The Presidental Challenge

To read a biography/memoir of each U.S. President. I’ll try to read these in order, however that may not always be possible depending on availability and such. I’m playing with the idea to read one book per term that they held, but we shall see.

This is an attempt to get a better understanding of not just the history of America but also the history of the presidency and those who held the office. I will admit to playing favorites in history and I tend to avoid the more modern histories and biographies because the issues found in them are more prevalent now than say the problems of the later 1770’s.

George Washington (2) – 

John Adams (1) – 

Thomas Jefferson (2)  – 

• The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed

James Madison (2) –

James Monroe (2) – 

John Quincy Adams (1) –

Andrew Jackson (2) –

Martin Van Buren (1) –

William Henry Harrison (1) – 

John Tyler – 

James K. Polk –

Zachery Taylor –

Millard Fillmore – 

Franklin Pierce – 

James Buchannon – 

Abraham Lincoln – 

Andrew Johnson

Ulysses S. Grant – 

Rutherford B. Hayes – 

James Garfield – 

Chester Arthur

Grover Cleveland – 

Benjamin Harrison – 

William McKinley –

Theodore Roosevelt – 

William Howard Taft – 

Woodrow Wilson – 

William G. Harding – 

Calvin Coolidge – 

Herbert Hoover – 

Franklin D. Roosevelt – 

Harry S. Truman – 

Dwight D. Eisenhower – 

John F. Kennedy – 

Lydon B. Johnson – 

Richard Nixon – 

Gerald Ford – 

Jimmy Carter – 

Ronald Raegan – 

George H.W. Bush –

Bill Clinton – 

George W. Bush (2) – 

Barack Obama (2) – 

Donald J. Trump –