The Complete Idiot's Guide to the American Presidents

Front Cover
Penguin, 2000 - Biography & Autobiography - 428 pages
While there are any number of overviews of the 41 Presidents of the United States published for the juvenile market, few books provide a basic look at each man and his presidency -- the good, the bad, and the in between -- placing him in the context of his time and the major events that shaped him. CIG to American Presidents does just that, focusing on the important moments in his life -- some of them lesser-known -- that helped to determine the essence of the man who would be president.

The discussion of each president includes a timeline, photographs, trivia, and other details that expand on the text.

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Selected pages

Contents

Setting the Presidential Precedence with George Washington
3
George George George of the Valley Strong as He Could Be
4
Getting Off on the Good Foot
7
George Washington and Original Sin
9
With a Rebel Yell They Cried More More More Whiskey in ajar
11
Legacy
13
Ive Been Thinkin About Abraham Lincoln
15
The Man from Illinois Is Defined by KansasNebraska
16
American Domination
218
The Spoils and Violent Aftermath
219
Club Fighters
223
That Ole Virginia Dynasty James Madison and James Monroe
225
Father of the Constitution
227
Four Terms in the Formative Years
228
Well Hello Dolley
230
Picking a Fight
231

Theres Sumter Happenin Here What It Is Was Exactly Clear
17
A Rough Start
18
The Question at Hand
19
Free at First Free at First
21
The Only Thing That Mattered
23
Has Anybody Seen My Old Friend Abraham?
24
Four Decisive Reelections
27
Rain Money on the Scarecrow
28
New Dealers Choice
29
The Banking Crisis
30
Executive Trial and Error
31
Packing It In
35
The Date That Lives in Infamy
36
Roosevelt Stalin and Churchill at Yalta
38
The Renaissance President Thomas Jefferson
39
A Colonial Politico
40
Back to Virginia to Add to the Freedoms
41
The Unpopular Governor Jefferson
42
French Class
43
Jefferson vs Hamilton
44
A Federalist President and His Angry Subordinate
45
A New Century a New Party a New President
46
A Great Bargain
47
Second Term Headaches
48
The Embargo Fiasco
49
One Last Masterpiece
50
Heavyweights
53
Give Em Hell Harry S Truman
55
Born to Believe in Independence
56
The Pros and Cons of the Pendergast
57
Rage Against the Machine
58
Cleaning Up on the National Stage
59
The Whole World in His Hands
60
Little Boy and Fat Man
62
From Hero to Goat to HellGiving Survivor
63
Meanwhile Back in Europe
64
WhistleStopping to the Top
65
Four More Years Many More Problems
67
Independence Once Again
68
Truly One of a Kind
71
A Devastating Valentines Day
72
Back in the Race
73
Rough Riders Mount Up
75
A President for the People
76
Coal Miners Defender
77
Regulating the Railroads
78
Roosevelts Pet Project the Panama Canal
79
The Roosevelt Corollary
80
Cleaning Up Food Trains and Forests
81
The Hepburn Act
82
Gone Hunting but Not for a Third Term
83
Do That to Me One More Time
84
Another Tragedy Befalls Roosevelt
85
The Staunchly Sometimes Progressive Woodrow Wilson
87
Joe College
88
What Exit You from Governor Joisey?
89
The GOP Split Is Wilsons Gain
90
Wilson Tries to Remain Neutral
91
Of Course You Realize This Means War
92
Thats Bolshevik
93
The First Sitting President Visits Europe
94
A Nobel Effort to No Effect
95
Backward Thinking
97
You Couldnt Make Up a Character Quite Like Andrew Jackson
99
Old Hickory as a Young Bud
102
Early Political Life
103
A Volunteer Politician
104
The Stolen Election of 1824
105
Sexual Affairs and Southern Nullification
106
Driving Native Americans from Their Home
107
Taking on the Bank
108
Wildcat Woes
109
French Toast
110
The Formidable Forgotten James K Polk
113
Napoleon of the Stump
114
The Sole Speaker of the House
115
Right Place Right Time
117
Sticking to the Game Plan
119
Oregon Ducks Another Battle
120
Walker Tariff Ranger
121
From Sea to Shining Sea
122
John Adams SecondChair Founding Father
123
The Great Brain from Braintree
124
Liberty Trumps Violent Patriotism
125
John and Sam in Philly
126
Today Is Our Independence Day
127
The European Years
128
The No 1 No 2
129
Adams Dwells Within the Most Insignificant Office
130
Adams and Jefferson Square Off in the First TwoMan Contest
131
The ABCs of XYZ
132
In the Navy
133
Alienating Free Speech
134
Middleweight
137
Cleveland Rocks the White House Grover Cleveland
139
New York State of Mind
140
Everythings Coming Up Cleveland
141
First Time Around Clean House and Senate
142
Just a FourYear Intermission
144
Major Depression
145
Losing Liberals and Labor
146
Reformist First Nonconsecutive Guy Second
148
Like Forefather Like Son John Quincy Adams
149
Just Another Trial of the Century
150
Wunderkind
151
Mr Adams Goes to Washington
152
The Man Behind Monroe
153
The TwoTime Loser Is the Big Winner
154
The Undistinguished Term
155
One Ugly Election
156
Heeeeeeres Johnny
157
Win Two Terms for the Gipper Ronald Reagan
159
Striking Gold with Goldwater
162
Just a WarmUp
163
Reagans Resounding Victory
164
Reaganomics Takes Shape
166
Facing Down the Evil Empire
167
Trouble Spots Span the Globe
168
Scandal Breaks Reagan Escapes
169
Dutchs Sadly Ironic Final Days
170
The Bigger They Are the Harder They Fall Lyndon Johnson
173
A New Dealers Debut
175
Taking a Step to the Right
176
Civil Action
177
Americas Tragedy Begets Johnsons Presidency
179
Getting Down to Business
180
Landslide Lyndon Lives Up to His Name
181
Four Unbelievable Years
182
The Vietnam War Cripples Johnson at Home and Abroad
184
Johnson Drops a Final Bomb
185
Any Which Way to the White House Rutherford B Hayes
187
OneThats the Magic Number
188
The Tainted Victor
189
Conciliatory Politics
190
Four Wounds and No Funeral
192
The BattleTested Buckeye Enters Politics
193
Ello Guvnuh
194
These Are Hayes to Remember
195
Lucy in the Dry with Lemons
196
If I Could Be Like Ike Dwight David Eisenhower
199
Makings of a Military Man
201
The Big Gun in the Big One
202
Supreme Allied Commander
203
World War II Comes to an End
204
The Call of the White House
205
The Relative Calm of the Eisenhower Era
206
Rockets and HighFlying Spies
208
The McCarthy Era
209
Ike Eisenhower vs Orval Faubus
210
A Second Term and a Booming Economy
211
Has Anyone Seen My Old Friend William McKinley?
213
Before the Newspapers War Business as Usual
216
Our Maine Man Takes Us into the SpanishAmerican War
217
The Wars Pluses and Minuses
232
Back to Montpelier
233
Plenty of Posts Prior to the Presidency
235
The Next Logical Step
236
Died on the Fourth of July
238
Single Days Doom Their Terms Gerald Ford and Herbert Hoover
241
Spending a Long Time in the House
242
Getting Caught in the Tangled Web Dick Weaved
243
The Pardon
244
Playing Out the Back Nine
245
Amnesty
246
You Betty You Betty You Bet
247
Two Attempted Assassinations and a Quiet Departure
248
From the Cornfields to the Gold Mines
249
A European Epicurean in Times of Need
250
Commerce Comes AKnocking
251
Over Before it Began
252
The Inevitable
254
Back Where He Belongs
255
Were They Doomed from the Start?
256
Peanut Farmer and Jelly Belly Jimmy Carter and William Howard Taft
257
From Sea to Shining Sea Wolf
258
Georgia on My Mind
259
Mr Peanut Becomes the Governor
260
Carters Presidential Triumphs and Tribulations
261
Carters Difficulties
262
The 1980 Election
264
Law in Order
265
Philippines or Bust
266
He Aint Heavy Hes My President
267
The PayneAldrich Tariff
268
No Chance Against the Bull Moose
269
Death Does Its Part John Tyler and Mil lard Fillmore
273
A Strict Constitution
274
The Whig Cult Preying on the Disillusioned
275
Presenting His Accidency
276
Jumping Ship but Holding On to Their Whigs
277
Treaties Among the Tricks
278
Progress or Placebo?
279
Fillmore East Balances the Ticket
280
Where the Buffalo Roam
282
Building a Better Library
283
A Couple of Dandies Chester A Arthur and Martin Van Buren
287
Getting in Good with the GOP
288
CustomMade Appointee
289
Arthur Ascends and Surprises the Stalwarts
290
Out with the Slackers in with the Plebes
291
The President of Savoir Faire
292
The Kid from Kinderhook
293
A Dozen Years Half a Dozen Important Positions
294
The Beef with Calhoun
295
A Panic Sets In
296
Van Burens Other Issues
297
Martin Van Ruin Is Beaten by Tippecanoe
298
Tomato Cans Never Coulda Been Contenders and Still in Training
301
The DullNamic Duo Benjamin Harrison and Calvin Coolidge
303
Kid Gloves
304
Whos the Boss?
305
Gentle Ben
306
Cant Trust It
307
Ben There Done That
309
Scaling the Massachusetts Political Scene
310
Speaking Up for Silent Cal
312
All by Myself
313
In Touch with the Wealthy Man
314
More Time to Rest
315
BacktoBack Slacks Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan
317
An Unfortunate HorsePlay
318
The Man of Compromise
319
Tragedy Strikes
321
The Of tend Manifesto
322
Pierces Greatest Unintended GOP Legacy
323
Lancaster Law
324
If at First You Dont Succeed
325
Old Buck Stops Here
326
The Dred Scott Case
327
John Browns Raid at Harpers Ferry
328
Not That Theres Anything Wrong with That
329
Could Anyone Have Made a Difference?
330
With Friends Like These Warren G Harding and Ulysses S Grant
331
A Ladys Man Comes Out of the Closet
332
From Columnist to Candidate
333
The Legend of the SmokeFilled Room
334
Corruption Takes Control
336
Et Tu Daugherty?
337
Innocuous Beginnings
338
Getting to the Bottom of the Bottle
339
Nowhere to Go but Up
340
Vicksburg
341
Grant Leads the Union Victory
342
A Shaky Start
343
Grants Gains
344
Hero of Appomattox and His Unheroic Underlings
345
A Warm Welcome
346
Trouble at the Top Andrew Johnson and Richard Nixon
347
Union Yes
348
To the Upper Chamber and Beyond
349
A National Tragedy Elevates Johnson
350
Sewards Folly Is Americas Gain
351
The Radical Case for Johnsons Impeachment
352
Running Afoul of the Radicals
353
Sewn from Quaker Oats
354
An AntiCommunist Crusader Is Born
355
Playing Checkers for Eisenhower
356
Keeping Busy in Times of Peace
357
Back from the Dead
358
The Vietnam War Rages On
359
China Russia and the Middle East
360
Domestic Concerns Minus the Big One
361
Watergate Breaks Nixon Resigns
362
Caught on Tape
363
Later Years and Looking Back
364
What Well Never Know William Henry Harrison and John F Kennedy
367
At Home in Indiana
368
Whiging Out
369
Tippecanoe and the Wicked Flu
371
The Cuban Success
372
Most Likely to Succeed
373
The Saga of PT 109
374
The Family Helps Elect Senator John Kennedy
375
The Television and the Politician Merge
376
A Stifling Congress
377
International Interests
378
A Penalty for Early Withdrawal?
379
Staying off the Grassy Knoll
380
What Might Have Been James Garfield and Zachary Taylor
383
Gentleman Preacher to Citizen Soldier
385
Going Postal
388
Ignorance Is Bliss
389
Rough and Humble Beginnings
390
The Black Hawk War
391
Battles with the Seminole Indians
392
Mexican War 18451847
393
Shopping for a Whig
394
The Question for the Ages
395
Making Friends with Daddys Enemy
396
Too Soon to Know George Bush and Bill Clinton
399
The Elected Years
400
The Appointed Years
401
The Presidential Years
402
The Foreign Upside
403
The Gulf War
404
The Domestic Downside
405
Its the Economy and the Bull Moose Effect
406
Never Too Young to Be Governor
407
From a Little Rock Comes the Big Cheese
408
Clintons Domestic Life
409
Patriots Day Tragedies
410
Clintons Mixed Bag of Foreign Situations
411
Lying Under Oath Scandal
412
Its the Economy Stupid
413
Index
415
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