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

Written by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy

Narrated by Bob Walter

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Apr 17, 2012
• ISBN: 9781442350311

Nancy Gibbs

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.

Reviews for The Presidents Club

[advocate thiongo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely captivating ! I couldn’t put it down.
Well written.

[daniel5estes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This insider's view of the president's club is really just a history of the American presidency from Harry Truman to the present day. It's impossible to understand it without a detailed look at foreign policy during the second half of the 20th century.There's a lot here, and it feels tediously too long at times, but the book did grow on me the further along I progressed.

[john.cooper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A short history of the modern Presidency from Hoover to Obama, told entirely in stories about the interactions between presidents, ex-presidents, and future presidents. The stuff you'd expect is here?Ford's pardon of Nixon, former president Carter's rogue diplomacy in North Korea, the disaster relief team of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton?but there's a lot of hidden history, too: Nixon's deliberate interference in the Vietnamese peace talks of 1968, stalling any peace settlement until it could no longer benefit the Democrats; Clinton's late night phone calls to Nixon, getting foreign policy advice; Ford and Carter's strong mutual distaste turning to a grudging appreciation in the course of an overseas trip; Clinton's surprising adoption into the Bush clan as a "Brother of Another Mother." As I read all these stories, gathered mostly from memoirs, presidential papers, and interviews with staff who were there, my impressions of all these men widened as they grew more human. If you're interested in the intersection of personality and politics, there's a lot of material here for you.

[msaucier818 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely loved this book. It traces the relationships between Presidents starting with Truman and Hoover and going through the Obama Presidency. At at most basic, it is a bit of a survey political history of 20th century America. However, the stories and relationships explored through the book were fascinating. I felt like I really got to know the Presidents as people, and found a great new respect for some (Truman, Ford, Bush 41 and 43), and very much disliked others (LBJ and Nixon). I think anyone who enjoys reading history would love this book, but more importantly, I think it helps us understand that our Presidents are people and in most cases, hold great respect for the Office and for the country. A new book on my favorites list.

[jrexv · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating book. Good view of post WWII American history from a presidential perspective. Inside look into the egos, personalities, strengths, and weaknesses of the presidents and their relationships with their predecessors and successors.

[gbelik_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The small number of people who have experienced the presidency have unique relationships with each other. Politics seemed less important than personality. I learned many things about the characters of each president that I hadn't known. These relationships were an interesting tag to talk about the events of the last 7 decades.

[dham340 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If your a political junky a fun read.

The one knock is that for most political junkies, much of this book is already known. Indeed, given the lengthy notes and bibliography, most of the stories in here have been reported in prior books and articles. What this book does quite nicely is put them in a coherent context.

There is little to no original history and the sections on the more recent presidents (George w bush, Barack Obama) are quiet thin.

Nevertheless, recommend.

[annbury_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What happens after the White House? As far as the public is concerned, out of sight is out of mind. In political terms, however, former presidents have a role and have sometimes had a startling degree of influence. This book shows how that role has developed and how much it has sometimes mattered, starting with President Truman's call on then-former President Hoover and ending up in the Obama White House. Along the way, it reveals some really significant and very surprising involvements (Eisenhower with Kennedy, Clinton with Nixon). It also reveals a lot of really interesting gossip. Finally, it shows the presidents in a new light, focussing less on the public personae than on the private individuals. An interesting and in some instances enlightening read.

[labdaddy4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book - very readable, very informative, authors are non-biased and without a political or ideological agenda. I rarely give anything a 5 star rating but this is one of the very best works on modern American History I have come across. I do not think I will look at the modern presidents in the same way again. The interactions between the "members" of this club are fascinating. Their political ambition combined with strength of personality and understanding of the use of power make for a more than interesting glimpse into each individual.

[vapops · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book - very readable, very informative, authors are non-biased and without a political or ideological agenda. I rarely give anything a 5 star rating but this is one of the very best works on modern American History I have come across. I do not think I will look at the modern presidents in the same way again. The interactions between the "members" of this club are fascinating. Their political ambition combined with strength of personality and understanding of the use of power make for a more than interesting glimpse into each individual.

[readyreader_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A tome about how the recent history of our world shaped the decisions of America's presidents from Herbert Hoover up to Barack Obama, and how these men came together to help and encourage each other in making decisions that will be perpetually judged by history. A fascinating look at the inside process of governing a nation by an exclusive group of men who utimately believed the office of the President was by far more sacred than the politics that brought them to that office.

[kaulsu · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent overview of these Presidents, taken for the most part, after they left office. Fun anecdotes.One of the nice things about the book was the lack (seemingly) of a political agenda. It will be interesting if Trump is invited to join ranks with these patriotic Americans.

[alincolnnut · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Longtime Time Magazine journalists Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy explore the relationships of former US presidents, and the ways that they have impacted American policy, since World War II. Generation by generation, from Herbert Hoover to Barack Obama, they trace the various ways that serving presidents have sought the advice, solidarity, and assistance of their predecessors.Gibbs and Duffy do not uncover many new details; most students of 20th Century US Presidential history will know about the interplay between these often out-sized figures. Instead, they use the historical record to explore the motivations that shaped these unique relationships, along with the surprising personality quirks that have allowed former presidents to bond or have gotten in the way.Unsurprisingly, Richard Nixon looms large in the book, owing to his breathtaking machinations with various presidents that suited his own desires for election, pardon, and then rehabilitation. More interesting, they suggest that George H. W. Bush has become the father figure of the group, responsible for revitalizing the collegiality of ?the club? and shaping its modern ethos.

[rebarelishesreading · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Presidents Club is the theme book for this last week of the 2012 Chautauqua season. The author's are here for the entire week and will be speaking several times. I finished the book yesterday and can't wait to hear what the authors have to say because this is one of the best reads I've had in a long time. It's written in a very "readable" style and includes amazing behind-the-scenes stories about the relationships between past and sitting presidents since Hoover. Some of the things they have done to "help" have been in the news (Clinton's trip to free the journalists from North Korea, Carter's election monitoring trips, etc.) but there is much more that goes on privately. The authors point out that no one can truly understand what it is like to have the power and responsibility of the presidency except those who have held the office and, so, they are uniquely able to give advice to the current president. In addition, the authors say that all of the ex-presidents are anxious to protect the office itself and so are pften willing to lend a hand, even to those of the other party. If you have the least curiousity about how the Executive Office works, I highly recommend this book.

[anawkwardreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure what it says about me (or about this book) that my favourite part was hearing how LBJ was so into proving his manhood, literally, that he invited White House visitors, including preachers, to go skinny dipping. And he held meetings in the bathroom.

[ernst0schnell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a great book for presidential history buffs, West Wing fans and that sort of people. It examines the relationship of US presidents in office with their living predecessors, starting from Truman-Hoover and ending with Obama-Bush-Clinton-Bush-Reagan-Carter. Maybe it is inevitable to not loose sight of the contemporary event, so that especially the chapter on Nixon (and to a certain extent the following ones) read more like a Nixon-book, than following the title's ideas. But at least I don't think that is a bad thing and have thoroughly enjoyed reading this lively and colorful narrative.

[writemoves · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Presidents Club represents membership in a very exclusive club---all you have to do is be President of the United States. Its origin goes back to the Truman Administration where Harry Truman solicited the help of Herbert Hoover to assist with the feeding of the hungry and homeless after World War II. Gibbs also provides additional examples and stories where a current President reached back and asked for guidance or help from one or more of his predecessors. The book covers the relationships between and among the Presidents. It seems the most helpful ex-President may have been Nixon who consulted with Reagan, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. If you are interested in the American Presidency or American History, you will enjoy this book. Excellent read.

[bobvtreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After reading the reviews I was somewhat diasppointed with the book, Carter,Clinton and Bush 43 are goven short shrift in the book. It may be that they are still alive. Earlier presidents, Truman ,Eisenhower and Johnson, get more coverage. The king of the cover is Nixon who is was the manupulator to the very end. Still an interesting book and very worthwhile reading

[thewanderingjew_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Written for the average person, not the scholar, The Presidents Club refers to the group of men, former Presidents, who are still alive, who live in a rarefied atmosphere that only they, who have lived in the White House, can fully comprehend. They have been privy to the world?s most dangerous information and secrets, made decisions on which the fate of the world depended, and only they can really understand and relate to each other. The premise of the Club is that these men can still contribute and perform an invaluable service to newly elected Presidents or previous Presidents in need of a helping hand or some advice on how to deal with certain issues.The Club created strange bedfellows; enemies became friends, and sometimes, friends became enemies.The beauty of the relationship is that it crosses party lines. Even when old grudges rear their ugly heads because of campaigns, which made one or another suffer the slings and arrows of their opponent, they rose above their own personal needs and did what they thought was best for the country, and they supported the President in power and took a backseat, when asked to help?almost always that is, there were those with egos that simply rose above the sitting President?s requests and they pranced off as loose cannons to do their worst.Written in an even-handed way, not showing bias toward a particular party or President, the book is easy to read but requires some patience. It covers the men who achieved the highest office, from Hoover to Obama. Often, there is so much information that the reader will have to put it down and return to it later, to reread it and try and remember what they either lived through or learned in school, to verify what they have read, to more fully appreciate the aid and succor offered by these men of great power, to each other, some leaving office in shame and disgrace and some entering or leaving office immortalized, larger than life, for either their contributions or their personalities. The ability to relate to the people and to foreign powers is a gift not all had, and some often reached out for help to those that were still alive, that they could consider their brethren, while others resisted or had none to call upon.The ability for each to sabotage another remained alive and well and often the case. The desire of some to remain powerful and involved was so all consuming that they forgot to put their country first and became more enamored of themselves and their ?one right way?, in defiance of the man currently in power in the White House. Some reached out to unite and others to divide, but generally, they did put the security of the country first, above themselves. It is nothing if it isn?t ?a good old boys club?.Many of the men were polar opposites, coming from different walks of life, different educational backgrounds, different philosophies. They were portrayed as human beings, as were their spouses, with their warts and foibles exposed so that some negative ideas I had were quashed and replaced by a more accepting view of the person. Above all, each suffered with the weight of their decisions and each entered the office with the desire to make the world a better place. This desire was often thwarted by politics and outside forces, coupled with the fact that their desires were not always universal.Soon, it also becomes obvious that each will use the power of the office to bend the rules, often ignore or rewrite the law, in order to perform acts and enact laws, sometimes unethical and/or illegal, in order to protect the country or themselves and their legacy. Most times, they have noble aims, but their personal philosophies may alter the effort and the outcome.One has to ask themselves the question, as they read, is it really necessary for the average citizen to know what goes on in secret meetings, in back rooms, in foreign countries, or is it more important that the perception remain one of calm and peace throughout the times of trouble and turmoil.What distressed me most about the book was something I have always been a bit na?ve about. I always resisted the knowledge that people will often sink to the lowest common denominator, but the book reveals that they sure do. Rather than rise to the occasion, many let petty differences rule their reign, for a period of time. They blame each other unjustly, pervert the truth to get ahead, regardless of whose head rolls, unfairly and unjustly, in the dust. Some, indeed, rose above the fray, but it seems those occasions are few and far between, and that, perhaps, is what is wrong with campaigns and politics in general, and each man, in particular. As I learned in the book, they are, after all, only human, human beings that are invested with the power and pomp of the White House, often for the most foolish of reasons, often without thinking, often by an illiterate electorate. Fortunately, we have gotten it right, most of the time, throughout our history.Regardless of who is seeking power, each blames their predecessor for mistakes made, that they, making promises they cannot possibly keep, do promise to correct. During campaigns, rather than putting the national interest first, politics reigns supreme as does the politics of personal destruction which has become more and more a part of the game in recent years. Sometimes, the real person running is never known or understood until the race is over, so defined are they by others and not themselves. The game of politics is ugly and unfair, and many who play it are even uglier, uglier still because they justify what they do, believing that the ends justified the means.?We the people? create the narcissists we place in power. If they lose their sense of humility and their arrogance rules as they become narcissists, we have no one but ourselves to blame. It is our blind eyes and deaf ears that allow the travesties to continue and our responsibility to change it by taking an educated interest in the vote, rather than voting only according to habit or party lines.If a candidate can please an ignorant public, he may fail, but they will still love him. The people in power, Congress included, have been doing this for a long time, fooling the public, creating grandiose messages to spin and mislead, so that then, they can accomplish what they originally intended, regardless of whether or not it serves our needs. They create the need, then the play and the scenes. Then they people it with players who carry it out and act as required. They succeed, not based on their qualifications, but on their personalities and their rhetoric, and often on their ability to deceive the masses. We revere the myth, rather than the man, and after a while, who he is fades into the background and we forget who he really is, this man occupying the White House, and we only see the fantasy we, or they, have created.Yes, mistakes have been made by our men of great power, but most, in the end, prove themselves willing and able to become the great men we hoped they would be, learning how to negotiate, compromise and respect their fellow countrymen and the office they occupy. Sometimes, however, the history is written by a media that is not always intent on spreading truth, but rather fiction, to promote their own goals and not the country?s.However, long live the Club, for it really does keep the country on a steadier course.The authors did a masterful job of humanizing the former Presidents, while at the same time, elevating them to a status quite above the ordinary citizen by showing the magnitude of the responsibility and the burden of decision weighting every moment of their every day and night.

[big_bang_gorilla · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Being an account of the relationships, personal and professional, between presidents since World War II. The veteran journalists who produced the book are fine yarn-spinners, and almost any reader will be educated and entertained. On the other hand, the book's amorphous subject and the authors' logorrhea make for a book which rambles on for far longer than it ought to; at times the book's subject seems to be 'anything we find interesting in American history since WWII'. For example, the book contains virtual mini-histories of the Cuban missile crisis and Watergate--the latter a process which unfolded almost entirely at a time when there were no living ex-presidents. As a result, few readers will be particularly sad to see this swollen tome end. And the book is relentlessly inside-the-box, conventional wisdom political reportage; if you think, for example, that Richard Cheney was our de facto president during the oughts, or that John Kennedy buggered up the Cuban missile crisis pretty badly, look elsewhere for an account which will agree with you or even acknowledge the existence of your point of view.

[bodagirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very interesting look at the backstage of the presidency. Each section focuses on a pair of men and their relationship. There are some gaps (mainly concerning Carter), but overall an excellent read.

[pbadeer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although this book didn't cover exactly what I thought it would, I still found it an interesting read. In theory, "The Presidents Club" is an elite membership organization with only former Presidents of the United States as its members. My original perception was that this book would focus more on the Presidents as a group, and their relationships across political boundaries as well as relationships between former and current presidents. And superficially, this book met that expectation.What surprised me is how much of the book became simply a history lesson of what goes on behind closed doors. There were some points in time where "the Club" didn't even exist - at one point during Nixon's presidency, all of the former presidents were dead - but it didn't stop the author from covering a lot of ground about Nixon as President. Again, I didn't have a problem with this, but it's not what I was expecting, and to be honest, I think that material would have been better served in a different book. Its inclusion here made the book a little too long, and more focus on the inter-President relationships - particularly where and why some of them never figured out how to get along (evidently, few were fond of Nixon). A good chunk of the book was about the recent Presidents, but not as much about Obama - I think most of the research was being done right at the beginning of his term, so he has only a casual appearance - and almost exclusively as it relates to asking the members of the club to help him out.A recommended read.