Fit for the Presidency?

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Fit for the Presidency?

Winners, Losers, What-Ifs, and Also-Rans

Seymour Morris Jr.

400 pages
30 illustrations

Hardcover

January 2017

978-1-61234-850-6

$32.95 Add to Cart
eBook (PDF)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

January 2017

978-1-61234-889-6

$32.95 Add to Cart
eBook (EPUB)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

January 2017

978-1-61234-887-2

$32.95 Add to Cart

About the Book

Every four years Americans embark on the ultimate carnival, the Super Bowl of democracy: a presidential election campaign filled with endless speeches, debates, handshakes, and passion.
 
But what about the candidates themselves? 
 
In Fit for the Presidency? Seymour Morris Jr. applies an executive recruiter’s approach to fifteen presidential prospects from 1789 to 1980, analyzing their résumés and references to determine their fitness for the job. Were they qualified? How real were their actual accomplishments? Could they be trusted, or were their campaign promises unrealistic?
 
The result is a fresh and original look at a host of contenders from George Washington to William McAdoo, from DeWitt Clinton to Ronald Reagan. Gone is the fluff of presidential campaigns, replaced by broad perspective and new insights on candidates seeking the nation’s highest office. 
                                                                                                                                 

Author Bio

Seymour Morris Jr. is a former political pollster, head of corporate communications, and international entrepreneur. He is the author of American History Revised: 200 Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks and Supreme Commander: MacArthur’s Triumph in Japan.    

Praise

"Enjoyable reading."—Wall Street Journal

"Timely."—Kirkus

“Full of juicy anecdotes and a valuable guide to voters deciding who gets to occupy the nation’s highest office. It could not have come at a better time.”—Alvin Felzenberg, author of The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn’t): Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game
 
 

“Fascinating is much too tame to describe this ingenious journey through presidents and almost presidents and would-be presidents. White House buffs will be riveted and general readers amazed by what they learn about the most important job in America.”—Thomas Fleming, author of The Great Divide: The Conflict between Washington and Jefferson That Defined a Nation
 

“Seymour Morris Jr. is sure to provoke lively discussion with his creative résumé’ approach to evaluating fifteen American presidential candidates from George Washington to Ronald Reagan. Thoughtful and brash, balanced yet crisply argued, Fit for the Presidency? should be required reading for anyone who enjoys the privilege of being an American voter.”—Walter R. Borneman, author of The Admirals and MacArthur at War

“A fascinating, original look into the history of presidential politics, covering both the immortal (Lincoln) and the forgotten (Samuel Tilden), and an excellent primer on how to evaluate the current candidates for the qualities that make a great president.”—John Steele Gordon, author of An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power
 

Table of Contents

Preface    
Introduction: What Our Founding Fathers Looked for in a Potential President    
1. George Washington, 1789    
2. DeWitt Clinton, 1812    
3. William Henry Harrison, 1840    
4. Abraham Lincoln, 1860    
5. Jefferson Davis, 1861    
6. Samuel J. Tilden, 1876    
7. William Randolph Hearst, 1904    
8. William Gibbs McAdoo, 1920    
9. Herbert Hoover, 1928    
10. Wendell Willkie, 1940    
11. George C. Marshall, 1944    
12. Henry A. Wallace, 1948    
13. Barry Goldwater, 1964    
14. Robert F. Kennedy, 1968    
15. Ronald Reagan, 1980    
Conclusion: Appraising the Candidates    
Notes    
Bibliography    
Illustration Credits    
 

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