's perspective, he would be considered very racist, but for the 1890's-1920's, he was very left in his ideals concerning race and women's rights. TR did more for women and minorities in his administration than anyone other than Lincoln (to this point). He also is the father of the National Park system. Without his work, we may not have most of the National Parks that we have today. As with most Presidents, he had a very large ego. It seems to be a must to attain this level of politics.

William Taft
The William Howard Taft Presidency--Lewis L Gould



Woodrow Wilson


Warren G Harding
Warren G Harding by John W Dean
An interesting man that will largely be forgotten by history.


Calvin Coolidge
Coolidge--Amity Shales (2015)

Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover--William E Leuchtenburg (7/2015)


Franklin Roosevelt
FDR--Jean Edward Smith
FDR was quite an amazing man. He was born into and grew up in wealth and luxury. He was a distant cousin of TR and married another distant cousin (Eleanor). He was also another in a long line of adulterous Presidents. FDR was hugely instrumental in leading our nation into the modern age with many of his New Deal programs, some of which are still in effect (FDIC, SEC). He was elected to 4 terms but died very early into his fourth. This was an easy and excellent read.



Harry S Truman
Truman by David McCullough (7/1/12)
Truman was one of those Presidents I knew little about. After reading this, I have a high respect for him as a man and as a leader. Very much unlike most President's, he was best described as "a regular man". Not pretentious but still ambitious. He was probably the polar opposite of his predecesor (FDR) in most ways.

Dwight D Eisenhower
Eisenhower by Stephen E Ambrose
Truly an amazing general that led our nation through a terrible time in our nation's history. His Presidency was less impressive, but he did some good things in his time but also is guilty of some big failures (Korean/Vietnam, race relations). Wasn't very well thought of by historians soon after he left office, but his reputation improves as time goes on.


John F Kennedy
An Unfinished Life--Robert Dallek
JFK. Truly one of our most romanticised Presidents. He was fortunate to live in the era that he did. Though the press was aware of his massive amount of adulterizing, they covered it up. The press in that age felt the President's private life was above publishing. The Kennedy's believed they were above the rules and lived their lives in that manner. Probably esteemed be a greater President than he actually was, I suspect history will bear that out as time goes on. He did keep us out of nuclear war when it seemed imminent.

Lyndon Johnson


Richard Nixon
Richard M. Nixon--Elizabeth Drew
Nixon. Paranoid. He was an unusual man with deep seated paranoia and mistrust. There's very little that is likable about the man. He did some good things as President, but his lack of character ultimately lead to his demise.


Gerald Ford
Gerald R. Ford by Douglas Brinkley
Unfairly thought of as a klutz and awkward, Ford was a moderate centrist that strove constantly not to offend anyone if it could be helped. This trait along with his devotion to party led to his rise to the VP and ultimately President after Nixon's resignation. He ended Vietnam and did some important things that led to the ending of the Cold War. A good man that was thrust into a bad situation and helped lead to healing in our nation.

Jimmy Carter


Ronald Reagan
The Role of A Lifetime--Lou Cannon (10/12/10)
Wow, what an enlightening read. I thought I knew who Reagan was, but it appears, like most of us, I was way off. Reagan was the first President that I was aware of in my life. Largely seen as a strong leader. While partially true, in many fashions it is not. Reagan was a very hands off manager and frankly didn't have much idea what was going on around him unless it was a topic he was passionate about. Hardly curious about the world around him, he was oddly effective at times. I think as the years go by, he will largely be known as the President that ended the Cold War.


George H W Bush


Bill Clinton


George W Bush