The American Presidency is at once the strongest and the weakest point in our democratic system and the most powerful office in the world. It has been held by forty-two men, each of whom, whether dull or flamboyant, virtuous or corrupt, humble or imperial, capable or inept, has interpreted his constitutional power and responded to the imperatives of history in his own way. With scholarly accuracy and appealing informality, David C. Whitney and Robin Vaugh Whitney have drawn vivid profiles of the chief executives. They show how each man moved to the White House through a series of triumphs, setbacks, accidents, and achievements; why he was the sort of man he was, and why he became the sort of president he did. With objectivity and candor, each man is evaluated in relation to to the unfolding drama of U.S. history. Though the majority were lawyers, many of the presidents had military backgrounds, including four Civil War generals (Grant, Hayes, Garfield, and Benjamin Harrison). Seven presidents served in World War II. Twenty had been governors of states or territories. The election of George W. Bush marked only the second time the son of a former president won the nation's highest office. The legacy of the american presidency is a mixture of obscurity and greatness, mediocrity and brilliance, weakness and strength. But, considered together, the men who have held that office have provided the best continuity of leadership any nation in history has ever enjoyed.