Search results for ""Author Scott Farris""

As the 2012 presidential campaign begins, Almost President profiles a dozen men who have run for the American presidency and lost—but who, even in defeat, have had a greater impact on American history than many of those who have served as president. Scott Farris tells us the stories of legendary figures from Henry Clay to Stephen Douglas, William Jennings Bryan to Thomas Dewey. He also includes mini-profiles on every major candidate nominated for president who never reached the White House but who helped ensure the success of American democracy. Farris explains how Barry Goldwater achieved the party realignment that had eluded FDR, how George McGovern paved the way for Barack Obama, and how Ross Perot changed the way all presidential candidates campaign. There is Al Smith, the first Catholic nominee for president; and Adlai Stevenson, the candidate of the "eggheads" who remains the beau ideal of a liberal statesman. Others covered by this book include Al Gore, John Kerry, and John McCain. The mini profiles also include evocative portraits of such men as John C. Fremont, the first Republican Party presidential candidate; and General Winfield Scott, whose loss helped guarantee the Union victory in the Civil War.

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It's been more than fifty years since JFK's assassination and a quarter century since Ronald Reagan left the White House, yet the two men remain the beaux ideals of what the left and the right believe a president should be, and of how a president should look, sound, and act. But has popular memory, in service to contemporary causes, distorted what the legacies of each man actually are? In Kennedy and Reagan, acclaimed political historian Scott Farris offers a comparative biography that explores Kennedy's and Reagan's contemporaneous lives from birth until 1960, showing how the experiences, attitudes, and skills developed by each man later impacted his presidency. Tackling key issues of each president's time in office—civil rights, religion, nuclear brinkmanship, etc.—he also considers how their dealings around each issue compare and contrast. Ultimately, Kennedy and Reagan provides examines why the American public consistently ranks Kennedy and Reagan among the greatest presidents in history, an assessment shared by pundits and politicians, while historians do not.

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Veteran political journalist Scott Farris tells the stories of legendary presidential also-rans, from Henry Clay to Stephen Douglas, from William Jennings Bryan to Thomas Dewey, and from Adlai Stevenson to Al Gore. He also includes concise profiles of every major candidate nominated for president who never reached the White House but who helped promote the success of American democracy. Farris explains how Barry Goldwater achieved the party realignment that had eluded FDR, how George McGovern paved the way for Barack Obama, and how Ross Perot changed the way all presidential candidates campaign. There is Al Smith, the first Catholic nominee for president; and Adlai Stevenson, the candidate of the "eggheads" who remains the beau ideal of a liberal statesman. And Farris explores the potential legacies of recent runners-up John Kerry and John McCain. The book also includes compact and evocative portraits of such men as John C. Fremont, the first Republican Party presidential candidate; and General Winfield Scott, whose loss helped guarantee the Union victory in the Civil War. This new edition of Almost President brings the work up-to-date with a section that explores the results and ramifications of the 2012 presidential election.

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It's been fifty years since JFK's assassination and nearly twenty since Ronald Reagan disappeared from public life. While they never ran head-to-head, they developed their legacies in competing ways and those legacies battle each other even today. The story of one illuminates the other, and explains our expectations for the presidency and whom we elect. Even though one is the model Democrat and the other the model Republican, their appeal is now bipartisan. Republicans quote Kennedy to justify tax cuts or aggressive national defense; Democrats use Reagan's pragmatism to shame Republicans into supporting tax increases and compromise. Partly a "comparative biography" that explores John F. Kennedy's and Ronald Reagan's contemporaneous lives from birth until 1960, Scott Farris's follow-up to his widely praised Almost President shows how the experiences, attitudes, and skills developed by each man later impacted his presidency. Farris also tackles the key issues--civil rights, foreign affairs, etc.--that impacted each man's time in office. How did previous life experiences form their views on these issues, and how do their dealings around each issue compare and contrast? Bookended by an examination of their standing in public opinion and how that has influenced subsequent politicians, plus an exploration of how the assassination of Kennedy and attempted assassination of Reagan colored our memories, this book also shows how aides, friends and families of each man have burnished their reputations long after their presidencies ended.

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For President Ulysses S. Grant and blacks in the South following the Civil War, the conflict did not end with the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox in April 1865, but continued with the Ku Klux Klan's terror campaign against blacks during Reconstruction. Grant not only authorized the U.S. Army to put down these insurrections through the use of force, but also to have the perpetrators of Klan violence vigorously prosecuted. In what would be a test of the boundaries of the recently enacted fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution, the prosecution, led by Amos T. Ackerman, specifically sought to accurately catalogue the atrocities committed by this Army in disguise.

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