In a year when the current administration scandal books are glutting the bestseller lists this is a most welcome biography of a busy 96-year-old ex-president who is still out there, with Rosalyn, working to build a better world despite the raging political storms. He was sort of like Hoover who mostly just became a victim of problems he didn’t cause and that were out of his control. This engrossing, monumental biography will change our understanding of perhaps the most misunderstood president in American history. Author Jonathan Alter didn’t go as far as some I’ve seen, such as one who suggested that the Civil War would have been avoided if Zachary Taylor had lived. This author has made it clear on his Twitter that he is no fan of Donald Trump (he despises him) and even recommended his book so as to be an escape from the craziness of 2020.

It was centered in a belief that he had a duty as a Christian to help and serve his fellow men and women on this earth. Extremely stubborn and self-righteous at times he rubbed people the wrong way as he could not suffer fools gladly and he often appeared hypocritical, particularly in dealing with members of Congress. Though the narrative does occasionally put the reader “in the room,” rarely does it employ colorful scene-setting to add vibrancy to the story.At that point he had already put in fuel economy standards that would have led to hybrid cars mandated by the late 1980s. This is a well written, interesting, fact filled book that may change your opinion of this many talented man.

He’s extremely impressive when you spend time with him because of his surpassing intelligence and his ability to charm people up close, which made him a great retail campaigner. He is a very judgmental man and was unable to hide this from the country and I think this created a lot of pushback against him. Alter not only makes light of it in general, but lumps non-micromanagement items, such as reading a Nature article in 1972 about carbon dioxide with the micromanagement to strawman the idea of micromanagement. Yes, we had problems but at least we were working on them and making process, and at least we cared about each other. Time was measured not by clocks or pocket watches but by the sun and the clanging of the cast-iron farm bell.When I learned that he would almost certainly have begun to address global warming in the early 1980s had he been reelected, I was hooked. LBJ of course had a huge one and thanks to Barry Goldwater as 1964 GOP boat anchor, got it largely passed.

He believed “war is the greatest violation of human rights” and vowed to continue talking to war criminals because they were the ones with the power to stop people from killing each other. Was it the day Islamic revolutionaries overran the American Embassy in Tehran, beginning a 444-day captivity drama?During his 1970 gubernatorial campaign, he publicly embraced his neighbor to the west, Alabama’s George Wallace, emphasizing his populism and belief in states’ rights. And for all his missteps as president, there is something endearing in retrospect about the earnestness, honesty and lack of serious scandal that his presidency provided. This book provides great perspectives on many decisions for his presidency, and actually many which occurred before and after also.