Our
presidents deliver countless speeches and send off daily missives, but how many
have written books and do these books say about their authors and the nation
reading them?
Historian
Craig Fuhrman, who has written for the Washington Post, New York Times, and
Wall Street Journal, explored what the 45 presidents have published, whether
the oboks were written before, during, or after their presidency. Author in
Chief: The untold Story of Our Presidents and The Books They Wrote (Avid Reader
Press) is a noble effort to capture the literary insights and political process
of our nation’s most important leaders.
Of
course, like any good book, the story continues to be written.
A
few books immediately come to mind before I started reading this 432-page tome.
I read John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage as a kid. It’s a book that earned
him the Pulitzer Prize. I also read Donald trump’s The Art of the Deal decades
ago. And millions of Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope. Perhaps reading books
about presidents is a more common thing. I most enjoyed a book that featured
the inaugural speeches of every president.
What
is interesting to contrast is books that are written by candidates before they
become president with their polished memories post-presidency. How different
were their visions as naïve candidates use their hardened views after serving?
“This
book tells the story of how, when, and why America’s presidents have been so
consistently drawn to reading them,” says Fehrman.
Interestingly,
Thomas Jefferson is credited with writing the first campaign book. His Notes on
the State of Virginia was released when “America’s literary culture was anemic,
when new books were expensive and rare.”
Indeed,
the book landscape centuries ago was vastly different than today. Many towns
lacked bookstores or a place to buy books. Much of the country was not
literate. Slaves didn’t read and women were not formally taught. School requirements
back then took second place to the schedule of farming and working. Newspapers
were limited in their coverage of books. There was no TV, radio, or Internet.
Perhaps
one of the more political biographies in America’s early history was by a
non-president, Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. His autobiography is still
read today.
Jefferson
was a big supporter of the literary arts. When the Library of Congress lost
most of its early collection to a fire, he sold thousands of his books to the
library and helped build it up past pre-fire levels.
So
which books by our presidents are recommended reading from Fehrman? His
appendix highlights these:
·
Barack
Obama: Dreams From My Father
·
Ronald
Reagan: Where’s The Rest of Me?
·
Jimmy
carter: An Hour Before Daylight
·
Harry
S. Truman: Memories
·
Calvin
Coolidge: Book of My Boyhood
·
Woodrow
Wilson: Congressional Government
·
Theodore
Roosevelt: Autobiography
·
Ulysses
Grant: Personal Memories (Some of It)
·
Abraham
Lincoln’s Speeches (All of Them)
·
John
Adams: Autobiography
·
Thomas
Jefferson: Notes on the State of Virginia
One
can only imagine what Trump will write in his memoir. Who will he castigate and
unmercifully tear apart? How will he praise himself even when certain speeches
of his presidency were abject failures?
If
being president is a rare club to be a part of, being a president and author is
perhaps rarer.
Do
some books by would-be presidents raise good ideas and lend insights as to how
they will govern? Absolutely. Do post-office memories try to even scores or
cast presidencies into softer light? For sure. But these books do provide hope,
vision, and history, and for that, they are worth looking at.
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