Synopses & Reviews
Famous for his deadpan humor, New York Times bestselling author Senator Bob Dole here brings us his favorite witticisms and hilarious remarks of this country's commanders in chief. Great Presidential Wit collects the former senator's favorite funny stories and remarks by and about American presidents -- from George Washington to George W. Bush. Senator Dole tackles the assignment of ranking the presidents from the funniest (Abraham Lincoln) to the least funny (Millard Fillmore), and everyone in between. With chapters cleverly organized according to the senator's own opinions -- from "A Class by Themselves" (Lincoln, Reagan, the Roosevelts) and "Yankee Wits" (Coolidge, Kennedy) to "The Joke's on Them" (Taylor, Harding, Van Buren, Buchanan, the Harrisons, Pierce, Fillmore) -- Great Presidential Wit is the perfect antidote to the long political season and a patriotic reminder that our leaders are human and often witty and amusing.
Review
Chris Lehman The Washington Post Dole's lighthearted anthology brings us a timely reminder that the divide between comedy and statesmanship is blessedly narrow.
Review
Chris Lehman
The Washington Post
Dole's lighthearted anthology brings us a timely reminder that the divide between comedy and statesmanship is blessedly narrow.
Review
Larry King Bob Dole has one of the most humorous minds, not only of any politician I've ever known, but of any person I have ever known.
Review
Publishers Weekly Dole sets out to show that the most respected, fondly remembered and effectual presidents have been endowed with a funny bone, debunking the notion of the necessarily solemn face of leadership.
About the Author
Senator Bob Dole was the longest-serving Republican leader in Senate history. In 1976, he was the Republican nominee for vice president, and then in 1996, he was Republican nominee for president. He is currently serving as the chairman of the World War II Memorial campaign and as chairman of the International Commission on Missing Persons in the Former Yugoslavia. Wounded in World War II, Senator Dole was awarded two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star. He is married to Elizabeth Hanford Dole and lives in Washington, D.C.
Table of Contents
CONTENTSIntroduction: Backbones and Funny Bones
A CLASS BY THEMSELVES- Abraham Lincoln
- Ronald Reagan
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Theodore Roosevelt
YANKEE WITS- Calvin Coolidge
- John F. Kennedy
PLAIN SPEAKER, TALL TALES, AND A POKER FACE- Harry Truman
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Herbert Hoover
CLASSROOM HUMORISTS- Woodrow Wilson
- James Garfield
FUNNIER THAN THE AVERAGE PRESIDENT- George Bush
- William Howard Taft
- John Adams
- George Washington
- Thomas Jefferson
- Bill Clinton
AND YOU ALWAYS THOUGHT THEY WERE DULL- Dwight Eisenhower
- Gerald Ford
- Rutherford B. Hayes
- William McKinley
- Jimmy Carter
STICK-IN-THE-MUD- Ulysses Grant
- James Monroe
- Richard Nixon
- John Tyler
- Andrew Jackson
- Chester Arthur
- John Quincy Adams
- Andrew Johnson
- James Madison
- Grover Cleveland
- James K. Polk
THE JOKE'S ON THEM- Zachary Taylor
- Warren G. Harding
- Martin Van Buren
- James Buchanan
- William Henry Harrison
- Franklin Pierce
- Benjamin Harrison
- Millard Fillmore
WAITING IN THE WINGSGeorge W. BushAl Gore