Reviews

Citizen-In-Chief: The Second Lives of the American Presidents by Jennifer Weiss, Leonard Benardo

abe25's review against another edition

5.0

nice book of the civilian life of the presidents after their terms!

judyward's review against another edition

3.0

This book was right up my alley. It examines the lives of the U.S. presidents after leaving office from John Tyler who served in the Confederate Congress to Jimmy Carter who won the Nobel Prize in 2002. Presidents didn't receive a pension until a bill creating a pension was passed by the Congress in 1958--largely as a result of President Truman being forced to live in his mother-in-law's house because of a lack of funds. Many early presidents--Madison, Monroe, and Jefferson come to mind--died deeply in debt after retiring from politics. Some presidents went on to have effective second careers after leaving the White House. John Q. Adams served for 17 years in the House of Representatives and was an outspoken critic of slavery. Herbert Hoover was engaged in overseas relief work. And William Howard Taft became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The authors point out that presidents in the last half of the 20th century profitted financially after leaving the White House and a good portion of the book is devoted the politics of building their presidential libraries. Entertaining with a lot of interesting stories about our former presidents.