海角大神

When reading the dozens of anecdotes Craig Fehrman has assembled in 鈥淎uthor in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote,鈥� his joyfully engrossing debut, the question naturally arises: Why? Having sought, achieved, or successfully survived the highest elected office in the United States, why would so many of these men bother with the grubby and tedious task of writing a book, or having one written on their behalf?聽

A practical and down-to-earth explanation quickly emerges in these pages, and Fehrman is equally quick to give it two categories: the campaign book, in essence written in order to introduce the candidate to a wider audience, or the legacy book, designed for 鈥渞ecapitulating a life and rebutting one鈥檚 critics.鈥� (In the modern era, only George H.W. Bush and William Howard Taft have refrained from writing the latter). Basically, these men took up their pens to start or continue the eternal task of explaining themselves.

Surely that eternal task has never had so comprehensive a chronicle as this one. When contemplating the tall mountain of literary garbage Fehrman had to scale in order to write with such authority, even the adventurous reader must pale in terror. Our author has slogged his way through some epically awful stuff, but the main glory of 鈥淎uthor in Chief鈥� is his enthusiasm for the forgotten gems of this strange genre. For example, his account of the genesis and wild popularity of Calvin Coolidge鈥檚 first autobiographical article for Cosmopolitan in 1929 brims with affection. The magazine鈥檚 staffers, we鈥檙e told, 鈥渨ere shocked by the cleanness of Coolidge鈥檚 prose (They seemed to spend more time passing his latest submission around the office than actually editing it).鈥�

Fehrman also consistently pays these writings the compliment of reading them critically. 鈥淭here were some bromides and back patting,鈥� he writes about that first Coolidge article. 鈥淏ut mostly there was the kind of prose that only looks easy to write.鈥� About James Buchanan鈥檚 1866 book 鈥淢r. Buchanan鈥檚 Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion,鈥� in which the hapless Buchanan blames everybody but himself for the Civil War, Fehrman deadpans, 鈥淩eaders needed to acclimate to real-time autobiographies 鈥� or at least to ones written by lousy presidents.鈥� Herbert Hoover鈥檚 voluminous post-presidency writings are 鈥渁 literary career that produced more pages than readers.鈥� Harry Truman鈥檚 bestselling 1955 鈥淢emoirs鈥� is accurately assessed as 鈥渁n imperfect book, a book with a better, slimmer volume lurking within.鈥�

Fehrman naturally prefers some kind of presidential authors over others. If he detects a whiff of grandiosity, graft, or grifting, he doesn鈥檛 hesitate to pounce. 鈥淥nce he started dictating,鈥� Fehrman comments about Theodore Roosevelt鈥檚 autobiography, 鈥淩oosevelt couldn鈥檛 resist adding prickly insults and transparent defenses. 鈥� Roosevelt had finally written a book about his favorite hero: himself.鈥�

And it鈥檚 inevitable that in 2020, when writing about books written by presidents, the subject of ghostwriting should come up. Fehrman notes that the practice skyrocketed in popularity in the 1920s. 鈥淕hostwriters,鈥� wrote a journalist at the time, 鈥渁re the crutches on which celebrity limps to authorship,鈥� but it suddenly seemed like every famous public figure was employing them.

Fehrman begins with an excoriation of what is arguably the most famous allegation of ghostwriting in the 20th century: then-Senator John F. Kennedy鈥檚 authorship of his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1956 book 鈥淧rofiles in Courage.鈥� The book spent 88 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, but when it comes to Kennedy鈥檚 assertions that he, not his faithful and hard-working speechwriter Ted Sorensen, wrote the book, Fehrman is unyielding: 鈥淭here is no reason to trust any of it. During his defenses, Kennedy lied easily and prolifically.鈥�

This squares a bit awkwardly with Fehrman鈥檚 later contention that Donald Trump 鈥渉as written more than a dozen volumes.鈥� On the one hand, we have Sorensen himself attesting that Kennedy was deeply involved in the authorship of 鈥淧rofiles in Courage,鈥� and on the other hand, we have Trump鈥檚 ghostwriter for 鈥淭he Art of the Deal鈥� roundly denying that Trump wrote a word of the book. And yet we don鈥檛 hear about Trump lying 鈥渆asily and prolifically.鈥澛�

Such juicy controversies and conversation-starters are the consistently found treats of 鈥淎uthor in Chief,鈥� regardless of where you find yourself on the political spectrum. And the implication throughout 鈥� that books are vitally important to the nation鈥檚 soul 鈥� will surely appeal to red and blue state readers alike.