DEDICATION For my parents, John and Mary Ann, who created a household in which seeking, questioning, and laughter were always welcome. Would that everyone had such inestimable role models. CONTENTS Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication INTRODUCTION GEORGE WASHINGTON (1789–1797) JOHN ADAMS (1797–1801) THOMAS JEFFERSON (1801–1809) JAMES MADISON (1809–1817) JAMES MONROE (1817–1825) JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (1825–1829) FOUNDING FODDER ANDREW JACKSON (1829–1837) MARTIN VAN BUREN (1837–1841) WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON (1841) JOHN TYLER (1841–1845) JAMES KNOX POLK (1845–1849) ZACHARY TAYLOR (1849–1850) MILLARD FILLMORE (1850–1853) FRANKLIN PIERCE (1853–1857) SECRET LIVES OF THE U.S. FREEMASONS JAMES BUCHANAN (1857–1861) ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1861–1865) ANDREW JOHNSON (1865–1869) ULYSSES S. GRANT (1869–1877) RUTHERFORD B. HAYES (1877–1881) JAMES A. GARFIELD (1881) CHESTER A. ARTHUR (1881–1885) THE WHITE HOUSE GROVER CLEVELAND (1885–1889, 1893–1897) BENJAMIN HARRISON (1889–1893) WILLIAM MCKINLEY (1897–1901) THEODORE ROOSEVELT (1901–1909) WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT (1909–1913) WOODROW WILSON (1913–1921) WARREN G. HARDING (1921–1923) CALVIN COOLIDGE (1923–1929) FAMOUS FIRST LADIES HERBERT HOOVER (1929–1933) FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT (1933–1945) HARRY S TRUMAN (1945–1953) DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER (1953–1961) JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY (1961–1963) LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON (1963–1969) PRESIDENTIAL PETS RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON (1969–1974) GERALD R. FORD (1974–1977) JAMES EARL CARTER (1977–1981) RONALD REAGAN (1981–1989) GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH (1989–1993) WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON (1993–2001) GEORGE W. BUSH (2001–2009) BARACK OBAMA (2009–2017) DONALD TRUMP (2017–) SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS About the Author INTRODUCTION “When I was a boy, I was told that anyone could be president. I’m beginning to believe it.” —CLARENCE DARROW Chief Executive. Commander in Chief. Leader of the Free World. The Big Cheese. Whatever you want to call them, American presidents wield a fantastic amount of power. They keep the military at their beck and call. They can veto Congress’s best efforts at the drop of a hat. They receive birthday cards from foreign heads of state. Their actions even affect the stock market, sometimes dramatically. Like it or not, they’re the closest thing we have to a monarch, a figure who encapsulates elements of celebrity and authority all at once. Little wonder, then, that the people who have held the title of “President” have become household names. (Except William Henry Harrison and Chester Arthur. Oh, and Benjamin Harrison.) George Washington was the Father of Our Country, Abraham Lincoln led the nation through its greatest trial, Franklin Roosevelt took on the Great Depression and fascist aggression, and John Kennedy stared down the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Yadda, yadda, yadda. At least, that’s what you read in the textbooks. And some of it is actually true. But what were these fellas really like? Here’s what the Constitution has to say: “No person except a natural born Citizen…shall be eligible to the Office of