“Legacy is what a president does that affects later generations.” DoePresidentGenerationsLegacy Author:Michael Beschloss
“The original thing that fascinated me most was why we expect leaders, and especially presidents, at times to destroy themselves - and that's a sign of being a good leader or a good president. We usually don't expect that of almost anyone else in any profession, in particular, in public life.” PresidentLeaderParticularOriginalsProfessionFascinatedPublic LifeGood LeaderBeing A Good Leader Author:Michael Beschloss
“We cannot be spun, or at least we'd like to think that we cannot be. And the presidents who are trying to - too overtly to try to say, here is what you historians and what you later Americans should think of my presidency, 30 or 40 years later, they look silly.” ThinkingTryingPresidentSillyHistorianSpun Author:Michael Beschloss
“A lot of it was, you know, you look for moments where, for instance, we were dependent on Abraham Lincoln making sure that the slaves were freed or John Kennedy bringing civil rights, or the first one I wrote about, George Washington trying to stop the British from invading and ending this country before it even began. Those were turning points where, if you had not had a president stepping up to the plate, if there wasn't a story like that, we would not be here.” TryingCountryMomentsPresidentSlaveCivil Rights Author:Michael Beschloss
“What if we had a culture that prevented these presidents from being courageous? And I worry now that we have a system that makes it very hard to choose people who would make the same courage choice as our great presidents. And I guess what I would say is, in this next campaign, take a look at the people who are running. If they don't remind you of the great presidents, do not vote for them.” PeopleRunningChoicesCulturePresidentWorryVoteCourageousWhat If Author:Michael Beschloss
“Lincoln was able to say, you know, "It will make me very unhappy if I lose the presidency, but I'm committed to larger things." If you look at candidates and say this is someone who can be happy to go back to their family or they have larger convictions. Franklin Roosevelt jeopardized his presidency by telling Americans in 1940, "We might have to fight Hitler." He loved being president, but he loved defending freedom more.” FightingPresidentCommittedConvictionUnhappyFranklin Author:Michael Beschloss
“As parties began to develop around the turn of the 19th century, you had party nominees for President nominated in caucuses made up of party members in Congress.” MadeTurnsPresidentPartyCenturyMembersCongress19th CenturyAggravationCaucus Author:Michael Beschloss
