Throughout my adult life I’ve studied and read history about the lives and leadership of our Presidents. While I’ve not read about all the presidents, I’ve certainly read biographies on all the modern Presidents from Teddy Roosevelt until the present day, reading multiple biographies on most. Then I’ve punctuated the past generations presidents by reading biographies of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Jackson, and many of Lincoln. Those that I’ve not read entire biographies on, I’ve read surveys of their presidencies and the highlights of their leadership.
In my travels I’ve also been blessed to see presidential libraries, the homes of some of the presidents and many historical sites.
As such, I’ve come to have a few favorites, which aren’t based on political persuasion so much as my appreciation of the difficulty of the decision’s they made, in the time in which they lived. And with the impact they had on the country.
Here are just a couple:
Abraham Lincoln: Certainly I’m not alone in this, and the sheer number of books written about Lincoln and his irreplaceable role in our countries history attests to the fact that he was our greatest president. In the past I’ve written about why I love Lincoln, which you can read here, but with every book I read about him I’m more impressed with the way he stood up under the pressure he was facing, and while he was a man of his generation, how he did the right thing even though it was against the current. Even while doing that, he kept our country from breaking into two separate countries, which was a very real possibility at the time.
Teddy Roosevelt: Having just read the third part of Edmund Morris’s trilogy on the life of TR, I feel like I know a lot about this president. There’s much to admire. In particular, I really enjoy the liveliness with which he conducted himself. He wasn’t sleep-walking through life, not before the presidency, certainly not during his time in office, nor afterward. He lived life to the fullest. I encourage people to read about this life, you won’t be bored.
Eisenhower: For me, Eisenhower is fun to read about because of the unique way he developed into a world-class leader, from a late bloomer and low-acheiver relatively speaking. When he was forty, he was convinced his career was going nowhere, but within a short term of years he was the most powerful military man in the world during WWII and then President of the United States. He was also a master manager, in the way that only a general could be I suppose and developed a great ease with command that was developed under incredible pressure. Very interesting man.
While the first three presidents were Republicans, I’ve got lots of Democratic presidents that I admire as well. I loved reading David McCullouch’s book on Truman, who was a president that I really admired both for the way with which he lead, but also for the way in which he lead rather selflessly.
There are lots of great books on Kennedy, who is inspiring in the way that he captured the imagination of his generation, which is a big part of leadership.
Woodrow Wilson is also a very consequential and interesting president, whom I find lots to admire. Although, since I’m a die hard Teddy Roosevelt fan, I can’t quite get really excited about. (all TR fans understand that)
Who are the presidents you enjoy learning about and why?
David Curry
