Rating: 
Summary: Read it!
Review: I loved this book. It gave enough detail about each President, but not too much to make it boring and overdone. Kenneth Walsh gives the reader a true insight into the planes that represent our country and serve as working offices for the Presidents.
This book gives a real insight into the men who were elected to lead this country, as well as their wives and children. I could almost picture the atmosphere inside the plane with Walsh's descriptions.
Most of the analysis of the Presidents wasn't a great surprise since there has been so much written about these men already. We knew Nixon was a reclusive and uptight type of guy. We knew that Clinton was a fun loving guy who changed his demeanor when Hillary was around him. There are some insights into the personalities of Carter, George 41 and Truman, but for the most part we already knew the personalities of our Presidents.
A good book for anyone who likes to read about details of the Presidency and the people who close to the scenes.
Insightful and well written.
Rating:
Summary: Read it!
Review: I loved this book. It gave enough detail about each President, but not too much to make it boring and overdone. Kenneth Walsh gives the reader a true insight into the planes that represent our country and serve as working offices for the Presidents.
This book gives a real insight into the men who were elected to lead this country, as well as their wives and children. I could almost picture the atmosphere inside the plane with Walsh's descriptions.
Most of the analysis of the Presidents wasn't a great surprise since there has been so much written about these men already. We knew Nixon was a reclusive and uptight type of guy. We knew that Clinton was a fun loving guy who changed his demeanor when Hillary was around him. There are some insights into the personalities of Carter, George 41 and Truman, but for the most part we already knew the personalities of our Presidents.
A good book for anyone who likes to read about details of the Presidency and the people who close to the scenes.
Insightful and well written.
Rating: 
Summary: Easy Ride
Review: If you are expecting a hard-hitting expose about anything presidential then this is not the book for you. The author does a very good job of detailing out the Presidents from FDR that have taken flight via Air Force One or its predecessors. The book is very interesting and does a good job at what it covers. The book does not cover in any detail much about the plane except for overall basic facts. The real focus of the book is the men who road in the planes, not the planes. I find that the only issue I had with the book is that there was not enough detail of the actual plane, what the crew goes through to get it ready, the special planning for a trip and so on. Don't get me wrong, I rather enjoyed the book as it was a light easy to read book that provided some very nice stories about the Presidents who traveled in the plane.
Rating:
Summary: Easy Ride
Review: If you are expecting a hard-hitting expose about anything presidential then this is not the book for you. The author does a very good job of detailing out the Presidents from FDR that have taken flight via Air Force One or its predecessors. The book is very interesting and does a good job at what it covers. The book does not cover in any detail much about the plane except for overall basic facts. The real focus of the book is the men who road in the planes, not the planes. I find that the only issue I had with the book is that there was not enough detail of the actual plane, what the crew goes through to get it ready, the special planning for a trip and so on. Don't get me wrong, I rather enjoyed the book as it was a light easy to read book that provided some very nice stories about the Presidents who traveled in the plane.
Rating:
Summary: A Delightful Read
Review: Ken Walsh deftly describes how aviation has globalized the personal reach of the American presidency with a fascinating, well-researched work full of anecdotes from the people who were there...the pilots, stewards, White House staff, reporters and others who flew aboard these magnificent airplanes. The anecdotes take the reader beyond well-known presidential history; rather, they illuminate the true personalities and unique characters that are each president and how each used the power of aviation to affect the lives of billions. It's a fascinating, insider's view of an airplane and how it has shaped modern world history. Good stuff.
Rating:
Summary: An Enjoyable, Light Book
Review: This book could have been subtitled: "A History of Presidential Character as Revealed through Their Planes." Beginning with FDR and ending with the current main passenger of Air Force One, George W. Bush, Kenneth Walsh details the history and experiences of U.S. presidents who have taken to the air on the world's most famous jet, providing a fascinating angle by which to view them. Walsh is careful to weave basic information about the presidents into the book. If you already know a good deal about the modern U.S. presidents, you will find much of this information either simplistic or repetitive. If you don't know very much about the modern presidents, however, but you want to know more about Air Force One, then you won't get lost here. Walsh usually introduces each president with a brief history, and then shows convincingly that the planes they flew had a way of revealing the character of that president in a way that other places - the Oval Office, for example - did not. Reporters and staff, if they are fortunate enough to be allowed on board the jet, have access to a president that they do not have anywhere else. Presidents also seem to open up more when they fly Air Force One. Both of these circumstances allow a unique opportunity to see the usually powerful and distant man unfiltered. While the historical moments that took place on Air Force One are all here (LBJ's swearing in as president just after the assassination of JFK; George W. Bush's long flight around the country after the terror attacks on 9-11, etc.), I personally found the trivial or less famous information more interesting. I had never heard, for example, that Nixon's Air Force One had to take evasive maneuvers during a trip to the Middle East after it appeared Syrian fighter jets might attack it (they were mistakenly sent up to welcome the Presidential jet). I also had no idea that secure communications on the president's hi-tech plane are often disrupted while it is in flight. This is a light book that can be finished in an evening of reading. My only disappointment with it was the lack of basic drawings of the interior setup of Air Force One or drawings of the insides of previous presidential jets. I don't think the information is classified (since Walsh describes it in words), so it would have been interesting to see the various layouts.
Rating:
Summary: Air Force One: A History of the Presidents and their Planes
Review: This book is a treat if you are interested in planes, presidents, and/or history. It contains lots of little known, insider tidbits. It gives one the feeling they were really there.
Rating: 
Summary: Air Force One: A History of the Presidents and Their Planes
Review: This book was utter rubish. This was another platform to degrade the past presidents who happen to be Democrats and give a rosy picture of the republican presidents. Mr. Walsh used this book in similarity to the Fox network biased, and as a mouth piece for the Republican party. How novel!
Rating:
Summary: Air Force One: A History of the Presidents and Their Planes
Review: This book was utter rubish. This was another platform to degrade the past presidents who happen to be Democrats and give a rosy picture of the republican presidents. Mr. Walsh used this book in similarity to the Fox network biased, and as a mouth piece for the Republican party. How novel!
Rating: 
Summary: Correcting the Record
Review: This posting is made at the request of my father-in-law, Colonel E.F. Smith, USAF (Ret.). Colonel Smith was one of the first two presidential pilots, making every flight on the Guess Where II, Sacred Cow and Independence. He has been interviewed extensively by the Air Force Historical Research Center, and was featured on the History Channel's documentary concerning Air Force One. Colonel Smith reviewed the relevant sections of Kenneth Walsh's book, referring to flight logs where necessary. He made the following observations. 1. Page 44 contains a description of the Presidential Cabin on the Sacred Cow, saying that, "the room contained a single chair for the commander in chief, a small desk and a two seat couch. Across the narrow aisle were seats for seven..." Comment: The desk was a small table, I don't remember a two-seat couch, and the seven seats did not exist. 2. Page 44 further describes the trip made by FDR to Yalta, "Roosevelt flew on the Sacred Cow from Yalta to Cairo, where he boarded the Quincy." Comment: the flight was from Russia to Deversoir, an airport near the Suez Canal. The cruiser Quincy was in the Suez Canal, not at Cairo. 3. Page 50: Walsh says this about President Truman: "...and he brought guests with him whenever possible so they could spread the word about the rare honor of flying with the commander-in-chief." Comment: Truman had no such practice, as confirmed by flight log records that listed passengers. 4. Page 51: Walsh says that Truman asked to be told when Independence crossed over Ohio. He then made use of the bathroom and ordered the pilot to dump waste overboard-a "tribute" to his political enemy Senator Robert Taft of Ohio. Comment: This story is a fabrication. The President never said anything like this, and it was not possible to dump waste overboard while airborne. 5. Page 51: Walsh describes a mythical "buzz" of the White House by the Sacred Cow. Comment: This story was recently told on the radio by Paul Harvey ("the rest of the story"). It never happened. On one occasion, President Truman asked that the Sacred Cow pass over the White House during its climb to cruising altitude after taking off from National Airport. As with all Presidential flights this takeoff was sedate, and did not include "buzzing" or any other form of acrobatics. Bess and Margaret never stood on the White House lawn waving and laughing as the Sacred Cow "dive-bombed" and "swooped." 6. Comment: The book does not describe the original aircraft built for use by President Roosevelt, which was named the "Guess Where II." The Secret Service decided that this aircraft was not safe enough to be used by FDR, although it was used extensively by Eleanor Roosevelt, by senior members of the Roosevelt Administration, and members of Congress. 7. Comment: This section of Mr. Walsh's book reveals the problems with reliance upon secondary sources. When Colonel Hank Myers (the other of the first two Presidential pilots) retired, he made extra money by writing fictional accounts of his experiences. Frequently, he took in-air emergencies that occurred on other aircraft piloted by other aviators and used them as the basis for alleged incidents on the Sacred Cow and Independence. Journalists have been confused for years by these stories, which turn up in one form or another in newspapers, books and magazines-described as if they actually happened. 8. Comment: Mr. Walsh unfortunately did not tell most of the interesting stories about the Sacred Cow and the Independence. Readers looking for "the rest of the story" should consult the Air Force Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB Montgomery, Alabama.
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