Download or read book U S Presidents Truman and Johnson written by Bonnie J. Krueger and published by Lorenz Educational Press. This book was released on 2009-09-01 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This imaginative cross-curricular resource is the perfect way to reinforce basic grammar skills as well as introduce the study of United States presidents to your class. A short biography is included for each featured president: Harry Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson. They contain secret, embedded information. Students must study the biography and crack the code to answer a set of worksheet questions. It is within these hidden codes that students will practice revision marks and parts of speech. Level: Medium
Download or read book The Presidents and the Press written by James Edward Pollard and published by . This book was released on 1964 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Harry S Truman written by Robert Dallek and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2008-09-02 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Few chief executives have had so lasting an impact as our thirty-third president. It was Truman who ushered America into the nuclear age, established the alliances and principles that would define the Cold War and the national security state, started the nation on the road to civil rights, and won the most dramatic election of the twentieth century - his 1948 "whistlestop campaign" against Thomas E. Dewey." "Robert Dallek shows how this unassuming yet supremely confident man rose to the occasion in the years following World War II. It was not an easy task: Truman clashed with Southerners over civil rights, with organized labor over the right to strike, and with General Douglas MacArthur over the conduct of the Korean War. He personified Thomas Jefferson's observation that the presidency is a "splendid misery," but it was through his achievements that the United States truly came of age."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book America s Greatest Cold War Presidents Harry Truman Dwight Eisenhower John F Kennedy Lyndon B Johnson and Ronald Reagan written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by . This book was released on 2018-02-27 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Comprehensively covers the lives, careers and legacies of the 5 Presidents. *Includes pictures of important people, places, and events. *Includes Bibliographies for further reading. Among America's presidents, Harry Truman's presidency produced some of the nation's most crucial decisions and left one of the nation's most unique legacies. The new president had to usher America through victory in Europe in his first month and decide to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki a few months later, but the end of World War II produced only the first of many consequential decisions Truman would face during his nearly 8 years in office. As president, Truman would lay the groundwork for the next 50 years of American foreign policy, as the architect of Cold War containment, the man who signed off on the Marshall Plan, and the commander-in-chief during much of the Korean War. Despite being one of America's oldest presidents, Eisenhower redefined the public relations nature of the office, in addition to positioning America during the Cold War standoff with the Soviet Union. But Eisenhower's most lasting contribution as president was the construction of the interstate highway system, and it was in the final year of his presidency that his administration planned and implemented the Apollo space program that would land men on the Moon in 1969. By the time he died in 1969, President Nixon aptly described Eisenhower as "the world's most admired and respected man, truly the first citizen of the world." In many ways, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his young family were the perfect embodiment of the '60s. The decade began with a sense of idealism, personified by the attractive Kennedy, his beautiful and fashionable wife Jackie, and his young children. Months into his presidency, Kennedy exhorted the country to reach for the stars, calling upon the nation to send a man to the Moon and back by the end of the decade. In 1961, Kennedy made it seem like anything was possible, and Americans were eager to believe him. The Kennedy years were fondly and famously labeled "Camelot," by Jackie herself, suggesting an almost mythical quality about the young President and his family. Of all the politicians who have left their mark on American history, few have had a political career or list of accomplishments and accolades that can even come close to rivaling Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson is one of only 4 Americans to serve as a House Rep, U.S. Senator, Vice President and President, and he made the most out of each experience. The hard-nosed Texas Democrat became one of the legendary strongmen in the Senate, mastering that political body from 1949-1961 and spending six years as Senate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority Leader, and two as Senate Majority Whip. The 70+ year old former actor Ronald Reagan went on to have one of the most consequential presidencies of the 20th century, unquestionably making him one of the most influential men of the last 50 years. And his name is still as relevant in American politics today, with every politician with an R next to his or her name trying to claim Ronald Reagan's conservative mantle. In the Republican presidential nomination debates in 2011, Reagan's name was invoked an average of over 5 times per debate, more than every other president combined. Meanwhile, Americans of all stripes continue to debate the merits of "Reaganomics" more than 30 years after Reagan was elected. America's Greatest Cold War Presidents looks at the lives and presidencies of each of the Cold War presidents, their Cold War policies, and their enduring legacies. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Truman, Ike, JFK, LBJ and Reagan like you never have before.
Download or read book America s Greatest Cold War Presidents written by Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2013-11 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Comprehensively covers the lives, careers and legacies of the 5 Presidents. *Includes pictures of important people, places, and events. *Includes Bibliographies for further reading. Among America's presidents, Harry Truman's presidency produced some of the nation's most crucial decisions and left one of the nation's most unique legacies. The new president had to usher America through victory in Europe in his first month and decide to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki a few months later, but the end of World War II produced only the first of many consequential decisions Truman would face during his nearly 8 years in office. As president, Truman would lay the groundwork for the next 50 years of American foreign policy, as the architect of Cold War containment, the man who signed off on the Marshall Plan, and the commander-in-chief during much of the Korean War. Despite being one of America's oldest presidents, Eisenhower redefined the public relations nature of the office, in addition to positioning America during the Cold War standoff with the Soviet Union. But Eisenhower's most lasting contribution as president was the construction of the interstate highway system, and it was in the final year of his presidency that his administration planned and implemented the Apollo space program that would land men on the Moon in 1969. By the time he died in 1969, President Nixon aptly described Eisenhower as "the world's most admired and respected man, truly the first citizen of the world." In many ways, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his young family were the perfect embodiment of the '60s. The decade began with a sense of idealism, personified by the attractive Kennedy, his beautiful and fashionable wife Jackie, and his young children. Months into his presidency, Kennedy exhorted the country to reach for the stars, calling upon the nation to send a man to the Moon and back by the end of the decade. In 1961, Kennedy made it seem like anything was possible, and Americans were eager to believe him. The Kennedy years were fondly and famously labeled "Camelot," by Jackie herself, suggesting an almost mythical quality about the young President and his family. Of all the politicians who have left their mark on American history, few have had a political career or list of accomplishments and accolades that can even come close to rivaling Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson is one of only 4 Americans to serve as a House Rep, U.S. Senator, Vice President and President, and he made the most out of each experience. The hard-nosed Texas Democrat became one of the legendary strongmen in the Senate, mastering that political body from 1949-1961 and spending six years as Senate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority Leader, and two as Senate Majority Whip. The 70] year old former actor Ronald Reagan went on to have one of the most consequential presidencies of the 20th century, unquestionably making him one of the most influential men of the last 50 years. And his name is still as relevant in American politics today, with every politician with an R next to his or her name trying to claim Ronald Reagan's conservative mantle. In the Republican presidential nomination debates in 2011, Reagan's name was invoked an average of over 5 times per debate, more than every other president combined. Meanwhile, Americans of all stripes continue to debate the merits of "Reaganomics" more than 30 years after Reagan was elected. America's Greatest Cold War Presidents looks at the lives and presidencies of each of the Cold War presidents, their Cold War policies, and their enduring legacies. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Truman, Ike, JFK, LBJ and Reagan like you never have before.
Download or read book Maximalist written by Stephen Sestanovich and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American foreign policy since World War II has long been seen primarily as a story of strong and successful alliances, domestic consensus, and continuity from one adminstration to the next. Why then have so many presidents left office condemned for their foreign policy record? In his fresh and compelling history of America's rise to dominance, Stephen Sestanovich makes clear that U.S. diplomacy has always stirred controversy, both at home and abroad. He shows how successive adminstrations have struggled to find new solutions, alternating between bold "maximalist" strategies and retrenchment efforts to downsize America's role. Almost all our presidents emerge from this vivid retelling in a sharp and unexpected light.
Download or read book Louis Johnson and the Arming of America written by Keith D. McFarland and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2005-10-04 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Without question this is an important new addition to World War II and Cold War historiography.... Highly recommended." -- Douglas Brinkley, author of Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years and The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey beyond the White House "A remarkably objective, yet sympathetic, study of Louis Johnson's life and career. Now only half-remembered,... Johnson was a major national figure. Colorful, aggressive, independent-minded, egotistical, his strong views and conflicts with Dean Acheson proved to be his undoing. All in all, a fascinating tale." -- James R. Schlesinger, former Secretary of Defense "McFarland and Roll have performed a real service in rescuing from obscurity this Democratic mover and shaker. Their account of the rise and fall of Louis Johnson provides us with the fullest depiction yet of an important Washington figure employed for better or worse as a blunt instrument of policy change by both Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman." -- Alonzo L. Hamby, author of Man of the People: A Life of Harry S. Truman and For the Survival of Democracy: Franklin Roosevelt and the World Crisis of the 1930s "[Johnson's] career is a cautionary tale of how even the most ruthlessly effective men can become pawns in the Washington power game. McFarland and Roll bring Johnson to life in this thorough and well-told history." -- Evan Thomas, Newsweek, author of Robert Kennedy: His Life and The Very Best Men: The Early Years of the CIA Louis Johnson was FDR's Assistant Secretary of War and the architect of the industrial mobilization plans that put the nation on a war footing prior to its entry into World War II. Later, as Truman's Secretary of Defense, Johnson was given the difficult job of unifying the armed forces and carrying out Truman's orders to dramatically reduce defense expenditures. In both administrations, he was asked to confront and carry out extremely unpopular initiatives -- massive undertakings that each president believed were vital to the nation's security and economic welfare. Johnson's conflicts with Henry Morganthau, Secretary of War Harry H. Woodring, Winston Churchill, Harry Hopkins, Dean Acheson, Averell Harriman, and Paul Nitze find contemporary parallels in the recent disagreements between the national defense establishment and the State Department.
Download or read book The White House Looks South written by William E. Leuchtenburg and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2005-10 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps not southerners in the usual sense, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson each demonstrated a political style and philosophy that helped them influence the South and unite the country in ways that few other presidents have. Combining vivid biography and political insight, William E. Leuchtenburg offers an engaging account of relations between these three presidents and the South while also tracing how the region came to embrace a national perspective without losing its distinctive sense of place. According to Leuchtenburg, each man "had one foot below the Mason-Dixon Line, one foot above." Roosevelt, a New Yorker, spent much of the last twenty-five years of his life in Warm Springs, Georgia, where he built a "Little White House." Truman, a Missourian, grew up in a pro-Confederate town but one that also looked West because of its history as the entrepôt for the Oregon Trail. Johnson, who hailed from the former Confederate state of Texas, was a westerner as much as a southerner. Their intimate associations with the South gave these three presidents an empathy toward and acceptance in the region. In urging southerners to jettison outworn folkways, Roosevelt could speak as a neighbor and adopted son, Truman as a borderstater who had been taught to revere the Lost Cause, and Johnson as a native who had been scorned by Yankees. Leuchtenburg explores in fascinating detail how their unique attachment to "place" helped them to adopt shifting identities, which proved useful in healing rifts between North and South, in altering behavior in regard to race, and in fostering southern economic growth. The White House Looks South is the monumental work of a master historian. At a time when race, class, and gender dominate historical writing, Leuchtenburg argues that place is no less significant. In a period when America is said to be homogenized, he shows that sectional distinctions persist. And in an era when political history is devalued, he demonstrates that government can profoundly affect people's lives and that presidents can be change-makers.
Download or read book Lyndon B Johnson written by United States. President (1963-1969 : Johnson) and published by . This book was released on 1965 with total page 950 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Taking Charge written by Michael R. Beschloss and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 618 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taking Charge, the first volume of The Johnson White House Tapes, is filled with revelations about the full-blooded Texan behind the public image. We hear LBJ telling who he thinks really killed JFK, creating the Warren Commission, staking his presidency on a revolutionary civil rights bill, scuttling Robert Kennedy's drive to be his Vice President, using the Tonkin Gulf attack to expand the American beachhead in Southeast Asia, and unveiling his private, tortured early doubts that we could ever win a war in Vietnam. By allowing us to hear LBJ as he applies the "Johnson treatment" to foes and friends, Taking Charge offers spellbinding insight into how the thirty-sixth President used power. Johnson flatters, provokes, and twists the arms of some of the dominant personalities of our times, including Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., J. Edgar Hoover, Robert McNamara, Katharine Graham and other leading media figures, members of Congress, and many others. We come to understand Johnson's complex, changing relationships with Lady Bird and the rest of his family, Jacqueline Kennedy, ex-Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, and members of his Cabinet and White House staff.
Download or read book Lyndon B Johnson written by Charles Peters and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2010-06-08 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The towering figure who sought to transform America into a "Great Society" but whose ambitions and presidency collapsed in the tragedy of the Vietnam War Few figures in American history are as compelling and complex as Lyndon Baines Johnson, who established himself as the master of the U.S. Senate in the 1950s and succeeded John F. Kennedy in the White House after Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963. Charles Peters, a keen observer of Washington politics for more than five decades, tells the story of Johnson's presidency as the tale of an immensely talented politician driven by ambition and desire. As part of the Kennedy-Johnson administration from 1961 to 1968, Peters knew key players, including Johnson's aides, giving him inside knowledge of the legislative wizardry that led to historic triumphs like the Voting Rights Act and the personal insecurities that led to the tragedy of Vietnam. Peters's experiences have given him unique insight into the poisonous rivalry between Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy, showing how their misunderstanding of each other exacerbated Johnson's self-doubt and led him into the morass of Vietnam, which crippled his presidency and finally drove this larger-than-life man from the office that was his lifelong ambition.
Download or read book Accidental Presidents written by Jared Cohen and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-01-28 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This New York Times bestselling “deep dive into the terms of eight former presidents is chock-full of political hijinks—and déjà vu” (Vanity Fair) and provides a fascinating look at the men who came to the office without being elected to it, showing how each affected the nation and world. The strength and prestige of the American presidency has waxed and waned since George Washington. Eight men have succeeded to the presidency when the incumbent died in office. In one way or another they vastly changed our history. Only Theodore Roosevelt would have been elected in his own right. Only TR, Truman, Coolidge, and LBJ were re-elected. John Tyler succeeded William Henry Harrison who died 30 days into his term. He was kicked out of his party and became the first president threatened with impeachment. Millard Fillmore succeeded esteemed General Zachary Taylor. He immediately sacked the entire cabinet and delayed an inevitable Civil War by standing with Henry Clay’s compromise of 1850. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded our greatest president, sided with remnants of the Confederacy in Reconstruction. Chester Arthur, the embodiment of the spoils system, was so reviled as James Garfield’s successor that he had to defend himself against plotting Garfield’s assassination; but he reformed the civil service. Theodore Roosevelt broke up the trusts. Calvin Coolidge silently cooled down the Harding scandals and preserved the White House for the Republican Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. Harry Truman surprised everybody when he succeeded the great FDR and proved an able and accomplished president. Lyndon B. Johnson was named to deliver Texas electorally. He led the nation forward on Civil Rights but failed on Vietnam. Accidental Presidents shows that “history unfolds in death as well as in life” (The Wall Street Journal) and adds immeasurably to our understanding of the power and limits of the American presidency in critical times.
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 America s Greatest Democratic Presidents of the 20th Century Woodrow Wilson Franklin D Roosevelt Harry Truman John F Kennedy Lyndon B Johnson and Bill Clinton written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by . This book was released on 2013-11-08 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Weaves the lives and presidencies of all 6 Democratic Presidents into one entertaining and educational narrative. *Includes dozens of pictures of the presidents and important people, places, and events in their lives. *Analyzes the legacies and accomplishments of each president. The Democrats who were elected president in the 20th century were responsible for a seemingly never ending list of accomplishments. Woodrow Wilson established the blueprint for the progressive presidents that would follow him, particularly Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, while guiding the nation through World War I. FDR expanded that vision with his New Deal, completely revolutionizing the social contract between Americans and their federal government. While combating the Great Depression and the Axis powers in World War II, FDR has widely been considered one of the greatest presidents in history. When Roosevelt died in April 1945, Vice President Truman, somewhat unprepared for the Presidency, now had to fill some of the biggest shoes in American history. The new president had to usher America through victory in Europe in his first month and decide to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki a few months later, but the end of World War II produced only the first of many consequential decisions Truman would face during his nearly 8 years in office. As president, Truman would lay the groundwork for the next 50 years of American foreign policy, as the architect of Cold War containment, the man who signed off on the Marshall Plan, and the commander-in-chief during much of the Korean War. In many ways, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his young family were the perfect embodiment of the '60s. The decade began with a sense of idealism, personified by the attractive Kennedy, his beautiful and fashionable wife Jackie, and his young children. Months into his presidency, Kennedy exhorted the country to reach for the stars, calling upon the nation to send a man to the Moon and back by the end of the decade. In 1961, Kennedy made it seem like anything was possible, and Americans were eager to believe him. The Kennedy years were fondly and famously labeled "Camelot," by Jackie herself, suggesting an almost mythical quality about the young President and his family. While Kennedy represented lofty ideals, it was LBJ who got in the weeds and made things happen. . To the surprise of many, the Southern Democrat relied on his wealth of Senate experience and dogged determination to help push through an ambitious and progressive social agenda that formed the backbone of modern American society. Known as the Great Society, President Johnson's legislation included the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the establishment of Medicare, Medicaid, environmental protection, and the "War on Poverty." Everything from the National Endowment for the Arts to the Environmental Protection Agency has its roots in Johnson's presidency. The most popular Democrat alive today is "The Comeback Kid", Bill Clinton.Widely hailed as the greatest politician of his era, Clinton proved to be his own worst enemy, creating unnecessary scandals through his womanizing. Clinton was one of the first politicians to truly connect with young adults, yet in the process he provided ludicrous soundbytes like "I did not inhale." Long considered the Democratic Party's greatest spokesman and surrogate, Clinton's presidency was defined by centrist "triangulation". And though he is still publicly popular and considered a great president, Clinton became just the second president to be impeached in the House of Representatives. America's Greatest Democratic Presidents of the 20th Century looks at the lives and presidencies of these historic men and analyzes their legacies. Along with pictures and a Table of Contents, you will learn about them like you never have before.
Download or read book Another Such Victory written by Arnold A. Offner and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 660 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a provocative and thoroughly documented reassessment of President Truman's profound influence on U.S. foreign policy and the Cold War. The author contends that Truman remained a parochial nationalist who lacked the vision and leadership to move the United States away from conflict and toward detente. Instead, he promoted an ideology and politics of Cold War confrontation that set the pattern for successor administrations."
Download or read book Truman written by David McCullough and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2003-08-20 with total page 1409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Harry S. Truman, whose presidency included momentous events from the atomic bombing of Japan to the outbreak of the Cold War and the Korean War, told by America’s beloved and distinguished historian. The life of Harry S. Truman is one of the greatest of American stories, filled with vivid characters—Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Wallace Truman, George Marshall, Joe McCarthy, and Dean Acheson—and dramatic events. In this riveting biography, acclaimed historian David McCullough not only captures the man—a more complex, informed, and determined man than ever before imagined—but also the turbulent times in which he rose, boldly, to meet unprecedented challenges. The last president to serve as a living link between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, Truman’s story spans the raw world of the Missouri frontier, World War I, the powerful Pendergast machine of Kansas City, the legendary Whistle-Stop Campaign of 1948, and the decisions to drop the atomic bomb, confront Stalin at Potsdam, send troops to Korea, and fire General MacArthur. Drawing on newly discovered archival material and extensive interviews with Truman’s own family, friends, and Washington colleagues, McCullough tells the deeply moving story of the seemingly ordinary “man from Missouri” who was perhaps the most courageous president in our history.
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.
