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Politics17 min read
Confronting the Presidents
by Bill O'Reilly
No Spin Assessments from Washington to Biden
Published: October 10, 2024
3.4 (92 ratings)
Table of Contents
1
what’s in it for me? lift the curtain on seven memorable american presidents2
washington’s reluctance to rule convinced americans he could be trusted with power3
buchanan’s passivity led to conflict; lincoln’s resolve won the war4
pleasure came first in warren harding’s white house5
hoover clung to failed policies while fdr reimagined government6
trump’s refusal to leave the white house makes him an outlier7
final summaryBook Summary
This is a comprehensive summary of “Confronting the Presidents” by Bill O'Reilly. The book explores no spin assessments from washington to biden.
what’s in it for me? lift the curtain on seven memorable american presidents#
Introduction
bill o'reilly and martin dugard, confronting the presidents, no-spin assessments from washington to biden.
most u.s. presidents have been keenly aware of their unique responsibility.
in the early years, presidents often saw themselves as the stewards of a bold political experiment.
they understood that liberty was an anomaly in history, not the norm, and that any misstep could plunge the nation into tyranny.
later presidents had to confront a much larger task.
they weren't just presidents of a single nation, but the leaders of the free world.
their decisions reverberated across the globe, affecting hundreds of millions of lives, for better or worse.
there have been 45 presidents thus far, but who are these people, really?
in this chapter, we'll pull back the curtain on seven of them.
some were political visionaries, others evidenced moral short-sightedness.
they got many things right and a few things terribly wrong, yet all had hidden quirks.
so, how do they deserve to be remembered?
well, with the help of this chapter, that's for you to decide.
washington’s reluctance to rule convinced americans he could be trusted with power#
washington's reluctance to rule convinced americans he could be trusted with power.
james madison wrote that government wouldn't be necessary if humans were perfect.
the problem is that we're not.
we're often selfish and cruel, and the founding fathers saw that as a political problem.
left unchecked, these all-too-human vices might undo the american republic.
their solution was a system that worked with the grain of human nature.
a system, as madison said, in which ambition counteracted ambition.
in other words, checks and balances.
their constitution was designed to prevent any single individual or faction tyrannizing others.
the details were hammered out at a constitutional convention.
they were hammered out at a constitutional convention in 1787.
after ratifying this historic document, delegates called for elections.
the first president of the united states was elected in 1788.
general george washington was an obvious choice.
he was the war hero who had masterminded the defeat of the british.
but just as importantly, he lacked the vice americans feared most.
the would-be dictators' lust for power.
a man who craved authority, they reasoned, wouldn't withdraw to his estate to lead the quiet life of a citizen farmer.
washington, who had to be coaxed out of early retirement, had done just that.
washington served two terms between 1789 and 1797.
he was modest about his time in office.
his farewell address emphasized his mistakes rather than his achievements.
but his administration established the precedent for the peaceful transfer of power.
a tradition that would remain unchallenged for over 200 years, until the presidency of donald trump.
he also passed the bill of rights, a series of constitutional amendments that guarantee the liberties of americans to this day.
while we often remember washington as a public figure, what was he like in private?
we catch a glimpse of his character in his strained relationship with his mother, mary washington.
washington's father died when george was just 11.
it was george, not his mother, who inherited the family estate.
mary never forgave this slight.
she complained bitterly about her poverty, and money was a constant theme in the letters she sent her son.
washington, who often had financial problems of his own, always sent her what she asked for.
that, he said, was an act of personal duty.
but her attempt to extract a state pension from the virginia legislature displeased him.
washington sent the legislature an embarrassed letter explaining that his mother wasn't in any real distress.
so mary's request was denied.
despite their difficult relationship, washington stopped off to visit his mother before his inauguration.
it was their last meeting before her death in 1789.
buchanan's passivity led to conflict.
buchanan’s passivity led to conflict; lincoln’s resolve won the war#
lincoln's resolve won the war.
james buchanan has a good claim to being america's worst president, while his successor, abraham lincoln, is widely regarded as one of its greatest.
but it wasn't just their performance in office that set them apart.
buchanan, the son of a well-to-do merchant, came from wealth and enjoyed a solid education.
in stark contrast, lincoln, born in a log cabin to illiterate parents, came from the wrong side of the tracks.
their temperaments were as starkly opposed as their origins.
buchanan was a liberal eater with a special fondness for fried fish, sauerkraut, ice cream, and strawberries.
a bottle of porter whiskey was always close to hand, and he liked nothing more than to spend his evenings in company telling tall tales.
lincoln, a teetotaler, ate sparingly.
a boiled egg with coffee in the morning and a light supper were sufficient fuel.
as his secretary put it, the pleasures of the table held few attractions for him.
in the evening, he retired to his study to continue work.
their greatest difference, though, was political.
buchanan, who was a democrat, was elected in 1856.
he failed to carry a majority in the north, relying instead on the pro-slavery south.
buchanan called the movement to abolish slavery a disease.
he styled his acceptance of human bondage as a pragmatic means of preserving the union.
northerners called it appeasement.
but buchanan deeply misjudged the severity of the situation, and in february 1861, south carolina seceded.
mississippi, florida, alabama, georgia, louisiana, and texas followed to form the pro-slavery confederacy.
it turned out that buchanan's pandering hadn't averted conflict.
it simply left the government unprepared.
lincoln took office in march 1861, with the nation teetering on the edge of war.
during his campaign, he declared that if slavery wasn't wrong, then nothing was.
he accused democrats of disregarding the founding fathers' intentions and conspiring to undermine america's democratic experiment.
the civil war erupted on april 12, 1861.
as commander-in-chief, lincoln was relentless.
when his top general failed to pursue retreating confederate forces, lincoln swiftly replaced him with ulysses s. grant.
grant's critics called him a butcher and not without cause.
every dead rebel, the general said, brought peace closer.
lincoln's goal was to deliver a decisive blow to the south, and that meant dismantling its economic foundation.
on january 1, 1863, he issued the emancipation proclamation, an executive order that freed over 3.5 million enslaved african americans.
the confederacy capitulated just over two years later, on april 9, 1865.
lincoln had steered the united states through its darkest hour, but he wouldn't preside over the troubled peace that followed.
on april 15, he was assassinated by a partisan of the defeated south, john wilkes booth.
lincoln's name was added to the list of over 600,000 americans who perished in the civil war.
pleasure came first in warren harding’s white house#
pleasure came first in warren harding's white house.
the room stinks of sausages, sauerkraut, whiskey, tobacco, and sweat.
waistcoats unbuttoned and ties loosened.
cigar-chomping players cuss or laugh as they toss their cards onto the table.
forget that i'm president, says one.
i'm warren harding, playing poker with friends.
the game continues.
the winner will carry off a set of official white house china.
never mind his friends.
it's the 29th chief executive of the united states who seems to have forgotten who he is.
but then again, warren g. harding is something of an accidental president.
he owes his position to a deadlock at the 1920 republican national convention.
harding, a senator from ohio better known for his good looks and charm than his political vision or legislative achievements, is a compromise candidate.
it's his fault.
his campaign for the general election is amiably inoffensive.
harding promises a return to normalcy.
that's enough for voters who've just emerged from a world war and a deadly pandemic.
harding enters the white house in 1921, and americans don't know about his secret life.
the secret service, however, knew all too well.
its agents smuggle women and whiskey into the white house to facilitate his extramarital affairs in defiance of the prohibition ban on booze.
the republican party is complicit, too.
when one of harding's mistresses threatens to go public, its leaders offer her an all-expenses paid vacation and a lifetime stipend.
that buys her silence.
it's not just a question of lax morals.
harding's administration is also deeply corrupt.
pleasure comes first for the president, so he delegates the running of government to a group of cronies from his home state, known as the ohio gang.
they set about lining their pockets.
one accepts a $365,000 bribe to allow illegal oil drilling on public land.
another uses his position as director of the veterans bureau to divert alcohol and pharmaceutical supplies to bootleggers.
harding doesn't notice.
he's far too busy playing golf or philandering with his mistresses.
the party ends in april 1922, when an investigative committee begins its probe into rumored wrongdoing.
the oil drilling scheme goes down in history as the teapot dome, a reference to the teapot-shaped rock overlooking the wyoming oil field at the center of the scandal.
harding credibly denies knowledge of the illegal scheme, but that doesn't cut it with outraged voters.
as the investigation rolls on, harding's popularity evaporates.
harding doesn't live to witness the full fallout, though.
on august 2, 1923, he dies suddenly, and just four hours later, his vice president, calvin coolidge, is sworn in as the new president.
hoover clung to failed policies while fdr reimagined government#
hoover clung to failed policies, while fdr reimagined government.
october 24, 1929.
the new york stock exchange has just collapsed.
panicked investors dump 13 million shares.
more money is lost in a day than the u.s. government spent in the first world war.
one journalist writes that financiers have to stand in line to get a window to jump out of.
but the president isn't worried.
herbert hoover knows that the market giveth and the market taketh.
he's convinced the economy will even itself out, in time.
and it's understandable why he sees it this way.
hoover is a self-made man who rode the market's waves of boom and bust to success.
his is a real rags-to-riches story.
born into an impoverished quaker family and orphaned young, he bootstrapped himself into a lucrative career in the mining industry before entering politics.
in his view, if he didn't rely on handouts, why should anyone else?
the problem is, this isn't just a downturn.
it's a once-in-a-century mess.
this isn't just a downturn.
it's a once-in-a-century meltdown.
but no matter how bad it gets, hoover doesn't budge.
his only advice to americans is to tighten their belts a little more.
by the time of the 1931 election, voters no longer distinguish between the economic crisis and the president's failure to manage it.
makeshift shantytowns housing the newly homeless are dubbed hoovervilles.
and a car pulled by a horse due to a lack of gas is nicknamed a hoover wagon.
curiously, the winner of the 1931 election had never wanted for anything.
born into a wealthy and well-connected family, franklin delano roosevelt, fdr is the epitome of an american aristocrat.
but all that privilege is tempered by a protestant ethic of social responsibility.
and that's what the bespectacled 51-year-old emphasizes on the campaign trail.
instead of belt-tightening, he promises a new deal.
it's time, he says, for the government to put its shoulder to the wheel.
with a huge majority in both the senate and the house, fdr has more power to implement his agenda than most presidents before him.
fueled by coffee and jelly donuts, he's a whirlwind of legislative action.
within its first 100 days, his administration passes laws to secure the banks, protect farmers, and establish job-creating public works projects.
he wins the next three elections and remains in the white house for an unprecedented 12 years, steering the country through the great depression and the showdown with nazi germany.
like harding, he dies in office.
but unlike harding, he is remembered as one of america's greatest presidents.
trump’s refusal to leave the white house makes him an outlier#
trump's refusal to leave the white house makes him an outlier.
some presidents rise to the occasion, while others are too preoccupied playing cards to notice what their administrations are actually doing.
most have honorable intentions, but a few are outright scoundrels.
in short, presidents are human, even the founding fathers.
as george washington's mother reminds us, the great statesmen immortalized on mount rushmore had ordinary troubles and concerns, like the rest of us.
despite their differences, all presidents share one thing in common.
they eventually leave office.
some step down willingly, others reach the end of their term, and the unlucky ones are forced out.
it's rare for a president or a first lady to relish leaving office.
pat nixon, who disliked her role, couldn't help but express her sadness as she boarded the helicopter that carried her husband into political exile.
leaving the white house, after all, is never easy.
the transition of power is a cornerstone of american democracy.
some presidents handle their departure with grace.
after a hard-fought campaign against bill clinton, george h.w. bush left a note stating that clinton's success was now the country's.
i am, he wrote, rooting hard for you.
others, however, go through the motions with less grace.
buchanan, for instance, made it clear just how little he enjoyed watching lincoln's inauguration.
and then there's donald trump.
for over two centuries, the transition of power remained uncontested.
that changed on january 6th, 2021.
trump was in washington rallying the faithful.
he claimed the 2020 election had been rigged and implied that sinister forces in high places were working to undermine the people's will.
hundreds of his followers descended on the u.s. capitol building, attempting to halt the certification process and punish the traitors behind it.
trump has always been a divisive figure.
people either love him or hate him.
and there's plenty to criticize about his time in office.
his rhetoric was extreme.
he was uncivil.
despite his claims to being a man of faith, he seemed to think of the ten commandments as ten suggestions.
not to mention, he was impeached twice.
but there were also achievements.
real wages were increased.
and there were also achievements.
real wages rose.
inflation fell.
he armed ukraine and finished off isis.
iran was contained and its top military leader assassinated.
put differently, trump's tenure was in many ways like that of most presidents.
it had its highs and its lows.
it's january 6th that sticks out.
trump could have condemned the capitol riot.
instead, he recklessly broke with precedent, imperiling america's centuries-old experiment with democracy.
from a historical perspective, that stain on his record is impossible to overlook.
final summary#
Conclusion
in this chapter to confronting the presidents by bill o'reilly and martin dugard, you've learned that george washington's reluctance to assume office established trust and set a precedent for democratic transitions.
in contrast, james buchanan's failure to confront the south set the nation on course for a disastrous war.
his successor, abraham lincoln, demonstrated resolute leadership and steered the united states through its darkest hour.
herbert hoover underestimated the severity of the great depression, and it took fdr's boldness to guide america through its worst economic crisis.
and despite his mixed record in office, donald trump remains an outlier.
he is the only president to seriously contest the peaceful transition of power.
okay, that's it for this chapter.
we hope you enjoyed it.
if you can, please take the time to leave us a rating.
we always appreciate your feedback.
see you in the next chapter.
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