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Presidential historian Michael Beschloss is a familiar face on television, but also a well-known historical voice. His studies of Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman, and F.D.R. have looked through the surface pomp of the presidency and analyzed the decision-making of our chief executives. Beschloss is always looking for the interplay of politics, money, ego, personal foibles, and true statesmanship. Each of the presidents he studies distributes the virtues and vices in different measures.
In his latest book, Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How they Changed America 1789-1989, Michael Beschloss argues that the real, ultimate test of a president is not his organization, agenda, or policies—every president has those things—but the courage he demonstrates in a crisis. Every president comes face to face with burning crises or tough decisions, and the great presidents, as distinct from the merely ordinary, exhibit courage in the clinch.
To make his point, Beschloss writes 36 chapters, each of them treating a case of presidential courage. The book is meant to be exhaustive. These are the cases of courage; presidents who are left out can be assumed not to have been severely tested, or simply not to have revealed great courage in their careers.
George Washington exhibited tremendous courage in agreeing to the Jay Treaty with Great Britain in 1795. At war with Revolutionary France, the British threatened war with America as well if it continued to trade with France and its Caribbean islands. American nationalists (like Thomas Jefferson) were all for war with Britain to assert American independence, which America had won at Yorktown a decade earlier, but which the British had only winked at. Washington wisely braved threats and slanders to enforce the treaty, which bought a weak, still fragmented America time to cohere and gather its strength. Beschloss considers John Adams’ decision to avert war with France in 1798 to have been no less courageous. The French Directory government had seized four American envoys sent to negotiate an end to French depredations on American shipping. Paris demanded a ransom for their return. With most of America up in arms, Adams negotiated instead of fighting, reasoning, like Washington, that America needed time to build power, and that an American war with France would merely strengthen Britain, which was assumed to be awaiting the right moment to re-conquer its lost American colonies. Beschloss applauds Andrew Jackson for taking on the National Bank of the United States and breaking its considerable powers. F.D.R. displayed remarkable courage in resisting isolationist sentiment and nudging America toward support of Britain and the Soviet Union in their struggle with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
Many will argue with Beschloss. Some see John Adams more quiescent than courageous. Beschloss’ applause for Harry Truman’s “courageous” decision to recognize Israel in May 1948 can as easily be viewed as a rather craven sell-out to intense lobbying by American Zionists and a desire to capture the electoral votes of key states with large Jewish voting blocs in the 1948 presidential campaign. Overall, however, this is a brisk, exciting read that brings to life the key turning points in American political history. 400 pages • 6 1/4" x 9 1/4" • 1 16-page b&w photo insert • 1 8-page color photo insert
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