First published 2012
Robert Merry takes on the popular pastime of ranking American presidents by proposing a different scorecard. Rather than relying solely on academic assessments, he measures presidential greatness against the verdicts of contemporary voters. Merry examines whether presidents won reelection and whether their parties retained power afterward. He categorizes commanders in chief into distinct groups. The "Men of Destiny" include six leaders who redirected the nation, among them Lincoln, Washington, and FDR. The "Split-Decision Presidents" like Wilson and Nixon succeeded initially but stumbled in second terms, losing party control. He analyzes the "Near Greats" such as Jefferson, Jackson, and Truman, plus the "War Presidents" including Madison and McKinley. Merry also covers outright failures like Buchanan and Pierce, alongside figures whose reputations have shifted over time, including Grant and Eisenhower. This framework allows readers to weigh their own judgments against both historical voters and modern scholars while exploring how presidential politics functions and how America chooses its direction.
Genres: history, 20th-century, political-science, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, academic, american-history
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: academic-analysis
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century, 21st-Century
322 pages · Kindle Edition · Simon & Schuster