The Greatest Presidents of the 20th Century: The Lives of Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton by Charles River Editors
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Overview: If the 19th century was about America overcoming its own divisions to takes its place at the forefront of global affairs, the 20th century was about fulfilling those visions and goals. To get there, the nation needed the leadership of presidents of different stripes and ideologies to guide the United States toward its destiny.
When McKinley was assassinated in 1901, young Theodore Roosevelt was thrust into the presidency, one that would earn him a place on Mount Rushmore, Roosevelt’s “Square Deal” domestic policies favored average citizens while busting trusts and monopolies. Roosevelt also promoted conservation as an environmental stance, while his “speak softly and carry a big stick” foreign policy is still an oft used phrase today. Roosevelt even earned a Nobel Prize during his presidency. By the time Roosevelt died in 1919, he was an American icon.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt might be America’s greatest 20th century president, but there’s no question that he was the most unique. A well-connected relative of Theodore Roosevelt, FDR was groomed for greatness until he was struck down by polio. Nevertheless, he persevered, rising through New York politics to reach the White House just as the country faced its greatest challenge since the Civil War.
When President Franklin Roosevelt died in April 1945, Vice President Truman had to usher America through victory in Europe in his first month and decide to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki a few months later, but the end of World War II produced only the first of many consequential decisions Truman would face during his nearly 8 years in office. As president, Truman would lay the groundwork for the next 50 years of American foreign policy, as the architect of Cold War containment, the man who signed off on the Marshall Plan, and the commander-in-chief during much of the Korean War.
During the middle of the 20th century, the United States completed its transformation into one of the world’s superpowers, and few were as instrumental in this development as Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), renowned for being the nation’s principal commanding general during World War II and the president who served during the early, tumultuous Cold War years. Despite being one of America’s oldest presidents, Eisenhower redefined the public relations nature of the office, in addition to positioning America during the Cold War standoff with the Soviet Union.
In many ways, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his young family were the perfect embodiment of the ‘60s. In 1961, Kennedy made it seem like anything was possible, and Americans were eager to believe him. The Kennedy years were fondly and famously labeled “Camelot,” by Jackie herself, suggesting an almost mythical quality about the young President and his family.
In the famous movie Back to the Future, Marty McFly travels back to 1955, and, in an attempt to convince his friend Doc Brown that he is from 1985, tells the 1955 version of Doc Brown that Ronald Reagan is president. Doc looks at him incredulously and laughs, chortling, “Ronald Reagan? The actor?” In a story that could have come straight out of Hollywood, the golden actor rose through California politics to become California governor and eventually the 40th President.
Widely hailed as the greatest politician of his era, Bill Clinton proved to be his own worst enemy, creating unnecessary scandals through his womanizing.
Genre: Non-Fiction > History
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