Star-Spangled Men: America's Ten Worst Presidents [Paperback]

Picking America's best presidents is easy. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt usually lead the list, But choosing the nation's worst presidents requires more thought. InStar-Spangled Men,respected presidential biographer Nathan Miller puts on display those leaders who were abject failures as chief executive. With pointed humor and a deft hand, he presents a rogues' gallery of the men who dropped the presidential ball, and sometimes their pants as well.
Miller includes Richard M. Nixon, who was forced to resign to escape impeachment; Jimmy Carter, who proved that the White House is not the place for on-the-job training; and Warren G. Harding, who gave being in the closet new meaning as he carried on extramarital interludes in one near the Oval Office. This current edition also includes a new assessment of Bill Clinton -- who has admitted lying to his family, his aides, his cabinet, and the American people.Nathan Miller (1927–2004) was an award-winning journalist and the Pulitzer Prize–nominated author of twelve works of history and biography, including FDR: An Intimate History,Theodore Roosevelt: A Life, and War at Sea.CONTENTS
AMERICA'S TEN WORST PRESIDENTS
(IN THE ORDER OF THEIR WORSTNESS, FROM THE POOR TO THE HORRID)
PROLOGUE
(IN WHICH THE CRITERIA FOR MAKING THIS LIST ARE DISCUSSED)
FOREWORD TO THE TOUCHSTONE EDITION
I. Jimmy Carter, who showed that the White House is not the place for on-the-job training
II. William Howard Taft, who was so fat he got stuck in a White House bathtub
III. Benjamin Harrison, who looked like a medieval gnome and had a handshake like a wilted petunia
IV. Calvin Coolidge, who was a living embodiment of Woody Allen's observation that eighty percent of success is showing up
V. Ulysses S. Grant, who proves that old soldiers should fade away rather than go to the White House
VI. Andrew JohnsolÃF