Hail to the Chiefs: Presidential Mischief, Morals & Malarkey from George W. to George W

Rating:
Summary: 1776 and all that
Review: I read this book alongside "The Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents" by Cormac O'Brien (2004). The two books obviously have a lot in common, aiming as they do to reveal the "secrets" about our Chief Executives and demonstrate that they all have, or had, their flaws, their quirks, and probably more than their fair share of general weirdness. The two books tell many of the same stories, quote many of the same excerpts from the Nixon tapes, and even make the same obvious "joke" that James Monroe should have shown more originality than to die on July 4, since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had already done that act. And they share the same People Magazine-style focus on personality and scandal ahead of questions of political or historical significance.

However, two things make "Hail to the Chiefs" a better book than "Secret Lives...". One is Barbara Holland's ability as a writer. Her narrative style -- as opposed to O'Brien's short-attention-span-theater reliance on short sections, text boxes, and lots of subheads and pull quotes -- makes this a much easier book to really settle into and enjoy. Her reliance on clever comments in her footnotes suggests too much time spent reading Sellar and Yeatman, or perhaps Richard Armour, but this is something the reader can get used to.

The other thing that makes this a much stronger book is illustrated by the discussion of allegations that Thomas Jefferson fathered children by his slave Sally Hemmings. This is one of those stories that "everyone knows" is true now, and O'Brien repeats it as a flat fact. Holland, however, devotes three whole pages to laying out the whole story, culminating in the truth that DNA testing in fact showed that while *some of* Hemmings' children were sired by *a* Jefferson male, they also explicitly proved that Thomas Jefferson himself *was not* the father. Holland, in short, seems to have a commitment not only to telling a good story, but also to getting the story straight. (Oddly, however, she seems to suggest that FDR used his wheelchair and his polio as campaign assets, though my understanding always was that those facts were largely kept from the American people, and certainly not emphasized for political purposes.)

Unfortunately, Barbara Holland shares one final trait with Cormac O'Brien, and that's her inability to retain her breezy objectivity and sense of comic remove when it comes to modern presidents. Nixon sends her right off the rails, her discussion of Ford can be summed up with the words "he's dumb," and, after starting by saying how much everyone loves Reagan, her summary of his term is over-the-top with mocking praise, filtered through the standard, predictable, "he was an actor playing a president" lens. The discussion of Bill Clinton is mostly about how much other people hated him, and how irrational they all were. You can imagine what she says about George W. Bush, and you'd probably be right.

The final paragraph of my O'Brien review applies here too: Maybe this book is good for a laugh or two, and it's always nice to pare down the monarchical pretensions of the modern presidency (regardless of the occupant of the office or his party) a bit. But if you're looking for a real understanding of the men who have served as president and their impact, or lack of one, on history, I'd probably suggest about three dozen other titles ahead of this one.

Rating:
Summary: 1776 and all that
Review: I read this book alongside "The Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents" by Cormac O'Brien (2004). The two books obviously have a lot in common, aiming as they do to reveal the "secrets" about our Chief Executives and demonstrate that they all have, or had, their flaws, their quirks, and probably more than their fair share of general weirdness. The two books tell many of the same stories, quote many of the same excerpts from the Nixon tapes, and even make the same obvious "joke" that James Monroe should have shown more originality than to die on July 4, since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had already done that act. And they share the same People Magazine-style focus on personality and scandal ahead of questions of political or historical significance.

However, two things make "Hail to the Chiefs" a better book than "Secret Lives...". One is Barbara Holland's ability as a writer. Her narrative style -- as opposed to O'Brien's short-attention-span-theater reliance on short sections, text boxes, and lots of subheads and pull quotes -- makes this a much easier book to really settle into and enjoy. Her reliance on clever comments in her footnotes suggests too much time spent reading Sellar and Yeatman, or perhaps Richard Armour, but this is something the reader can get used to.

The other thing that makes this a much stronger book is illustrated by the discussion of allegations that Thomas Jefferson fathered children by his slave Sally Hemmings. This is one of those stories that "everyone knows" is true now, and O'Brien repeats it as a flat fact. Holland, however, devotes three whole pages to laying out the whole story, culminating in the truth that DNA testing in fact showed that while *some of* Hemmings' children were sired by *a* Jefferson male, they also explicitly proved that Thomas Jefferson himself *was not* the father. Holland, in short, seems to have a commitment not only to telling a good story, but also to getting the story straight. (Oddly, however, she seems to suggest that FDR used his wheelchair and his polio as campaign assets, though my understanding always was that those facts were largely kept from the American people, and certainly not emphasized for political purposes.)

Unfortunately, Barbara Holland shares one final trait with Cormac O'Brien, and that's her inability to retain her breezy objectivity and sense of comic remove when it comes to modern presidents. Nixon sends her right off the rails, her discussion of Ford can be summed up with the words "he's dumb," and, after starting by saying how much everyone loves Reagan, her summary of his term is over-the-top with mocking praise, filtered through the standard, predictable, "he was an actor playing a president" lens. The discussion of Bill Clinton is mostly about how much other people hated him, and how irrational they all were. You can imagine what she says about George W. Bush, and you'd probably be right.

The final paragraph of my O'Brien review applies here too: Maybe this book is good for a laugh or two, and it's always nice to pare down the monarchical pretensions of the modern presidency (regardless of the occupant of the office or his party) a bit. But if you're looking for a real understanding of the men who have served as president and their impact, or lack of one, on history, I'd probably suggest about three dozen other titles ahead of this one.

Rating:
Summary: An irreverent, entertaining resource
Review: Readers of any political stripe should enjoy Holland's breezy, brief and irreverent takes on our presidents. From George Washington's preoccupation with mules to George W's fitness regime, she pokes fun at personal quirks while touching on the major historical moments in each administration and showing that however bad we think things are now, they've been worse. Campaigns, for instance, are models of honesty and restraint in comparison to the days when Adams was not only accused of listening to his wife but described in the newspapers as "old, querulous, blind, crippled, toothless."

These thumbnail sketches remind us not only of who all those middle one-term presidents were and when, but give us the firsts. New Hampshire's Franklin Pierce, for instance, was the first to have a Christmas tree in the White house and installed central heating too. Benjamin Harrison was the first to watch a professional baseball game And Andrew Jackson was the first "to decide that a President can veto a perfectly constitutional bill just because he doesn't like it, and he was like a kid with a new toy."

Most of the presidents known for freeing their slaves never did, but Robert E. Lee did and "he didn't wait till he was dead to do it, either." Some presidents were more interesting for their wives - Holland gives most of Madison's space to Dolley and not just his space either. Taft's wife wanted the presidency more than he did and nudged him at conferences to stay awake while Pierce's wife was so unhappy at his election, she refused to attend the inauguration.

There are scandals and wars and statesmanlike deeds, sure, but there are also pets and bratty children and fashion statements and swelled heads. A useful, funny and caustic book.