Reading a Biography of Every U.S. President

As a fan of history (especially presidential history), it seemed like a no-brainer that I take the presidential challenge - reading at least one biography of every POTUS. Here I will keep an updated list of each one, a rating, some brief thoughts, and a rating. I will also have a list of "supplemental" books that are not traditional biographies but that are related nonetheless.

Main Site Index

Recent Updates:
8/24/2019- Review for LBJ vol. 1
9/15/2018- Reviews for Truman, Andrew Jackson, Case Closed

9/9/2018- Launched

This list will be organized chronologically (though I will not at all be reading these in chronological order), and I will list the book I plan on reading, though it is by no means definitive until I've actually read it. Be warned this is not going to be updated quickly, as I read other things in the meantime. The reviews will be quick overviews.

Some rules:

1. The biography does NOT need to be all-encompassing. My personal focus is on the administration and the politics of it all, so it is not a requirement that I get the pre-presidential life, although a well-written one is certainly appreciated. 

2. It cannot be about one specific event (i.e. Watergate, assassinations, etc.). Those, however, can be added in the supplemental section.

3. It cannot be an autobiography or memoir. It should be more objective than that.

4. I will not count anything from the American Presidency series, which are too short to be considered.

5. I will keep a running ranking of the bios at he bottom.

Main List

#1- George Washington (Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow)

#2- John Adams (John Adams by David McCullough)

#3- Thomas Jefferson (tbd...)

#4- James Madison (The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President by Noah Feldman)

#5- James Monroe (tbd...)

#6- John Quincy Adams (John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit by James Traub)

#7- Andrew Jackson (tbd...)

#8- Martin Van Buren (Martin Van Buren and the American Political System by Donald B. Cole)

#9- William Henry Harrison (tbd...)

#10- John Tyler (tbd...)

#11- James Polk (A Country of Vast Designs by Robert W. Merry)

#12- Zachary Taylor (tbd...)

#13- Millard Fillmore (tbd...)

#14- Franklin Pierce (tbd...)

#15- James Buchanan (tbd...)

#16- Abraham Lincoln (tbd...)

#17- Andrew Johnson (tbd...)

#18- Ulysses S. Grant (Grant by Ron Chernow)

#19- Rutherford B. Hayes (tbd...)

#20- James Garfield (Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield by Kenneth D. Ackerman)

#21- Chester A. Arthur (tbd...)

#22/#24- Grover Cleveland (tbd...)

#23- Benjamin Harrison (tbd...)

#25- William McKinley (tbd...)

#26- Theodore Roosevelt (Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris)

#27- William Howard Taft (tbd...)

#28- Woodrow Wilson (Woodrow Wilson: A Biography by John M. Cooper) 

#29- Warren G. Harding (The Harding Era: Warren G. Harding and His Administration by Robert K. Murray)

#30- Calvin Coolidge (tbd...)

#31- Herbert Hoover (Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of a Presidency by Charles Rappleye)

#32- Franklin D. Roosevelt (Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by H. W. Brands)

#33- Harry Truman (Truman by David McCullough)- A-

One of the most heralded biographies lives up to the hype. An extensive view of his life, Truman covers Harry's life in a well-balanced way, never spending too much or too little time on any one area. In particular I enjoyed his life in the senate and the 1948 campaign. It starts to sort of taper off near the end as McCullough describes some of the scandals that members of the administration found themselves in, which aren't terribly interesting. Some of the individuals in Truman's life don't get great characterizations (including his wife), and Truman himself is such a simple and honorable man that he does not provide deep insights for some of the more complicated matters he was involved with. You don't get the sense that there are many layers to peel away from him. Still, this is the perfect overview of his life and presidency, while providing enough backstory to make his unpredictable rise to power a true miracle.

#34- Dwight D. Eisenhower (Eisenhower: Soldier and President by Stephen E. Ambrose)

#35- John F. Kennedy (President Kennedy: Profile in Power by Richard Reeves)

#36- Lyndon B. Johnson (The Years of Lyndon Johnson series by Robert A. Caro)- Vol. 1- A-

(currently reading volume 2)

The Path to Power: Caro's biography is legendary, and it doesn't take long to see why. Early on, he describes the geology and climate of the Texas hill country, and how the settlers on that land unknowingly doomed themselves to poverty by choosing that specific spot. Caro goes deep, and while some sections aren't as compelling (the specifics of which businessmen paid whom, and who covered what up), there are many diversions that paint the picture of LBJ's vivid life. There are cart-loads of anecdotes about his character that are simultaneously unflattering and impressive. No one can deny he worked hard to get where he wanted to go, even though he often used unscrupulous means to get there. Short bios of Sam Rayburn, "Pappy" O'Daniel, and others, add some color to the proceedings. Caro could have trimmed dozens and dozens of pages off, but the occasional repetition and meandering is worth it to see the genesis of this titan in American politics.

#37- Richard Nixon (Richard Nixon: The Life by John A. Farrell)

#38- Gerald Ford (Gerald R. Ford: An Honorable Life by James M. Cannon)

#39- Jimmy Carter (President Carter: The White House Years by Stuart Eizenstat)

(currently reading)

#40- Ronald Reagan (tbd...)

#41- George H. W. Bush (Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush by Jon Meacham)

#42- Bill Clinton (tbd...)

#43- George W. Bush (tbd...)

#44- Barack Obama (tbd...)

#45- Donald Trump (tbd...)

Supplemental Books

Andrew Jackson (American Presidency Series) by Sean Wilentz- C+
I read this for a history class, and it's exactly what you would expect from this introductory series. It covered the main points, but Jackson was such a complicated character that it is not nearly enough time to unravel everything there is to know about him.

Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK by Gerald Posner- A-
The required reading for anyone who wants an actual analysis of the infamous assassination and not some conspiratorial bullshit. Posner deftly bats down many of the ridiculous assertions of 2nd shooters or government setups, and provides a detailed look into Oswald's life that posits why he would have reason to kill the president and how he would have done it.

All the President's Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein- A-
The godfather of journalism stories - this one lives up to its hype. Despite a bit of a slow start, the unraveling of a conspiracy is well-told, with a reporter's hawkish eye for facts, and just enough personal flourish to remind you that the authors themselves are the characters being described. Quite a bit better than the movie, I have to say.

The Final Days by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein- B

The lesser of the WoodStein books for a few reasons: (1) the focus is on the "bad guys" here, which makes it a bit more icky to read, (2) it's less of a mystery like the first, and more just a long slow spiral down the drain that feels inevitable, (3) a few tangents that pad the book into being longer than it ought to be, notably with Kissinger. Still, the glimpse into Nixon's mental state is invaluable, and the fight over the tapes/transcripts is a revelation into how White House political spin works.

Ronald Reagan and the Triumph of American Conservatism by Jules Tygiel- C-

This was part of a college history class. It's a rather short overview rather than a full bio, hence why I put it on this list. I can't remember too much about it but although it contained some decent anecdotes, Tygiel did seem to have a slight bias against Reagan - which is normally fine by me, since I have a similar bias as well, but there was one piece of analysis early on that seemed so forced into turning what was clearly a positive into a negative that it tainted my view of the book from then on out.

Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?: And Other Questions You should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House by Alyssa Mastromonaco- B-
This is a light-hearted recap of Alyssa's time working for Obama. It is very accessible, but is out of chronological order, which I think blunts some of the impact and occasionally confuses the reader. Also probably needed another round of editing, such as the thread where she meets and falls in love with her husband - she alternates between being obsessed with him and having no interest in him, and he is barely described as a person. But, the book is short and helps lift the curtain of a mysterious place to reveal the completely normal people that work there every day.

Ranking:

1. Truman
2. The Path to Power (LBJ #1)