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 22
... trying " to wound my character and deceive the people . " But one of Jefferson's Virginia Republicans wrote a friend that Wash- ington had been unmasked " as the head of a British faction , and grati- tude no longer blinds the public ...
... trying " to wound my character and deceive the people . " But one of Jefferson's Virginia Republicans wrote a friend that Wash- ington had been unmasked " as the head of a British faction , and grati- tude no longer blinds the public ...
Page 90
... trying to avenge the " private griefs " of his defeat in 1832. He said if the Whigs wished to upbraid the President , they must impeach him , and the Constitution gave that job to the House , not the Senate . Nevertheless on Friday ...
... trying to avenge the " private griefs " of his defeat in 1832. He said if the Whigs wished to upbraid the President , they must impeach him , and the Constitution gave that job to the House , not the Senate . Nevertheless on Friday ...
Page 315
... trying to liberate them . Mounting a platform near the Brandenburg Gate , Reagan was furi- ous when he peered through binoculars and saw East Berliners trying to hear him being pushed away by police . Deciding with his actor's instinct ...
... trying to liberate them . Mounting a platform near the Brandenburg Gate , Reagan was furi- ous when he peered through binoculars and saw East Berliners trying to hear him being pushed away by police . Deciding with his actor's instinct ...
Contents
Chapter Fourteen | 103 |
Chapter Fifteen | 113 |
Chapter Sixteen | 119 |
Copyright | |
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Abigail Adams Adams's American Andrew Jackson asked Bank Biddle's Blair Bobby British Bryant Cabinet called campaign Churchill civil rights Clark Clifford Clay Congress DeConde Democrats Eddie Jacobson Edmund Morris Edmund Randolph Eleanor election Federalist felt Ferling Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Roosevelt Papers George Washington Gorbachev Hanna Harry Truman Henry insisted James Jay's Treaty Jewish Jews John Adams John F John Hay Joseph Kennedy Joseph Kennedy Diary Joseph Kennedy Papers July June Kennedy Library Kennedy's knew leaders Lincoln Marshall McClellan Miller Center Morison nation never Nicholas Biddle Nixon oral history Oval Office Palestine peace Pickering political President President's Quasi-War Reagan Papers Reagan told Remini replied Republicans Robert Kennedy Ronald Reagan Diary Secretary Senate Sept Shultz Soviet Theodore Rex Theodore Roosevelt told his diary Truman Library Truman Papers Union vote warned Weizmann White House wife William Willkie wrote York