Product Description

Ever since the presidency of Richard M Nixon, scholars have been in a quandary over how much they really know about our country's presidents. Nixon, as is now understood, was unstable in personality. The signs appeared well before the discovery of the infamous Watergate tapes, an appalling example of what the presidency could come to. Many Americans have difficulty penetrating the public persona of their leaders. But to know the private side of such figures - the cores of their being - is important, because this side often governs what they do publicly. In "Presidential Leadership", Robert H Ferrell examines four sometimes maligned, sometimes misunderstood presidents: Woodrow Wilson, Warren G Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Harry S Truman. Along with these portraits, Ferrell incorporates comments on Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt as well as key figures in each president's administration. Also included in this volume is historian John A Garraty's interview with Ferrell on American foreign policy from 1919 to 1945. As is his style, Ferrell draws from many sources previously untapped. In the case of Wilson, Ferrell relies on the diary of Colonel Edward M House, who served under Wilson during his presidency. Ferrell uses White House physician Joel T Boone's diary to provide an insider's look at Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. In dealing with these presidents, Ferrell debunks long-held myths and approaches the presidencies with fresh insights into what drove them to make the decisions they made. Throughout the book, Ferrell emphasizes the personal styles of each president. He not only shows how they made their own determinations but also evaluates those whom they appointed to important positions. Scholars of American history will welcome this insightful look at the men who saw the United States through the first half of the twentieth century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1363287 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 168 pages

About the Author
ROBERT H. FERRELL is Professor Emeritus of History at Indiana University in Bloomington. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including Five Days in October: The Lost Battalion of World War I, Collapse at Meuse-Argonne: The Failure of the Missouri-Kansas Division, and Meuse-Argonne Diary: A Division Commander in World War I, all available from the University of Missouri Press. Ferrell resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Customer Reviews

Nothing New from Robert Ferrell
After purchasing this book, I went first to his chapter on "Warren G. Harding's Reputation," an interesting title I thought, until I realized that this is the same "warmed-over" Ferrell at his anti-revisionist best. The chapter is nothing more than a blow-by-blow refutation of every Harding biographer in recent times. He uses interesting bloviating phrases "appearance of scandals," "none of these scandals was very scandalous...if in fact they existed," and "the low-level or alleged scandals."

One wonders if this professor emeritus ever took a course in historiography, and what his own professors thought of his work as a graduate student.

It is a well-known fact that Harding fathered two children out of wedlock, that he himself violated the laws of Prohibition, that he was a prolific gambler...all of this Ferrell has chosen to ignore for years...in this and other books he has written on Harding.

I noticed Carl Anthony's book listed in the bibliography; but not mentioned in this chapter on Harding...I have to wonder why. To bolster his own biased opinion of Harding, in his chapter on "The United States in World Affairs," Ferrell lashes out at what he considers "the new left history as it applies to twentieth-century subjects." He castigates the young historians coming out of graduate school, implying that they are un-trained; implying that they are in it for the money; and he hasn't earned royalties off his one-sided view of Harding?

Carl Anthony, like Francis Russell, has told the truth about Harding's character and lack of presidential ability. One has to wonder what Ferrell's connection is to the Harding family; with book after book under his name, giving Harding the red-carpet treatment. Don't waste your money or time on this one. Another Ferrell whitewash.