Download or read book The Presidents War written by Chris DeRose and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-06-06 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the first time, readers will experience America’s gravest crisis through the eyes of the five former presidents who lived it. Author and historian Chris DeRose chronicles history’s most epic Presidential Royal Rumble, which culminated in a multi-front effort against Lincoln’s reelection bid, but not before: * John Tyler engaged in shuttle diplomacy between President Buchanan and the new Confederate Government. He chaired the Peace Convention of 1861, the last great hope for a political resolution to the crisis. When it failed, Tyler joined the Virginia Secession Convention, voted to leave the Union, and won election to the Confederate Congress. * Van Buren, who had schemed to deny Lincoln the presidency, supported him in his efforts after Fort Sumter, and thwarted Franklin Pierce's attempt at a meeting of the ex-Presidents to undermine Lincoln. * Millard Fillmore hosted Lincoln and Mary Todd on their way to Washington, initially supported the war effort, offered critical advice to keep Britain at bay, but turned on Lincoln over emancipation. * Franklin Pierce, talked about as a Democratic candidate in 1860 and ’64, was openly hostile to Lincoln and supportive of the South, an outspoken critic of Lincoln especially on civil liberties. After Vicksburg, when Jefferson Davis’s home was raided, a secret correspondence between Pierce and the Confederate President was revealed. * James Buchanan, who had left office as seven states had broken away from the Union, engaged in a frantic attempt to vindicate his administration, in part by tying himself to Lincoln and supporting the war, arguing that his successor had simply followed his policies. How Abraham Lincoln battled against his predecessors to preserve the Union and later to put an end to slavery is a thrilling tale of war waged at the top level of power.
Download or read book Presidents of War written by Michael Beschloss and published by Crown. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 754 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From a preeminent presidential historian comes a “superb and important” (The New York Times Book Review) saga of America’s wartime chief executives “Fascinating and heartbreaking . . . timely . . . Beschloss’s broad scope lets you draw important crosscutting lessons about presidential leadership.”—Bill Gates Widely acclaimed and ten years in the making, Michael Beschloss’s Presidents of War is an intimate and irresistibly readable chronicle of the Chief Executives who took the United States into conflict and mobilized it for victory. From the War of 1812 to Vietnam, we see these leaders considering the difficult decision to send hundreds of thousands of Americans to their deaths; struggling with Congress, the courts, the press, and antiwar protesters; seeking comfort from their spouses and friends; and dropping to their knees in prayer. Through Beschloss’s interviews with surviving participants and findings in original letters and once-classified national security documents, we come to understand how these Presidents were able to withstand the pressures of war—or were broken by them. Presidents of War combines this sense of immediacy with the overarching context of two centuries of American history, traveling from the time of our Founders, who tried to constrain presidential power, to our modern day, when a single leader has the potential to launch nuclear weapons that can destroy much of the human race. Praise for Presidents of War "A marvelous narrative. . . . As Beschloss explains, the greatest wartime presidents successfully leaven military action with moral concerns. . . . Beschloss’s writing is clean and concise, and he admirably draws upon new documents. Some of the more titillating tidbits in the book are in the footnotes. . . . There are fascinating nuggets on virtually every page of Presidents of War. It is a superb and important book, superbly rendered.”—Jay Winik, The New York Times Book Review "Sparkle and bite. . . . Valuable and engrossing study of how our chief executives have discharged the most significant of all their duties. . . . Excellent. . . . A fluent narrative that covers two centuries of national conflict.” —Richard Snow, The Wall Street Journal
Download or read book Lincoln Davis written by Augustin Stucker and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2011-11-08 with total page 551 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln is the story of the United States, and without either of their lives and influence we would not be the nation we are today. They were born within 9 months and 100 miles of each other in Kentucky log cabins. Their parallel lives from that point forward were eerily similar in spite of Davis remaining a life-long Southerner and Lincoln moving to and settling in Illinois. Each man had cold, emotionally distant fathers, both lost their first loves to disease within one month of each other, married strong Southern women much younger than themselves, and lost young sons while Presidents of the Union and the Confederacy. Both men were ambitious and drawn to the world of politics where Davis, an ardent slaveholder and state rights leader and Lincoln, seeking to limit and eradicate slavery, worked tirelessly to avoid Civil War up to the moment of Southern secession. Finally, Lincoln and Davis were each considered martyrs after leading their nations through the conclusion of the Civil War. This is their compelling story, including comparing the stark political events of their era to those being replayed across todays America. For more information about the book and/or the author please visit www.lincolnanddavis.com.
Download or read book Touched With Fire written by James M. Perry and published by . This book was released on 2003-09-03 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the lives and careers of five presidents who served in the military during the Civil War, and the affect the war had on their presidency.
Download or read book Commander in Chief written by Geoffrey Perret and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2008-01-22 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq Made The Commander In Chief and Foretell the Future of America This is a story of ever-expanding presidential powers in an age of unwinnable wars. Harry Truman and Korea, Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam, George W. Bush and Iraq: three presidents, three ever broader interpretations of the commander in chief clause of the Constitution, three unwinnable wars, and three presidential secrets. Award-winning presidential biographer and military historian Geoffrey Perret places these men and events in the larger context of the post-World War II world to establish their collective legacy: a presidency so powerful it undermines the checks and balances built into the Constitution, thereby creating a permanent threat to the Constitution itself. In choosing to fight in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq, Truman, Johnson, and Bush alike took counsel of their fears, ignored the advice of the professional military and major allies, and were influenced by facts kept from public view. Convinced that an ever-more powerful commander in chief was the key to victory, they misread the moment. Since World War II wars have become tests of stamina rather than strength, and more likely than not they sow the seeds of future wars. Yet recent American presidents have chosen to place their country in the forefront of fighting them. In the course of doing so, however, they gave away the secret of American power—for all its might, the United States can be defeated by chaos and anarchy.
Download or read book The Civil War Presidents written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02-07 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures of each general and important people, places, and events in their lives *Includes an introduction for each president *Includes a Table of Contents *Includes bibliographies for each president Despite the fact that the Civil War began over 150 years ago, it remains one of the most widely discussed topics in America today, with Americans arguing over its causes, reenacting its famous battles, and debating which general was better than others. Americans continue to be fascinated by the Civil War leaders who made the difference between victory and defeat. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) is one of the most famous Americans in history and one of the country's most revered presidents. Schoolchildren can recite the life story of Lincoln, the "Westerner" who educated himself and became a self made man, rising from lawyer to leader of the new Republican Party before becoming the 16th President of the United States. Lincoln successfully navigated the Union through the Civil War but didn't live to witness his crowning achievement, becoming the first president assassinated when he was shot at Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865. History has accorded Abraham Lincoln a spot in the pantheon of American politics for the manner in which he steered the Union to victory and into the Reconstruction period after the war. In turn, Jefferson Davis has been heavily criticized. Davis constantly clashed with Confederate generals like Joseph Johnston, the South's diplomacy failed to obtain foreign intervention, and he was unable to keep the Southern states together cohesively as the Confederate economy began to collapse. Whether the Civil War would have ended any differently with someone else in charge of the Confederacy will never be known, but Davis had a tumultuous presidency. Given the charged nature of the Civil War during the fighting and the years after it, the legacies of both men often obscure what they were like in life. The Civil War Presidents humanizes the two important leaders, chronicling their antebellum lives, their politics, their presidencies, and ultimately their legacies. Along with pictures of both presidents, an original introduction for both, and pictures of other important people, places and events in their lives, you will learn about the Civil War presidents like you never have before, in no time at all.
Download or read book Abraham Lincoln vs Jefferson Davis written by Ellis Roxburgh and published by Gareth Stevens Publishing LLLP. This book was released on 2015-12-15 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis rose to power during unprecedented times. What had once been a unified nationthe United States of Americawas now at odds in a civil war. This volume offers a unique way to study the events of the Civil War, through the relationship between Lincoln and Davis and their fateful decisions during the bloody conflict. Readers will delve into key topics of the elementary social studies curriculum in this engaging text, which is augmented by historical paintings, photographs, primary sources, and a timeline.
Download or read book Abraham Lincoln written by John F. Grabowski and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book James Buchanan and the Coming of the Civil War written by John W. Quist and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2013-03-19 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As James Buchanan took office in 1857, the United States found itself at a crossroads. Dissolution of the Union had been averted and the Democratic Party maintained control of the federal government, but the nation watched to see if Pennsylvania's first president could make good on his promise to calm sectional tensions. Despite Buchanan's central role in a crucial hour in U.S. history, few presidents have been more ignored by historians. In assembling the essays for this volume, Michael Birkner and John Quist have asked leading scholars to reconsider whether Buchanan’s failures stemmed from his own mistakes or from circumstances that no president could have overcome. Buchanan's dealings with Utah shed light on his handling of the secession crisis. His approach to Dred Scott reinforces the image of a president whose doughface views were less a matter of hypocrisy than a thorough identification with southern interests. Essays on the secession crisis provide fodder for debate about the strengths and limitations of presidential authority in an existential moment for the young nation. Although the essays in this collection offer widely differing interpretations of Buchanan's presidency, they all grapple honestly with the complexities of the issues faced by the man who sat in the White House prior to the towering figure of Lincoln, and contribute to a deeper understanding of a turbulent and formative era.
Download or read book Two Miserable Presidents written by Steve Sheinkin and published by Roaring Brook Press. This book was released on 2009-07-07 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Honor recipient Steve Sheinkin gives young readers the causes and curses that divided America into Union and Confederate nations in Two Miserable Presidents: The Amazing, Terrible, and Totally True Story of the Civil War, illustrated by Tim Robinson. A Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year A Beacon of Freedom Award Winner Get the feeling something big is about to happen? Welcome to the Civil War—one of the scariest, saddest, and occasionally wackiest stories in American History. 1856: Northern and Southern settlers attack each other in Kansas. 1858: Congressmen start sneaking guns and knives into the Senate chamber. 1860: President James Buchanan is heard wailing, “I am the last president of the United States!” Unraveling a very complicated string of events--the small things, the personal ones, the big issues--Steve Sheinkin takes readers behind the scenes that led to The Civil War. It is a time and a war that threatened America's very existence, revealed in the surprising true stories of the soldiers and statesmen who battled it out. “Chatty and accessible, this book does double duty: it introduces Civil War history for readers who don't know much about it and supplies browsable commentary for those familiar with the big picture...Beginning with a look at the role cotton played in the history, his fast-paced narrative is broken into short, tersely titled vignettes...The horrors of slavery and battlefield slaughter are clear, as are achievements of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, John Brown, and many more.” —Booklist Also by Steve Sheinkin: Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War Which Way to the Wild West?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About Westward Expansion King George: What Was His Problem?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution Born to Fly: The First Women's Air Race Across America
Download or read book James Garfield the Civil War written by Daniel J Vermilya and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2010-09-24 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This biography of America’s twentieth president sheds light on his Civil War years, when he served as a major general for the Union Army. While his presidency was tragically cut short by his assassination, James Abraham Garfield's eventful life covered some of the most consequential years of American history. When the United States was divided by war, Garfield was one of many who stepped forward to defend the Union. In this biography, historian Daniel J. Vermilya reveals the little-known story of Garfield's role in the Civil War. From humble beginnings in Ohio, Garfield rose to become a major general in the Union army. His military career took him to the backwoods of Kentucky, the fields of Shiloh and Chickamauga, and ultimately to the halls of Congress. His service during the war established Garfield as a courageous leader who would one day lead the country as president.
Download or read book Abraham Lincoln written by Christi E. Parker and published by Teacher Created Materials. This book was released on 2005-05-31 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abraham Lincoln is often considered one of the greatest American presidents. Readers will discover the incredible things Lincoln accomplished during his time as president and the impact he made on slavery, the Civil War, and the country. The easy to read text and enlightening facts highlight such aspects of Lincoln's presidency as the Emanicpation Proclamation, the Battle of Gettysburg, and how the popular and electoral votes led to his nomination. Detailed images and illustrations show readers real examples of documents and photos of Ford's Theater, where John Wilkes Booth committed Lincoln's assassination. Readers will feel engaged from cover to cover!
Download or read book Presidents and Their Generals written by Matthew Moten and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2014-11-05 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moten traces a sweeping history of the evolving roles of civilian and military leaders in conducting war. In doing so he demonstrates how war strategy and national security policy shifted as political and military institutions developed, and how they were shaped by leader's personalities.
Download or read book Heroes Villains Dupes written by Paul E. Ronan and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2010-06-22 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The existential question facing the antebellum presidents was how to resolve the dichotomy between the freedoms guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence and the protection of slavery established by the Constitution. This work details how each president dealt with this issue. It then ranks the presidents on the sole criterion of their ability to recognize slavery as the critical threat to national unity, and to act decisively to end the evil and peacefully preserve the Union. The book ends with the beginning of the Civil War – the result of presidents’ efforts.
Download or read book Abraham Lincoln written by George S. McGovern and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2008-12-23 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America's greatest president, who rose to power in the country's greatest hour of need and whose vision saw the United States through the Civil War Abraham Lincoln towers above the others who have held the office of president—the icon of greatness, the pillar of strength whose words bound up the nation's wounds. His presidency is the hinge on which American history pivots, the time when the young republic collapsed of its own contradictions and a new birth of freedom, sanctified by blood, created the United States we know today. His story has been told many times, but never by a man who himself sought the office of president and contemplated the awesome responsibilities that come with it. George S. McGovern—a Midwesterner, former U.S. senator, presidential candidate, veteran, and historian by training—offers his unique insight into our sixteenth president. He shows how Lincoln sometimes went astray, particularly in his restrictions on civil liberties, but also how he adjusted his sights and transformed the Civil War from a political dispute to a moral crusade. McGovern's account reminds us why we hold Lincoln in such esteem and why he remains the standard by which all of his successors are measured.
Download or read book Lincoln President Elect written by Harold Holzer and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-10-21 with total page 643 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of our most eminent Lincoln scholars, winner of a Lincoln Prize for his Lincoln at Cooper Union, examines the four months between Lincoln's election and inauguration, when the president-elect made the most important decision of his coming presidency—there would be no compromise on slavery or secession of the slaveholding states, even at the cost of civil war. Abraham Lincoln first demonstrated his determination and leadership in the Great Secession Winter—the four months between his election in November 1860 and his inauguration in March 1861—when he rejected compromises urged on him by Republicans and Democrats, Northerners and Southerners, that might have preserved the Union a little longer but would have enshrined slavery for generations. Though Lincoln has been criticized by many historians for failing to appreciate the severity of the secession crisis that greeted his victory, Harold Holzer shows that the presidentelect waged a shrewd and complex campaign to prevent the expansion of slavery while vainly trying to limit secession to a few Deep South states. During this most dangerous White House transition in American history, the country had two presidents: one powerless (the president-elect, possessing no constitutional authority), the other paralyzed (the incumbent who refused to act). Through limited, brilliantly timed and crafted public statements, determined private letters, tough political pressure, and personal persuasion, Lincoln guaranteed the integrity of the American political process of majority rule, sounded the death knell of slavery, and transformed not only his own image but that of the presidency, even while making inevitable the war that would be necessary to make these achievements permanent. Lincoln President-Elect is the first book to concentrate on Lincoln's public stance and private agony during these months and on the momentous consequences when he first demonstrated his determination and leadership. Holzer recasts Lincoln from an isolated prairie politician yet to establish his greatness, to a skillful shaper of men and opinion and an immovable friend of freedom at a decisive moment when allegiance to the founding credo "all men are created equal" might well have been sacrificed.
Download or read book Loathing Lincoln written by John McKee Barr and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2014-04-07 with total page 634 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While most Americans count Abraham Lincoln among the most beloved and admired former presidents, a dedicated minority has long viewed him not only as the worst president in the country's history, but also as a criminal who defied the Constitution and advanced federal power and the idea of racial equality. In Loathing Lincoln, historian John McKee Barr surveys the broad array of criticisms about Abraham Lincoln that emerged when he stepped onto the national stage, expanded during the Civil War, and continued to evolve after his death and into the present. The first panoramic study of Lincoln's critics, Barr's work offers an analysis of Lincoln in historical memory and an examination of how his critics -- on both the right and left -- have frequently reflected the anxiety and discontent Americans felt about their lives. From northern abolitionists troubled by the slow pace of emancipation, to Confederates who condemned him as a "black Republican" and despot, to Americans who blamed him for the civil rights movement, to, more recently, libertarians who accuse him of trampling the Constitution and creating the modern welfare state, Lincoln's detractors have always been a vocal minority, but not one without influence. By meticulously exploring the most significant arguments against Lincoln, Barr traces the rise of the president's most strident critics and links most of them to a distinct right-wing or neo-Confederate political agenda. According to Barr, their hostility to a more egalitarian America and opposition to any use of federal power to bring about such goals led them to portray Lincoln as an imperialistic president who grossly overstepped the bounds of his office. In contrast, liberals criticized him for not doing enough to bring about emancipation or ensure lasting racial equality. Lincoln's conservative and libertarian foes, however, constituted the vast majority of his detractors. More recently, Lincoln's most vociferous critics have adamantly opposed Barack Obama and his policies, many of them referencing Lincoln in their attacks on the current president. In examining these individuals and groups, Barr's study provides a deeper understanding of American political life and the nation itself.
