Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House

Winner of Foreword Magazine's 2006 Silver Award for Political Science Book of the Year! "Mark K. Updegrove's Second Acts is a smart and provocative look at the most exclusive club in America – ex-presidents. Highly recommended!"

—Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History and Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Tulane University

"Former presidents have been likened to Cinderella after the ball. In this intimate, often surprising group portrait, Mark Updegrove reveals how our ex-presidents since Truman have dealt with the loss of power that is their pumpkin. From Ike struggling to master the intricacies of the dial tone, to LBJ raging like Lear on the Perdenales [River], to Jimmy Carter, the Extra President--Updegrove gives us riveting history by twilight. His evening stars cast a memorable glow."--Richard Norton Smith, president historian, Scholar in Residence, George Mason University

"Mark Updegrove's Second Acts is a fascinating read about a subject that has been neglected for too long. It is history at its best; a well researched and well told narrative that illuminates the recent past in surprisingly unexpected ways. Filled with wit as well as wisdom, Second Acts is a delight."--Don Carleton, Director, University of Texas Center for American History

" Highly recommended."--Library Journal

"For those interested in the former presidents, this popular history will do the trick."-- Publishers Weekly

"Revealing in detail and context."--Kirkus Reviews

"As life expectancy increases, U.S. presidents are living longer out of office than ever before. But the post — White House lives of the presidents since Truman have been a mixed bag, according to this creative work by Updegrove, former publisher of Newsweek. Updegrove delineates how these men, formerly the world's most powerful, coped with their new status, earned a living and tried to shape their legacies. Lyndon B. Johnson became depressed, and overate and smoked, despite an earlier heart attack. Jimmy Carter found a new purpose in his humanitarian and diplomatic activities. Some of the book's most surprising moments come in the accounts of the immediate post-WWII presidents: Updegrove reminds us that when Truman left office, there was no pension for former presidents. Updegrove also focuses on the relationships among the ex-presidents, noting that many former adversaries made common cause, though Richard Nixon found it more difficult to get along with his successors. Scholars may find little new, as Updegrove mainly relies on presidential memoirs and secondary sources, in addition to personal interviews. But for those interested in the former presidents, this popular history will do the trick. B&w photos. 40,000 first printing; $75,000 ad/promo; first serial to American Heritage. (Oct.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"America's first complicated diplomatic challenge of WW II involved its relations with the Vichy government of French North Africa. Should the United States negotiate at all with Hitler's client? How best to navigate the labyrinth of double- and triple-dealing? Vaughan, a Foreign Service officer turned journalist, uses newly available sources to describe a triumph of amateur diplomacy. After the fall of France in 1940, President Roosevelt bypassed the State Department to appoint a dozen new vice consuls to North Africa. They were quintessential amateurs: 'well-mannered gentlemen with outsized personalities' and Ivy League backgrounds, fluent in French and at home in the culture. While ostensibly looking after U.S. interests, North Africa Minister Robert D. Murphy and the 'Twelve Apostles' also nurtured opposition to Vichy and the Axis. Developing an embryonic resistance network with flair, they transmitted up-to-date military and political information to woefully uninformed Washington. Their greatest breakthrough came when they prepared the ground for the November 1942 Anglo-American landings in Morocco and Algeria, opening the way for a French change of sides. Negotiations with Vichy commander Jean Darlan were, however, sharply criticized for putting pragmatism above principle — one of many times that charge has been leveled against U.S. diplomacy." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

This work profiles the post-presidential lives and careers of Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. The author's narratives, reconstructed in the main from journalistic sources, treat activities and events serious (Jimmy Carter's work with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center), personally tragic (Ronald Reagan's steady decline in health), and relatively trivial (George H.W. Bush's skydiving exploits). Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

No longer fading into the background upon leaving the highest office in the land, former presidents perform valuable services as political advisors and international emissaries. From Jimmy Carter earning the Nobel Peace Prize to George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton joining forces for tsunami and hurricane relief, Mark K. Updegrove examines the increasingly important roles that former presidents have in our nation and throughout the world.