Category: Presidential Reading Project

Worst. President. Ever. by Robert Strauss

Robert Strauss’ book, Worst. President. Ever. James Buchanan, the POTUS Rating Game, and the Legacy of the Least of the Lesser Presidents, is a different biography than any of the other presidential biographies I have read as I work to read a biography of each U.S. president. James Buchanan was president from 1857 to 1861. While Worst. President. Ever. tells the story of Buchanan’s life and presidency it also makes a very strong case for what an awful president he was. As Strauss said in a tweet in 2018:

“I know people don’t like Trump, but let’s face it, secession, Dred Scott, the worst depression of the 19th Century, invading more countries than any other president…and more. Buchanan is so clearly the winner (loser)”

@rsstrauss

The Dred Scott supreme court decision came out right after Buchanan was inaugurated. He arm twisted and lobbied for the wide ranging decision which basically said once a slave always a slave no matter where the slave lived. Buchanan was so clueless and out of touch with the country that he thought the decision would end the fight about slavery forever and the country could move on. The Dred Scott decision did just the opposite.

Buchanan named a cabinet that was like minded and primarily southerners and southern sympathizers. His secretary of the treasury, Howell Cobb had once owned a thousand slaves on his Georgia plantation. The cabinet were congenial. There was no one who could tell Buchanan when he was wrong.

Duke and I visited Paraguay in October of 2019. It is a land locked country between Brazil and Argentina. Even though I’ve been to Paraguay I had no idea that in 1859 the United States invaded Paraguay! Buchanan sent 2,500 marines and nineteen warships. It took a long time to get to South America and up the Parana River to Asuncion, the capital. By the time they got there the squabble was over.

At least I’ve heard of the other war Buchanan tried to get the U.S. into. The pig war started when a farmer shot a pig that belonged to the Canadian Hudson Bay Company. Buchanan sent General Winfield Scott, Captain George Pickett, troops and warships to the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the Canadian border in northwest Washington state. Luckily Scott negotiated a truce.

The book explains how Buchanan and his policies ensured that he presided over what became the worst depression in the 19th century and how he made sure that he not only did nothing to avoid the civil war but in fact insured that the southern states seceded. A final legacy of Buchanan’s disastrous presidency was essentially the destruction of the Democratic party. In the fifty years after he left office there was only one democratic president, Grover Cleveland.

In his last chapter, The Legacy of the Least of the Lesser Presidents, Strauss points out that we can learn a lot about how to be a better president by studying failures like Buchanan and his presidency.

Worst. President. Ever. was thought provoking and interesting. I learned a lot from it and would recommend it to anyone interested in American history and the American presidency.

Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

I just finished reading Candice Millard’s book Destiny of the Republic. The subtitle of the book is A tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President. That pretty much sums up this book about our twentieth president, James Garfield and his assassination.

Destiny of the Republic is the latest book I have completed as a part of my Presidential Reading Project. I’m reading at least one book about each of our presidents. If you would like to see a summary of my progress, a list of the books I’ve read and links to my reviews of them is here.

James Garfield was born in 1831. He was inaugurated as President in March of 1881. He was shot in July of 1881 and he died September 19, 1881. He was just 49.

Garfield did not want to run for president. He was drafted on the 36th ballot taken at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. He appears to have been a truly good man who wanted to bring the country together. I think he would have been an excellent president.

Garfield’s vice presidential running mate was chosen with no input from Garfield. Chester Arthur had never held a public position except as Collector of the New York Customs House a position he was appointed to for political reasons. Politically he was the creation of Roscoe Conkling the senator from New York who was probably the most powerful man in the country and perhaps also the most corrupt.

Even though Joseph Lister and the antiseptic surgery he pioneered were widely accepted in Europe in 1881, the idea of germs was considered laughable by the doctors who treated Garfield. He probably would have lived if the doctors had not introduced germs as they repeatedly searched for the assassin’s bullet. Ultimately it was the infection that killed Garfield.

Destiny of the Republic is a fascinating book. Millard knows how to tell a story and educate you at the same time. Another of her books that I enjoyed is The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey.

Garfield’s assassination by a madman who thought he was doing God’s work was so pointless. Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed Destiny of the Republic. I appreciated the hopefulness of it. Garfield became President shortly after the end of the Civil War at a time when our country seemed irrevocably divided. I especially like one of the points Millard makes about Garfield in the epilogue.

“The horror and senselessness of his death, and the wasted promise of his life, brought tremendous change to the country he loved — change that, had it come earlier, almost certainly would have spared his life. Garfield’s long illness and painful death brought the country together in a way that, even the day before the assassination attempt had seemed to most Americans impossible. “

Franklin Pierce: New Hampshire’s Favorite Son by Peter A. Wallner

I am working on reading a book about each of our presidents. You can see the ones I have read so far here.

Franklin Pierce our 14th president was an interesting man whose political life was based on preserving the union. This book only covers Pierce’s life up to his inauguration. Although it took me six months to read I found the book compelling. Pierce was 47 when he was elected, the youngest president up until his time. The previous biography of Pierce prior to Wallner’s book was published in 1931 and Wallner uses new sources and modern research to describe the life and times of Pierce. Here are a couple quotes from the introduction.

“The reality of the man did not seem to fit the reputation, and maybe it is the reputation that needs to be reconsidered in light of the reality of Franklin Pierce’s life and career.”

“His failings in these early years, and they were many, are consistent with the inability of the second party system to deal with the single-issue movements such as abolitionism and temperance and their moralistic, divisive, and often extralegal propensities.”

The most tragic thing about Pierce’s life is that he and his wife had three children all of whom died before he became president. The most horrifying death was that of his ten year old son Benny who was seated right behind his parents when he was killed in a train accident on the way to Washington for the inauguration.

Millard Fillmore – Biography of a President by Robert J. Rayback

One of my most strongly held beliefs is that if you commit to something and keep working towards it then eventually you will achieve it. More than seven years ago I decided I wanted to read a biography of each American president. I created an index listing each book I had read. Now each time I read a new presidential biography I write a blog post about it and add it to my summary list.   For over a year I have been bogged down on Millard Fillmore. I finally finished his biography last week. Even though it took a long time to cross another president off my list I am making progress.

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Millard Fillmore was our 13th President. He was John Taylor’s Vice President and became President when Taylor died  on  July 9, 1850, less than six months after taking office. In my blog post about Zachary Taylor’s biography I commented that Fillmore is often on lists of worst Presidents. I must say that after reading Raybacks’s biography of Fillmore I would not rate him as a bad President.

More than anything he wanted to preserve the union and avoid a civil war. The compromise that he helped put in place brought the country back from the brink of civil war in 1850. The choice between the horrific institution of slavery and the equally horrific human cost of the civil war, was an awful choice. I don’t know where I would have stood.

In any case Millard Fillmore as portrayed by Robert Rayback is an interesting man who I couldn’t help but like and admire.

My biggest complaint about the book is the same as I have had about other presidential biographies. There is almost no discussion of Fillmore’s private life, his wife, or his children.  Rayback intentionally used the Fillmore biography as a vehicle to tell the story of the end of the Whig party and the birth of the Republican party. Rayback says in his introduction that “Curiosity about the Whig party, rather than admiration for Fillmore” started him on the research that led to this book. In fact Fillmore’s enemies worked to trash his memory and his legacy. All that people knew about him for many years was from a book written ten years after his death by his bitterest political enemy.

The first paragraph of Rayback’s introduction sum’s up well my experience learning about Fillmore.

Rayback says:

“As I began my research for this book, I expected to find that Millard Fillmore was a weak and pompous President, for tradition had painted that portrait of him. When, instead, my investigations revealed that he possessed extraordinary strength of character and an enviable tenacity of purpose — as well as an admirable personality — I was startled.”

Fillmore was a self made man who had a clear set of personal principals that he followed with unswerving focus. He preferred to avoid a fight but he stood up for what he believed in. I couldn’t help but like and admire him.

Zachary Taylor by John S. D. Eisenhower

I have a long term goal to read a biography of each American President. My list of the books I have read so far is here.

Reading biographies is giving me a more focused feel for American History. During our recent road trip I finished reading about President number twelve, Zachary Taylor. The biography was written by John S. D. Eisenhower, a retired brigadear general, historian and the son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

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Eisenhower’s biography of Taylor is short, only 140 pages. “His presidency was also short. He was sworn in March 5 1849 and he died of an infection on July 9, 1850.” Taylor’s personal papers were destroyed during the Civil War when Union soldiers destroyed the home of Taylor’s son, Richard, at Baton Rouge. As a result not a lot is known about Taylor’s view of his presidency.

Taylor was best known as Old Rough and Ready, the general who led the U.S. to victory in the Mexican American War. Reading about the significant battles in that war and about Taylor’s leadership was the highlight of the book.

If you are looking for a book to read about Taylor I would recommend the Eisenhower book. It is a well written easy read.

Next I will be reading about Millard Fillmore, Taylor’s Vice President, who took over when Taylor died. He is considered one of our worst presidents so this should be interesting.