Download or read book The Presidents Club written by Nancy Gibbs and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-04-17 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestselling history of the private relationships among the last thirteen presidents—the partnerships, private deals, rescue missions, and rivalries of those select men who served as commander in chief. The Presidents Club, established at Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration by Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover, is a complicated place: its members are bound forever by the experience of the Oval Office and yet are eternal rivals for history’s favor. Among their secrets: How Jack Kennedy tried to blame Ike for the Bay of Pigs. How Ike quietly helped Reagan win his first race in 1966. How Richard Nixon conspired with Lyndon Johnson to get elected and then betrayed him. How Jerry Ford and Jimmy Carter turned a deep enmity into an alliance. The unspoken pact between a father and son named Bush. And the roots of the rivalry between Clinton and Barack Obama. Time magazine editors and presidential historians Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy offer a new and revealing lens on the American presidency, exploring the club as a hidden instrument of power that has changed the course of history.
Download or read book Where Do Presidents Come From written by Mike Townsend and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-09-13 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: United States history comes alive in this laugh-out-loud nonfiction graphic novel all about the presidents! Michael Townsend presents his comic book guide to everything you ever wanted to know (and maybe a few things you didn't!) about the President of the United States. It's full of insanely weird facts about our leaders (Did you know that President Coolidge had a pet pygmy hippo named Billy?), as well as the history and powers of the presidency, day-to-day life, and pros and cons of the job. Even the most mundane of facts become hilarious in this brilliantly cheeky guide to our nation's MVP.
Download or read book The President s Book of Secrets written by David Priess and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every president has had a unique and complicated relationship with the intelligence community. While some have been coolly distant, even adversarial, others have found their intelligence agencies to be among the most valuable instruments of policy and power. Since John F. Kennedy's presidency, this relationship has been distilled into a personalized daily report: a short summary of what the intelligence apparatus considers the most crucial information for the president to know that day about global threats and opportunities. This top–secret document is known as the President's Daily Brief, or, within national security circles, simply “the Book.” Presidents have spent anywhere from a few moments (Richard Nixon) to a healthy part of their day (George W. Bush) consumed by its contents; some (Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush) consider it far and away the most important document they saw on a regular basis while commander in chief. The details of most PDBs are highly classified, and will remain so for many years. But the process by which the intelligence community develops and presents the Book is a fascinating look into the operation of power at the highest levels. David Priess, a former intelligence officer and daily briefer, has interviewed every living president and vice president as well as more than one hundred others intimately involved with the production and delivery of the president's book of secrets. He offers an unprecedented window into the decision making of every president from Kennedy to Obama, with many character–rich stories revealed here for the first time.
Download or read book Presidents and the Media written by Stephen E. Frantzich and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-08-06 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is Donald Trump’s "War on the Media" new news, fake news, or business as usual? Presidents have always "used" the media and felt abused by it. Tried and true vehicles such as press conferences, routine speeches and the State of the Union address have served presidents’ interests and received significant coverage by the print media. As new technologies have entered the media spectrum, the speed and pervasiveness of these interactions have changed dramatically. President Obama ushered in the social media presidency, while President Trump has become the tweeter-in-chief. This book shows how each of these developments affects what is communicated and how it is received by the public.
Download or read book Hooked written by Markus Prior and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-12-13 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political interest is the strongest predictor of 'good citizenship', yet little is known about it. This book explains why some people find politics interesting while others don't.
Download or read book Presidential Diversions written by Paul F. Boller and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2007 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paul F. Boller, Jr.'s widely admired and bestselling anecdotal histories have uncovered new aspects and hidden dimensions in the lives of our presidents. Now he turns to an uncharted--but unexpectedly revealing--element of our leaders' personalities as he brings us stories of what the presidents did for fun.In thumbnail portraits of every president through George W. Bush, Boller chronicles their taste in games, sports, and cultural activities. George Washington had a passion for dancing and John Quincy Adams skinny-dipped in the Potomac; Grover Cleveland loved beer gardens and Woodrow Wilson made a failed effort to write fiction; Calvin Coolidge cherished his afternoon naps, as did Lyndon Johnson his four-pack-a-day cigarette habit; Jimmy Carter was a surprisingly skilled high diver and Bush Senior loved to parachute. The sketches revitalize even the most familiar of our leaders, showing us a new side of our presidents--and their presidencies.
Download or read book American Presidents Deportations and Human Rights Violations written by Bill Ong Hing and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-15 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses how mass detention and deportation of immigrants, has escalated even higher since the Obama and Trump administrations.
Download or read book How to Fight Presidents written by Daniel O'Brien and published by Crown. This book was released on 2014-03-18 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Make no mistake: Our founding fathers were more bandanas-and-muscles than powdered-wigs-and-tea. As a prisoner of war, Andrew Jackson walked several miles barefoot across state lines while suffering from smallpox and a serious head wound received when he refused to polish the boots of the soldiers who had taken him captive. He was thirteen years old. A few decades later, he became the first popularly elected president and served the nation, pausing briefly only to beat a would-be assassin with a cane to within an inch of his life. Theodore Roosevelt had asthma, was blind in one eye, survived multiple gunshot wounds, had only one regret (that there were no wars to fight under his presidency), and was the first U.S. president to win the Medal of Honor, which he did after he died. Faced with the choice, George Washington actually preferred the sound of bullets whizzing by his head in battle over the sound of silence. And now these men—these hallowed leaders of the free world—want to kick your ass. Plenty of historians can tell you which president had the most effective economic strategies, and which president helped shape our current political parties, but can any of them tell you what to do if you encounter Chester A. Arthur in a bare-knuckled boxing fight? This book will teach you how to be better, stronger, faster, and more deadly than the most powerful (and craziest) men in history. You’re welcome.
Download or read book Presidential Misconduct written by James M. Banner Jr. and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2019-07-02 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named a best book of the year by The Economist and Foreign Affairs "A whole book devoted exclusively to the misconduct of American presidents and their responses to charges of misconduct is without precedent." —from the introduction to the 1974 edition by C. Vann Woodward, Pulitzer Prize–winning Yale historian The historic 1974 report for the House Committee on the Judiciary, updated for today by leading presidential historians In May 1974, as President Richard Nixon faced impeachment following the Watergate scandal, the House Judiciary Committee commissioned a historical account of the misdeeds of past presidents. The account, compiled by leading presidential historians of the day, reached back to George Washington's administration and was designed to provide a benchmark against which Nixon's misdeeds could be measured. What the report found was that, with the exception of William Henry Harrison (who served less than a month), every American president has been accused of misconduct: James Buchanan was charged with rigging the election of 1856; Ulysses S. Grant was reprimanded for not firing his corrupt staffer, Orville Babcock, in the "Whiskey Ring" bribery scandal; and Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration faced repeated charges of malfeasance in the Works Progress Administration. Now, as another president and his subordinates face an array of charges on a wide range of legal and constitutional offenses, a group of presidential historians has come together under the leadership of James M. Banner, Jr.—one of the historians who contributed to the original report—to bring the 1974 account up to date through Barack Obama's presidency. Based on current scholarship, this new material covers such well-known episodes as Nixon's Watergate crisis, Reagan's Iran-Contra scandal, Clinton's impeachment, and George W. Bush's connection to the exposure of intelligence secrets. But oft-forgotten events also take the stage: Carter's troubles with advisor Bert Lance, Reagan's savings and loan crisis, George H.W. Bush's nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, and Obama's Solyndra loan controversy. The only comprehensive study of American presidents' misconduct and the ways in which chief executives and members of their official families have responded to the charges brought against them, this new edition is designed to serve the same purpose as the original 1974 report: to provide the historical context and metric against which the actions of the current administration may be assessed.
Download or read book Second Acts written by Mark Updegrove and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2006-10-01 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, "There are no second acts in American lives", but more and more, our former presidents are proving him wrong. No longer fading into the background upon leaving the highest office in the land, ex-presidents perform valuable services as elder statesmen and international emissaries - and by pursuing their own agendas. From Eisenhower taking Kennedy to the woodshed (literally) on the Bay of Pigs crisis, to Carter earning the Nobel Peace Prize, to Bush Sr. and Clinton joining forces in an unlikely partnership for tsunami and Hurricane Katrina relief, the author examines the increasingly important roles that former presidents assume in our nation and throughout the world. Through interviews with former presidents, first ladies, family members, friends, and staffers, the author also delves into the very human stories that play out as the modern ex-presidents - from Truman to Clinton - adjust to life after the White House and attempt to shape their historical legacies. In this, the first narrative history of the modern post-presidency, Mark K. Updegrove makes a refreshingly unique contribution to literature on the American presidents.
Download or read book More Information Than You Require written by John Hodgman and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-10-02 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller by Famous Minor Television Personality John Hodgman—The Daily Show's "Resident Expert" and the "PC" in the iconic Apple ads—picks up exactly where his first book left off. In fact, "the new volume is in every way a continuation of Areas of My Expertise, except in the ways it's clearly superior." (The Onion AV Club) In 2005, John Hodgman published his first compendium of Complete World Knowledge, The Areas of My Expertise, a handy volume of fake trivia and made-up facts. Hodgmania was born. Virtually overnight, John Hodgman was whisked from tweedy obscurity to the high ether of minor celebrity. And from his strange new vantage point as a Famous Minor Television Personality, Hodgman realized that there is some world knowledge yet to be documented. And so he returned to exactly where he had left off—namely, page 256 of the paperback edition of The Areas of My Expertise. And he brought with him: MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE. Which, naturally, begins on page 257. Like its predecessor, More Information Than You Require consists of brief articles, overlong lists, frighteningly complex charts, and beguiling narratives on new and familiar themes such as: THE PAST (because there is always more of it) THE FUTURE (because they say there is still some left) MOLE-MEN (including a list of 700 Mole-man names) GAMBLING, THE SPORT OF THE ATHSMATIC MAN (including hermit crab racing) CRYPTOGEOGRAPHY (including Canada) HOW TO BE A FAMOUS MINOR TELEVISION PERSONALITY (Hint: Go on television) AND NOW, the relatively pocket-sized and inexpensive paperback edition includes even more. MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE, updated to include the very latest in implausibility. PLUS!: This paperback edition includes a special self-expanding fold-out edition of THE TAXONOMY OF COMPLETE WORLD KNOWLEDGE, which you have probably never seen before because it has been carefully hidden. UNTIL NOW. Look out for John Hodgman's latest book, Vacationland, available from Viking in Fall 2017.
Download or read book The Virginia Dynasty written by Lynne Cheney and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The narrative offers informed, exacting characterizations of the uncertain political alliances, strained interactions and ideological growing pains that elites of the post-revolutionary decades put the country through.”—Andrew Burstein, The Washington Post A vivid account of leadership focusing on the first four Virginia presidents—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe—from the bestselling historian and author of James Madison. From a small expanse of land on the North American continent came four of the nation's first five presidents—a geographic dynasty whose members led a revolution, created a nation, and ultimately changed the world. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe were born, grew to manhood, and made their homes within a sixty-mile circle east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Friends and rivals, they led in securing independence, hammering out the United States Constitution, and building a working republic. Acting together, they doubled the territory of the United States. From their disputes came American political parties and the weaponizing of newspapers, the media of the day. In this elegantly conceived and insightful new book from bestselling author Lynne Cheney, the four Virginians are not marble icons but vital figures deeply intent on building a nation where citizens could be free. Focusing on the intersecting roles these men played as warriors, intellectuals, and statesmen, Cheney takes us back to an exhilarating time when the Enlightenment opened new vistas for humankind. But even as the Virginians advanced liberty, equality, and human possibility, they held people in slavery and were slaveholders when they died. Lives built on slavery were incompatible with a free and just society; their actions contradicted the very ideals they espoused. They managed nonetheless to pass down those ideals, and they became powerful weapons for ending slavery. They inspired Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and today undergird the freest nation on earth. Taking full measure of strengths and failures in the personal as well as the political lives of the men at the center of this book, Cheney offers a concise and original exploration of how the United States came to be.
Download or read book I Wish I Knew That written by Steve Martin and published by Buster Books. This book was released on 2017-01-05 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perfect for any child who wants to stay one step ahead of their classmates, this fantastic book is packed with informative titbits that will fascinate and enthrall young minds. I Wish I Knew That is full of interesting stuff that parents and grandparents used to learn at school that every child ought to know today.From classic books children should read, a quick grammar guide, an introduction to foreign languages, who that Pythagoras chap was, to a look at all the kings and queens, countries and their capitals, an introduction to classics and much more, it covers all subjects.
Download or read book Unbelievable written by Katy Tur and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-09-12 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Compelling… this book couldn’t be more timely.” – Jill Abramson, New York Times Book Review From the Recipient of the 2017 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism Called "disgraceful," "third-rate," and "not nice" by Donald Trump, NBC News correspondent Katy Tur reported on—and took flak from—the most captivating and volatile presidential candidate in American history. Katy Tur lived out of a suitcase for a year and a half, following Trump around the country, powered by packets of peanut butter and kept clean with dry shampoo. She visited forty states with the candidate, made more than 3,800 live television reports, and tried to endure a gazillion loops of Elton John’s "Tiny Dancer"—a Trump rally playlist staple. From day 1 to day 500, Tur documented Trump’s inconsistencies, fact-checked his falsities, and called him out on his lies. In return, Trump repeatedly singled Tur out. He tried to charm her, intimidate her, and shame her. At one point, he got a crowd so riled up against Tur, Secret Service agents had to walk her to her car. None of it worked. Facts are stubborn. So was Tur. She was part of the first women-led politics team in the history of network news. The Boys on the Bus became the Girls on the Plane. But the circus remained. Through all the long nights, wild scoops, naked chauvinism, dodgy staffers, and fevered debates, no one had a better view than Tur. Unbelievable is her darkly comic, fascinatingly bizarre, and often scary story of how America sent a former reality show host to the White House. It’s also the story of what it was like for Tur to be there as it happened, inside a no-rules world where reporters were spat on, demeaned, and discredited. Tur was a foreign correspondent who came home to her most foreign story of all. Unbelievable is a must-read for anyone who still wakes up and wonders, Is this real life?
Download or read book Hidden Power written by Kati Marton and published by G. K. Hall. This book was released on 2002 with total page 708 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extraordinary work of history and original reporting that reveals the ways in which presidential marriages have affected the tone, character, and policies of twelve administrations, from Woodrow and Edith Wilson to George W. and Laura Bush. Each of the marriages that Kati Marton examines in this hugely appealing book offers up its own unexpected lessons about power and marriage, about the influence of presidential wives, and about the evolution of women's roles in the twentieth century. Based on private White House documents and on interviews with the participants and with eyewitnesses to presidential events, Hidden Power explores how both the personal dynamics and public faces of White House marriages have shaped our history. We see Edith Wilson literally running the government when her deeply beloved husband becomes ill; how the combination of Franklin Roosevelt's reassuring spirit and his wife's humility guided the country through Depression and war; how Bess Truman's loyalty, bluntness, and unpretentiousness were some of her husband's greatest resources; the superb and necessary diplomacy of Jacqueline Kennedy. We observe Lady Bird Johnson retaining her own compass in the face of massive criticism of her husb how Patricia Nixon's estrangement from her husband fed his paranoia; how the Fords reassured us after the debacles of Vietnam and Watergate; Rosalynn Carter's struggle to carve out new territory as first lady; the generally constructive role Nancy Reagan played, despite her frivolous reputation; the razor-sharp political instincts behind Barbara Bush's grandmotherly how Hillary Clinton saved her husband's presidency; and how Laura Bush provides emotional ballast for her husband. Here are the stories of the ultimate power couples-each one very different, but all of them informative, lively, and absolutely fascinating.
Download or read book Mr President Goes to School written by Rick Walton and published by Peachtree Publishing Company. This book was released on 2015-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the president of the United States has a frustrating day, he decides to go back to the place where he learned the most important lessons of all. Everyone has bad days. Even the president. So when his day starts off badly, Mr. President decides he is in need of a time--out from running the country. Disguising himself, he sneaks out of the White House, hurries down the street to the local school, and enrolls in Mrs. Appletree's class. There Mr. President slides his fingers through globs of finger paint. He spins himself silly on the merry--go--round at recess. He practices saying "please," raising his hand, and taking turns. And he doesn't miss a single beat when everyone does the hokey--pokey. But when he returns to the White House, he is greeted by a panicked secretary of state and two angry world leaders on the brink of war. Fortunately, Mr. President recalls what he learned in Mrs. Appletree's class, and he comes up with just the right approach to avoid an international crisis. Children will delight in Rick Walton's laugh--out--loud story and its over--the--top take on conflict resolution. Brad Sneed's watercolor illustrations capture the humor of the story with their exaggerated, outsized characters and playfully distorted compositions.
Download or read book Presidents Day written by Anne Rockwell and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2007-12-26 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the duo who created the classroom called "a charmed place" comes a patriotic primer for picture-book readers. Today at school we celebrated Presidents' Day by putting on a play. Mrs. Madoff said I could be George Washington because his birthday is the same as mine. Charlie was Abraham Lincoln because he's the tallest kid in our class. Everyone else had very important parts to play, too. At the end of the day we voted for class president, and you'll never guess who won!
