The New York Times bestselling history of the private relationships
among the last thirteen presidents--the partnerships, private deals,
rescue missions, and rivalries of those select men who served as
commander in chief.
The Presidents Club, established at Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration by
Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover, is a complicated place: its members are
bound forever by the experience of the Oval Office and yet are eternal
rivals for history's favor. Among their secrets: How Jack Kennedy tried
to blame Ike for the Bay of Pigs. How Ike quietly helped Reagan win his
first race in 1966. How Richard Nixon conspired with Lyndon Johnson to
get elected and then betrayed him. How Jerry Ford and Jimmy Carter
turned a deep enmity into an alliance. The unspoken pact between a
father and son named Bush. And the roots of the rivalry between Clinton
and Barack Obama.
Time magazine editors and presidential historians Nancy Gibbs and
Michael Duffy offer a new and revealing lens on the American presidency,
exploring the club as a hidden instrument of power that has changed the
course of history.