Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America by Jared Cohen

 

Title: Accidental Presidents:  Eight Men Who Changed America

Author:  Jared Cohen

Narrated by:  Arthur Morey

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 16 hours and 57 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank you @simonandschuster #BookClubFavorites for the free books!

Who has been your favorite vice president? One of my favorite vice presidents was Teddy Roosevelt who became President after the assassination of William McKinley. There have been eight times in our history where the vice president has taken over as the president. This riveting audiobook delves into the history around these eight periods of time, the president that died in office, and the vice president that took over for him.  Sometimes the vice president was not the right person for the job and our democracy hung in the balance (example – Andrew Johnson), while others stepped up the challenge and were great presidents (Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman).  Four of the presidents died from an illness and four were assassinated.

I thought it was very interesting that John Tyler was the first vice president to assume the office once William Henry Harrison became the first president to die in office after only 32 days as president.  The constitution did not have anything written about what would happen if the president were to die in office, and there was much confusion.  Tyler had a difficult time as president and was called “his accidency.”

I was a little sad that one of my favorite vice presidents that became presidents, Gerald Ford, only got a brief mention at the end.  He didn’t meet the criteria of assuming the presidency after the death of the incumbent.  I would argue that he was actually the most accidental president of them all.

I listened to this audiobook in the car with my family over many road trips.  My two sons (ages 17 and 15) enjoyed this audiobook, and my husband Ben liked it as well.  He really enjoyed the narrator, Arthur Morey, and was only disappointed to discover he was not the author as he seemed so personable.

Overall, Accidental Presidents was a fascinating way to look at American history and was a good audiobook to listen to and discuss with my family.

 

A Full Life by Jimmy Carter

Title:  A Full Life:  Reflections at Ninety

Author:  Jimmy Carter

Narrated by:  Jimmy Carter

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 7 hours and 40 minutes

Source: Checked out with Libby through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

 

What historical figure would you like to learn more about?  I realized even though I was born during Jimmy Carter’s presidency, I knew little about him.  With him being in the news for entering hospice, I thought it was time that I learned more about him.

A Full Life is narrated about Jimmy Carter and was written by him when he turned ninety.  It was great having the author narrate his own memoir.

Carter was very hard working from a young age.  He showed that he was sharp by buying rental homes after an undertaker died and rented them out while he was still in high school.  He did the maintenance on the buildings himself.  He studied naval engineering at the naval academy and graduated in 1946.  In the Navy, Carter experienced a different world and racial equality experiences that didn’t match his own in Georgia.  His Dad did not approve of his changing views on racial equality.

Carter loved nuclear engineering but became a farmer after his father passed away.  Rosalynn was not happy and didn’t speak to him for a couple of weeks after he made this decision without her.  He learned that for a happy marriage, you need to discuss major decisions with your spouse. 

Carter also loved square dancing and it changed his love.  He also lived in a “haunted house.” His  kids found a hidden room with a chair in it.  They believed that a mentally impaired lady was kept there in the past. 

The book had an interesting discussion of Carter’s faith and his work spreading the faith.  Confusion on this hindered items during his presidency.

Carter was a good man, and he was very smart, but he was not good at the back room dealing it took to be an effective president.  He still seemed sad in this book and didn’t understand what happened with the hostages in Iran and why they didn’t release them until Ronald Reagan became President.  He also was hurt when the Obama administration didn’t utilize him as a past president.

This audiobook did get a little slow in the end when Carter gave a summary of all of the books he had written. 

Overall, it was a very informative audiobook, and I am glad that I read it.  I learned a lot!