Character: Profiles In Presidential Courage

by Chris Wallace

Throughout American history, presidents have faced difficult choices--decisions that sometimes have had grave political and personal consequences. Will leadership prevail? Or will the office cede power to popular opinion? At these critical times, many of our presidents have chosen a path of genuine courage. They stood up for what they believed was right for the country and displayed tremendous character, which made them leaders of men.

Wallace has chosen nearly twenty notable acts of presidential courage in our nation's history, George Washington and the Whiskey Rebellion, Theodore Roosevelt and the Russo-Japanese War, Harry Truman and the Berlin Airlift and George W. Bushand the Iraqi war.

How and why did these men make these choices? What experiences from their civilian lives came to bear on their decisions? What forces shaped them? Who influenced them? What or who gave them their inner fortitude?

Wallace brings out the humanity of these power brokers and lets their personal histories shine through. The result is a completely involving and tremendously informative look at the presidents who've made defining choices for our nation in times of national uncertainty.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Politics

358 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2004

About the author

Christopher W. Wallace is an American television anchor and journalist who is the news anchor of the Fox News program Fox News Sunday. He worked for NBC as a White House correspondent and anchor for NBC Nightly News and host of Meet the Press.

Reviews

[Dana Herrera · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know me and presidents.. Slow at times but for a quick sum of controversial things done by the 16 presidents in the book pretty good.

[Jake Danishevsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has some character, punt intended. Even though I don't agree that all the decisions that were made by certain Presidents were correct, constitutional and even later found out to be damaging, I do agree that each one of the men described in the book had certain level of character. I know that it requires certain personality trade to be in a leadership role, especially leadership in the public eye. The Presidents described in this book did have character and vision to shape our nation. Whether I disagree with some of them, it is my personal belief and feeling, but character and charisma did accompany many Presidents, assisted them to make tough and often unpopular decisions. This is a great book, filled with examples of historical decisions, pressures and most important, charismatic leadership. Leaders who lead America, strengthen our position in the world, helped shape it and even change it in some way or other. Like I said, that even the presidents whom I do not agree were great or even good for America, did posses certain character and made tough decision at one point or other. Character is and was important to lead the nation. I just wish that we had people with strong conviction and character, not ideology, "lead" our nation today. Overall I liked this book a lot.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a while but I finally finished this book. Not that the book was bad, it was actually really good, it just wasn't gripping reading that kept me up all night asking for more.

The book walks through 16 different instances of presidential character and courage. Jefferson and then Embargos, Roosevelt and the Lend Lease Act, Reagan and the Cold War, Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs, etc . . . Then it gives the text of a speech or address they made around that same time regarding the subject. Some of the speeches I glossed over but the narrative about the instance and how they made their decisions was fascinating and I found myself dog earing many pages to pull quotes or items from later.

If you enjoy a good book retelling some aspects of history from multiple sides, this is a great book. It is also a great book for getting some insight into the inter workings and thinking of the presidents.


I am glad that I have finally finished this book, and sad that it took me so long.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very engaging read about 16 of America's Presidents. Wallace takes just one key decision of each president, but he goes deep with it. In most cases, he starts each presidential account by telling a story that ties into the way the president handled the situation as he did.

This book makes a great companion study of America: The Last Best Hope by William Bennett.

[Humkeb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great history read.

[Pete Husky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really brings the events to life. Fascinating book.

[Jeff Koslowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is a decent combination of bite-sized and multi-faceted in that there are a lot of different topics that allows the reader to more easily put down and pick up this book.
Where I struggle with this book is on two fronts. First, there isn't a tie up in the end to go back to the original thesis. It just ends with George W. Bush. The introduction tries to get it established that Presidents have to make tough decisions but that seems fairly obvious when you really think about it. The other is that while Wallace fills the book with comments about how this is fair and neutral despite his (now former) employment at Fox News, his takes on Truman and Wilson have a slant to them. It's not obvious but it is there.
Overall, this would be a good pickup for US History teachers as a frame of reference for some subject ideas but as a supplement.

[John Brahm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Factual and well written

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather interesting. Was a dryer read, but to see the presidents stand firm despite public pressure was amazing.

[Mdtmlyons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris Wallace personally autographed my copy of this book.

[Keoake · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good referance book.

[Chris Rhodovi · Rating 4 out of 5]

sadly there are some editing issues with spelling mistakes, or words that run into each other (muchlikethis). those mistakes aside it is a really good read.

[Martha Rodriguez · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just "okay". It didn't even feel like Chris Wallace actually wrote it.