Synopses & Reviews
"God bless my mother, all I am or ever hope to be I owe to her." -- Abraham LincolnWhat are the family circumstances that have created our presidents? How did their upbring-ing shape their future and ours? New York Times bestselling author Doug Wead answers these questions in one of the most comprehensive studies of presidential families to date.
When one thinks about the leadership qualities of George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt or the intellectual prowess of John Adams and Abraham Lincoln, it is hard to imagine them as children. It is even more difficult to envision the parents of our leaders, especially the larger-than-life idols of our political past. Our greatest presidents have entered the Oval Office armed with overwhelming ambition, intellect, and political savvy. But were these characteristics evident in childhood?
The Raising of a President is a groundbreaking look at the parents of the American presidents, full of never-before-seen facts and anecdotes, as well as psychological profiles based on Wead's findings. He analyzes the types of families into which our presidents were born, and sheds a fascinating light on how their destinies were shaped during childhood.
Using countless presidential correspondences and letters, as well as notes from hours of his own private conversations and interviews with six presidents and first ladies, Wead focuses specifically on the early life of our first president, George Washington; John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and the making of our nation's first political empire; the humble beginnings of our greatest president, Abraham Lincoln; the privileged upbringing of Franklin Delano Roosevelt; the ambitious rise of John Fitzgerald Kennedy; and the "quiet dynasty" led by George H. W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush.
Throughout The Raising of a President, readers will find that the circumstances and events that would destroy most children were often the very things that sparked greatness in our nation's future leaders. These are the stories of the presidents' parents, but in a truer sense, they are the stories of the presidents themselves, from a perspective that is long overdue.
Review
"Massively researched, superbly written, this is a long-awaitedstudy of a difficult subject often hidden by presidents and their families.It is a piece of American history that solves many mysteries."
-- Steven Lee Carson, research fellow, White House Conference on Presidential Children
Review
"Epic! A remarkable perspective, with unforgettable, haunting stories. One sees the American presidents through a more intimate lens. The true inside story on our most powerful families."
-- Peter Schweizer, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; coauthor of The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty
Synopsis
The parents of the American presidents are often as remarkable as the children they raised, and certainly as disparate. Thomas Lincoln left nine-year-old Abraham and his sister to starve after their mother's death. As a volunteer midwife to poor, black tenant farm workers, Lillian Carter outraged her segregationist neighbors. Warren G. Harding's mother was accused of murder. Betty Jackson was an Irish beauty who juggled raising her fatherless sons and nursing soldiers fighting in the American Revolution.
The correspondence and papers that Doug Wead unearthed during his years of research into All the Presidents' Children clarified presidential parents' good points, as well as their flaws, which are often overlooked. A team of five psychologists assisted Wead in analyzing these findings, allowing him to shed further insight into how the presidents' destinies were shaped during childhood.
The Raising of a President includes stories of seemingly perfect parents who by accident or design raised high achievers. But more often than not, these are the stories of ordinary often dysfunctional families. Indeed, Wead determines that the circumstances that would destroy many children were often the very things that sparked their future greatness. These are the stories of the presidents' parents, but in a truer sense, they are the stories of the presidents themselves, from a perspective that is long overdue.
Synopsis
A team of five psychologists assisted the author in his research into how the presidents' destinies were shaped during childhood. This volume includes stories of seemingly perfect parents who by accident or design raised high achievers.