The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity

Nancy Gibbs · Michael Duffy

Apr 2012 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

Its not the man but the office that deserves respect and after this read it is apparent that no one more than a president leaving office respects it more.

This book is absolutely wonderful, and is a must read for anyone interested in the office of the President. It really humanizes the men who have sat in the oval office, and has a good balance of narrative and anecdotes. Really just terrific.

Magnificent book, which enlightened my already extensive knowledge of the 43 men who have served as the 44 Presidents of the United States Of America.

About the author

Nancy Gibbs is the deputy managing editor of Time magazine and coauthor with Michael Duffy of the New York Times bestseller The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House.

Michael Duffy is Time’s executive editor and Washington bureau chief and directs coverage of presidents, politics, and national affairs for the magazine.