Fit for the Presidency?: Winners, Losers, What-Ifs, and Also-Rans

by Seymour Morris Jr.

Overview

Every four years Americans embark on the ultimate carnival, the Super Bowl of democracy: a presidential election campaign filled with endless speeches, debates, handshakes, and passion.
 
But what about the candidates themselves? 
 
In Fit for the Presidency? Seymour Morris Jr. applies an executive recruiter’s approach to fifteen presidential prospects from 1789 to 1980, analyzing their résumés and references to determine their fitness for the job. Were they qualified? How real were their actual accomplishments? Could they be trusted, or were their campaign promises unrealistic?
 
The result is a fresh and original look at a host of contenders from George Washington to William McAdoo, from DeWitt Clinton to Ronald Reagan. Gone is the fluff of presidential campaigns, replaced by broad perspective and new insights on candidates seeking the nation’s highest office. 
                                                                                                                                 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612348506
Publisher:	Potomac Books
Publication date:	01/01/2017
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	1,042,061
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 16.70(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Seymour Morris Jr. is a former political pollster, head of corporate communications, and international entrepreneur. He is the author of American History Revised: 200 Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks and Supreme Commander: MacArthur’s Triumph in Japan.    

Table of Contents

Preface    
Introduction: What Our Founding Fathers Looked for in a Potential President    
1. George Washington, 1789    
2. DeWitt Clinton, 1812    
3. William Henry Harrison, 1840    
4. Abraham Lincoln, 1860    
5. Jefferson Davis, 1861    
6. Samuel J. Tilden, 1876    
7. William Randolph Hearst, 1904    
8. William Gibbs McAdoo, 1920    
9. Herbert Hoover, 1928    
10. Wendell Willkie, 1940    
11. George C. Marshall, 1944    
12. Henry A. Wallace, 1948    
13. Barry Goldwater, 1964    
14. Robert F. Kennedy, 1968    
15. Ronald Reagan, 1980    
Conclusion: Appraising the Candidates    
Notes    
Bibliography    
Illustration Credits    
 

Editorial Reviews

10/24/2016
Asking what the best qualifications are for becoming a U.S. president, Morris (American History Revised) attempts to quantify these qualities by analyzing the résumés of 15 actual and would-be officeholders. Going from George Washington to Ronald Reagan, he takes an executive recruiter’s approach to scrutinizing his subjects’ experience and character. Morris notes that prior experience plays a major part in determining future success, but the ability to function in a crisis accounts for even more. The incredible success of political lightweight Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and the failure of the seasoned Herbert Hoover at the onset of the Great Depression epitomize this notion. In laying out the histories of largely forgotten political figures such as DeWitt Clinton and Wendell Willkie, as well as those of the more famous Gen. George Marshall, Barry Goldwater, and Bobby Kennedy, and examining their pitfalls and triumphs, Morris ultimately lets the reader decide what constitutes a great presidential candidate. Given his exceptionally extensive and open-minded analysis, it is a shame that he did not include resumes for the current candidates running for office in this year’s election. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

“Full of juicy anecdotes and a valuable guide to voters deciding who gets to occupy the nation’s highest office. It could not have come at a better time.”—Alvin Felzenberg, author of The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn’t): Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game
 
 

Alvin Felzenberg

"Enjoyable reading."—Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal

“A fascinating, original look into the history of presidential politics, covering both the immortal (Lincoln) and the forgotten (Samuel Tilden), and an excellent primer on how to evaluate the current candidates for the qualities that make a great president.”—John Steele Gordon, author of An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power
 

John Steele Gordon

“Fascinating is much too tame to describe this ingenious journey through presidents and almost presidents and would-be presidents. White House buffs will be riveted and general readers amazed by what they learn about the most important job in America.”—Thomas Fleming, author of The Great Divide: The Conflict between Washington and Jefferson That Defined a Nation
 

Thomas Fleming

“Seymour Morris Jr. is sure to provoke lively discussion with his creative résumé’ approach to evaluating fifteen American presidential candidates from George Washington to Ronald Reagan. Thoughtful and brash, balanced yet crisply argued, Fit for the Presidency? should be required reading for anyone who enjoys the privilege of being an American voter.”—Walter R. Borneman, author of The Admirals and MacArthur at War

Walter R. Borneman

"Enjoyable reading."—Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal

2016-10-05
On the theory that experience is the best predictor of future performance, Morris (Supreme Commander: MacArthur’s Triumph in Japan, 2014, etc.) examines and evaluates, as any hiring committee might, the resumes of 15 men, all past applicants for the job of president.To judge the fitness for the Oval Office of figures as towering as Washington and Lincoln, as dubious as William Randolph Hearst, and as little remembered as William Henry Harrison, the author uses four criteria: “accomplishments,” “intangibles,” “judgment,” and “overall” (a summary of all the information known about the candidate). Notwithstanding the intentional diversity of his list, a couple “candidates” appear out of place: the otherwise estimable Gen. George C. Marshall was never seriously considered for Franklin Roosevelt’s vice president, and Jefferson Davis was elected president, yes, but of the Confederacy. Still, the disagreements readers will have with Morris, his methodology, and his assessments are part of the fun of any exercise like this. As he rates the aspirants, the author turns up interesting little nuggets about each: why Jefferson in 1826 thought DeWitt Clinton was the greatest living American and why Lincoln, too, sought to emulate the father of the Erie Canal; how Ronald Reagan devised his own version of shorthand to deliver his seemingly effortless speeches; why Robert Kennedy and Barry Goldwater were perhaps too hot for the presidency, Herbert Hoover and Samuel Tilden, too cold; how Henry Wallace failed to match self-discipline with his prodigious intellect; why Maine’s Bowdoin College awarded an honorary degree to Jefferson Davis two years before the Civil War; how Wendell Willkie, without ever holding public office, captured the Republican nomination; why the Democrats twice denied their top honor to William McAdoo, the most accomplished treasury secretary since Hamilton. Why wisdom trumps experience, judgment beats sheer hard work, broad intelligence bests narrow brilliance—these considerations, too, figure into Morris’ appraisals. A timely, amusing, and occasionally eye-opening exercise.

Kirkus Reviews