The Presidents Club

Examines presidential power within the context of U.S. history and the ongoing relationships presidents and ex-presidents formed with one another.

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.

USA Today Bestseller From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Residence and First Women—also a New York Times bestseller—comes a poignant, news-making look at the lives of the five former presidents in the wake of their White House years, including the surprising friendships they have formed through shared perspective and empathy. After serving the highest office of American government, five men—Jimmy Carter, the late George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama—became members of the world’s most exclusive fraternity. In Team of Five, Kate Andersen Brower goes beyond the White House to uncover what, exactly, comes after the presidency, offering a glimpse into the complex relationships of these five former presidents, and how each of these men views his place in a nation that has been upended by the Oval Office’s current, norm-breaking occupant, President Donald Trump. With an empathetic yet critical eye and firsthand testimony from the Carters, Donald Trump, and the top aides, friends, and family members of the five former presidents, Team of Five takes us inside the exclusive world of these powerful men and their families, including the unlikely friendship between George W. Bush and Michelle Obama, the last private visits Bill Clinton and Barack Obama shared with George H.W. Bush, and the Obamas’ flight to Palm Springs after Donald Trump’s inauguration. Perhaps most timely, this insightful, illuminating book overflows with anecdotes about how the ex-presidents are working to combat President Trump’s attempts to undo the achievements and hard work accomplished during their own terms. Perhaps most poignantly, Team of Five sheds light on the inherent loneliness and inevitable feelings of powerlessness and frustration that come with no longer being the most important person in the world, but a leader with only symbolic power. There are ways, though, that these men, and their wives, have become powerful political and cultural forces in American life, even as so-called “formers.” Team of Five includes 16 pages of color photographs.

The The Dead Presidents Club story continues with the ghosts of Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge trying to end a 160 year old curse before an assassin kills the president and his family by blowing up the White House. The ghosts have little time to discover the assassin and to stop him. Meanwhile their living friend Brian Stone, the presidents son, has problems of his own he must climb the dreaded rope to the ceiling of the school gymnasium or receive a failing grade.

It's a dream interview with a former President of the United States, but which President? He can remember a blinding light and thinking some moron failed to dim his headlights. Then nothing. Now, he's sitting in some club and being approached by a man that looks like George Washington. It has to be a hoax. But it turns out he's at The Dead Presidents Club where he also interviews, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, Jack Kennedy and other deceased Presidents. He learns that the Dead Presidents have no confidence in the ability of today's leaders to solve today's great issues. As the interviews continue, he hears how the experiences of the Dead Presidents with problems of the past can provide solutions for the problems of today, most notably, the energy problem, the threat of terrorism and the war in Iraq. He finds great wisdom and a new perspective from the interviews. But will he find an audience?

Despite recent upheavals, Japan remains one of the dominant economic powers at the end of the twentieth century. Yet the Japanese economy is one of the most misunderstood phenomena in the modern world. Conventionally, Japan is presented as the exception to mainstream economic theory: an exception to the standard models of modern economics. This book demolishes that notion, bringing the full analytical power of economic thought to all aspects of the most dramatic economic success story in recent times. David Flath concentrates on four main themes: Japan's economic growth and development Japan's integration with the world economy Government policies and their effects Economic institutions and practices By applying common economic tools such as the Solow growth model, Modigliani's life-cycle model of saving, Becker's theory of investment, Samuelson's theory of revealed preference, Coase's exposition of the problem of social cost, and the modern theory of industrial organization, this book shows the mainstream principles of economics apply in Japan as successfully as they do elsewhere. Aimed at 3rd/4th year undergraduate and graduate courses on Japan, this book will be indispensable both for students and instructors alike. Lucid explanations and comprehensive and rigorous analysis make it a natural choice for any interested in comprehending the rise of the Japanese economy.