Imagine a non-partisan presidential history spanning Warren G. Harding to Donald Trump that never mentions Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative.
Rather than politics, WE THE PRESIDENTS focuses on the issues which affect Americans today. Soaring inflation, resurgent nativism, income inequality, budget deficits, the Ukraine crisis and other critical issues, all have their roots in presidential administrations over the past century. For example:
- President Harding's treasury secretary, Andrew Mellon, promoted radical, new tax policies which slashed the national debt during the nineteen-twenties and decades later emerged as today's supply-side economics.
- President Clinton's encouragement of NATO's eastward expansion after the end of the Cold War contributed to Russia's evolution into a dangerous adversary rather than an ally as Germany and Japan did after World War II.
- Presidents Reagan, Clinton and GW Bush promoted the deregulation of the financial industry which fueled explosive growth in the industry but later contributed to the 2008 Financial Crisis.
WE THE PRESIDENTS is more than an absorbing read; it is a great education about how our country works. The author's engaging and straightforward writing brings alive a century of presidencies and how their actions have led to what America, and the world is today.
