Presidents' Most Wanted

by Ragone, Nick

• ISBN13: 9781597970747
• ISBN10: 1597970743
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-28
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc

Summary

The presidency is a special office. Along with the vice president, the victorious candidate is our only nationally elected official, and the position has come to symbolize American government worldwide. In many ways, the office is greater than the people who have occupied it. In the 200-plus years of our nation's history, the presidency has grown and evolved dramatically. With the exception of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson, the nineteenth-century office holders exerted little executive power and mostly deferred to Congress on domestic affairs. Teddy Roosevelt began to change all that, and FDR completed the transformation with his New Deal, laying the foundations for the modern presidency. With the onset of the Cold War, the 'œimperial' presidency was in full bloom, and after a brief lull, the government's response to the war on terror has given the office new and unprecedented powers. Undoubtedly now the presidency is not only the most powerful and important job in the United States, but arguably in the world. Presidents' Most Wanted'„¢celebrates the office, the people who inhabited it, and the process of winning it, with thirty-five chapters packed full of all sorts of presidential trivia. It covers everything from elections to first ladies to blunders and triumphs, and gives the reader an in-depth look at the most powerful person in the world.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. xiii
Firsts	p. 1
Advisers	p. 7
Distinguished Cabinet Members	p. 14
Great Speeches	p. 23
Bold Decisions	p. 34
Legislative Accomplishments and Notable Achievements	p. 43
Memorable Quotes	p. 51
Generals Who Became President	p. 58
Assassinations and Attempts	p. 67
Illness	p. 74
Biggest Blunders	p. 82
Feuds and Rivalries	p. 90
Scandal	p. 97
Embarrassing Moments	p. 105
Closest Elections	p. 113
Presidential Losers	p. 121
Debates	p. 129
Third-Party Candidates	p. 138
Primary Upsets	p. 145
Campaign Slogans	p. 152
First Ladies	p. 157
Mistresses	p. 166
Offspring	p. 173
Vice Presidents: The Powerful and Memorable	p. 180
Vice Presidents: The Forgettable and Regrettable	p. 189
Ranking the Presidents: The Great and Near Great	p. 196
Ranking the Presidents: The Good	p. 207
Ranking the Presidents: The Average	p. 216
Ranking the Presidents: The Bad and the Ugly	p. 223
Postpresidential Careers	p. 230
Tourist Destinations	p. 238
Memorials and Monuments	p. 244
Movies	p. 251
Hackers in Chief	p. 257
Ten Things You Didn't Know About the Presidency	p. 264
Selected Bibliography	p. 271
Index	p. 275
About the Author	p. 287
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