Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and how They Changed America, 1789-1989Simon & Schuster, 2007 - 430 pages From the acclaimed bestselling author ofThe Conquerors Michael Beschloss has brought us a brilliantly readable and inspiring saga about crucial times in America's history when a courageous President dramatically changed the future of the United States. With surprising new sources and a dazzling command of history and human character, Beschloss brings to life these flawed, complex men -- and their wives, families, friends and foes. Never have we had a more intimate, behind-the-scenes view of Presidents coping with the supreme dilemmas of their lives. You will be in the room with the private George Washington, braving threats of impeachment and assassination to make peace with England. John Adams, incurring his party's "unrelenting hatred" by refusing to fight France and warning his enemies, "Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war." Andrew Jackson, in a death struggle against the corrupt Bank of the United States. Abraham Lincoln, risking his Presidency to insist that slaves be freed. Beschloss also shows us Theodore Roosevelt, taunting J. P. Morgan and the Wall Street leaders who dominated his party. Franklin Roosevelt, defying the isolationists -- and maybe the law -- to stop Adolf Hitler. Harry Truman, risking a walkout by top officials to recognize a Jewish state. John Kennedy, the belated champion of civil rights, complaining that he has cost himself a second term. And finally, two hundred years after Washington, Ronald Reagan, irking some of his oldest backers to seek an end to the Cold War. As Beschloss shows in this gripping and important book, none of these Presidents was eager to incur ridicule, vilification or threats of political destruction and even assassination. But in the end, bolstered by friends and family, hidden private beliefs and, sometimes, religious faith, each ultimately proved himself to be, in Andrew Jackson's words, "born for the storm." |
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Page 9
... York's City Hall , people threw rocks , leaving his face bloody . Someone joked that the crowd had " tried to knock out Hamilton's brains to reduce him to equality with themselves . " In Boston Harbor , mobs set a British ship aflame ...
... York's City Hall , people threw rocks , leaving his face bloody . Someone joked that the crowd had " tried to knock out Hamilton's brains to reduce him to equality with themselves . " In Boston Harbor , mobs set a British ship aflame ...
Page 134
... York rich would now " cross themselves at the mention of our names . " John Hay teased the President about his ... York's prosperity would be damaged by “ a raid on Canfield's , ” a Manhattan gambling den . He wrote a friend , the ...
... York rich would now " cross themselves at the mention of our names . " John Hay teased the President about his ... York's prosperity would be damaged by “ a raid on Canfield's , ” a Manhattan gambling den . He wrote a friend , the ...
Page 205
... York's Lower East Side to Yiddish- speaking Orthodox Lithuanian Jews . The family settled in Kansas City , where young Eddie dropped out of school to help his father , a shoe- maker , support their large family . In 1917 , the genial ...
... York's Lower East Side to Yiddish- speaking Orthodox Lithuanian Jews . The family settled in Kansas City , where young Eddie dropped out of school to help his father , a shoe- maker , support their large family . In 1917 , the genial ...
Contents
Chapter Fourteen | 103 |
Chapter Fifteen | 113 |
Chapter Sixteen | 119 |
Copyright | |
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