The Presidents Club

Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity

By: Nancy Gibbs, Michael Duffy

Narrated by: Bob Walter

Length: 22 hrs

Publisher's summary

The Presidents Club was born at Eisenhower’s inauguration when Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover first conceived the idea. Over the years that followed - and to this day - the presidents relied on, misunderstood, sabotaged, and formed alliances with one another that changed history. The world’s most exclusive fraternity is a complicated place: its members are bound forever because they sat in the Oval Office and know its secrets, yet they are immortal rivals for history’s favor.

Some presidents needed their predecessors to keep their secrets; others needed them to disappear. Most just needed help getting the job done. Truman enlisted Hoover to help him save Europe; Kennedy turned to Ike on Cuba; Nixon sought Johnson’s advice on getting reelected, but then tried to blackmail him; Ford and Carter couldn’t stand each other until they saw what they had in common; Reagan and Clinton relied on Nixon as an off-the-books emissary to Russia; Bush put Clinton and his father to work and they became like father and son; and Obama and Clinton became quiet rivals for the same crown.

Journalists and presidential historians Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy unravel the secret compacts, the shared scars, and the private cease-fires from Hoover to Obama. The Presidents Club will change the way we think about the presidency, for the club itself is an instrument of presidential power.

©2012 Nancy Gibbs, Michael Duffy (P)2012 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

"This is essential reading for anyone interested in American politics.” (Robert Dallek, best-selling author of An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963)

“Forget Rome’s Curia, Yale’s Skull and Bones and the Bilderbergs - the world’s most exclusive club never numbers more than six. Its rules are inscrutable, and its members box the compass politically and stylistically.... Michael Duffy and Nancy Gibbs have penetrated thick walls of secrecy and decorum to give us the most intimate, revealing, and poignant account of the constitutional fifth wheel that is the ex-presidency. Readers are in for some major surprises, not to mention a history they won’t be able to put down.” (Richard Norton Smith, author of Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation)

“ The Presidents Club is magnetically readable, bursting with new information and behind-the-scenes details. It is also an important contribution to history, illuminating the event-making private relationships among our ex-Presidents and why we should do a far better job of drawing on their skills and experience.” (Michael Beschloss, best-selling author of The Conquerers)

Great and interesting book

What did you love best about The Presidents Club?

The personal connections developed between the presidents is fascinating. I also learned a lot about historical events in the context of how each president made his decision and how involved were other presidents behind the scene.

It's a must read to everyone who likes politics, history and U.S, foreign policy.

Any additional comments?

the reader was great and really enhanced the listening experience.

Interesting

Never knew the back story of presidents. More helpful to each other than one would think.

Interesting

I've also often wondered about the relationship between presidents, which is never talked about, and this book reveals just that. So enlightening to find out who were friends, who were enemies, and what presidents think about each other.

You never know what goes on behind closed doors. I've always said that people argue about politics only with information we get from the media, and that very fact makes us pretty inept to argue anything. In really makes decisions and why? Corruption? Blackmail? Politicians are just puppets.

A good read.

History on a personal level

What made the experience of listening to The Presidents Club the most enjoyable?

This book makes history more real by bringing it down to a more personal level. Presidents are real people with personalities and struggles, not just characters with names and dates below them in a history text. It is fascinating to hear how the presidents interacted with each other and how they helped or complicated things for the other presidents.

Great insight into a private world

If you could sum up The Presidents Club in three words, what would they be?

Pragmatic. Engaging. Disjointed.

What did you like best about this story?

The book was very well thought out with regards to telling the stories of the relationships between the POTUS and his successors/predecessors with as little subjectivity as possible.

Which character – as performed by Bob Walter – was your favorite?

NA.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not particularly.

Any additional comments?

The book sometimes jumped between eras with no identifiable reason. For the most part it worked chronologically, but there were points where I couldn't see a connection between the previous discussion and the current one on any logical front.

This is an excellent read for election season

Learning how recent presidents have worked together is fascinating. It certainly gives me more sympathy for the presidents I haven't liked.

Inflection of narrator really annoying

I've read MANY historical accounts of the presidencies covered in this book, and did notice a few areas where the accounts here didn't quite jive with others (considered to be authoritative), but I can't speak to the bias that I noticed in other reviews, as I'm not far enough along to have encountered them. I certainly don't see it thus far, and I'm up to the account of Nixon's campaign. I've never written a review prior to finishing a book, but this one made me want to due to the narration. Perhaps it will help someout out.

Argghh! I'm truly surprised that more folks haven't mentioned this, but Bob Walter's inflection and pacing is reminiscent of a really bad John Wayne impression. I'm not terribly picky about narration in general, and thus didn't listen to the sample. I wish I had. I find his pacing, inflection, and emphasis bizarre, and very distracting and annoying. This experience . . . has . . . taught me that I . . . should definitely . . . listen to the . . sample before I . . . purchase . . . a book. I'll certainly avoid him in the future, as it makes the book a tedious listen for me.

Finally, at least thus far, the authors didn't seem to have enough material to warrant a book on the specific topic of the relationships between past and present presidents, and spend a considerable amount of time away from that angle. I understand the need to provide historical context to readers, certainly, but much of the time it feels like the 'presidents club' is more of an aside. I was hoping for more on this specific topic, as it's interesting, and usually an aside in more focused biographies of presidents. However, this doesn't provide much to previous works in this respect. As such, it kind of feels like more of a marketing angle to justify a history of the presidencies of Truman through the present. If you haven't read a lot of political history, that might be more interesting to you, but if you've read a lot, it's mostly a re-hash with a little more emphasis on the presidential relationships.

Just to put this review in context, it is the worst I've ever given, by far--and again, mostly due to the narration, and to a lesser extent, to the paltry amount of new information regarding the presidential relationships.

Would have preferred a different narrator

Would you try another book from Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy and/or Bob Walter?

I would try another book from the authors and would avoid the narrator.

Would you be willing to try another one of Bob Walter’s performances?

It was a bit forced. I couldn't connect with him. I felt at times that he was unsuccessfully trying to do impressions of some of the presidents.

Any additional comments?

I loved the history I learned. As we got to the more current presidents, I could recall many of the events mentioned in the book. It was great to hear some background. I reinforced some opinions I held and changed others. That's a good book. A book that can make you reconsider your previously held beliefs is a powerful tool.

Being One of the Superpowerful

This was fascinating: A look into the interpersonal aspects of being, or having been, one of the most powerful people in the world.

The book covers Hoover through Obama, limiting the subject to interactions between the members. I found lots of insight into the persons, as opposed to the office. I've often thought that anybody who wanted the job of POTUS should automatically be disqualified from it on the basis if arrogance. But obviously, somebody has to do it. It's a job of superhuman requirements, being struggled with by people who are all too human.

I couldn't put this down, so I read it all too quick. I'll give it another listen and add more later.

The best book I've listened to this year, so far!

If you could sum up The Presidents Club in three words, what would they be?

Detailed, Historical, Important

Who was your favorite character and why?

I learned more and appreciated more about every president. Their need for confidants and trust was evident and important to learn about. How, even those that history may not appreciate, that they were all extremely helpful and knowledgable and appreciative of America and their successors and predecessors.. I really loved every bit of the book. I can't think of even one criticism.

What does Bob Walter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I like listinening to my books at 3x the speed and when going that fast he was still very clear and understandable.