Failures of the Presidents : From the Whiskey Rebellion and War of 1812 to the Bay of Pigs and War in Iraq

What were they thinking? • In an effort to put an end to Britain and France’s policy of seizing American ships and sailors, Thomas Jefferson calls for an embargo. The Result: 30,000 sailors put out of work; mercantile families bankrupted overnight; a nationwide economic depression; and the New England states, which depended heavily on international commerce, threaten to secede from the Union. • To promote the doctrine of popular sovereignty, Franklin Pierce approves the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and permits residents of Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether their territories will admit slavery. The Result: Dozens of settlers murdered; Lawrence, Kansas, burned and looted; John Brown elevated to the status of national hero among abolitionists; the country moves closer to civil war. • Convinced the 20,000 men, women, and children of the Bonus Army were Communists and criminals, Herbert Hoover sends 600 crack troops, a detachment of cavalry, and five tanks to drive the protesters out of Washington. The Result: 4 dead, including two infants; more than 1,000 injured; the Communist Party in America enjoys a public relations field day; Hoover is driven into political exile. • In an effort to install a capitalist government in the Middle East, stabilize the region, and protect America from a possible Iraqi terrorist assault using weapons of mass destruction, George W. Bush orders the invasion of Iraq. The Result: More than 4,000 American soldiers and personnel dead; estimated hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians dead; hundreds of billions of dollars spent; the torture of prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction leave American global credibility in tatters.

What were they thinking?

• In an effort to put an end to Britain and France’s policy of seizing American ships and sailors, Thomas Jefferson calls for an embargo.

The Result: 30,000 sailors put out of work; mercantile families bankrupted overnight; a nationwide economic depression; and the New England states, which depended heavily on international commerce, threaten to secede from the Union.

• To promote the doctrine of popular sovereignty, Franklin Pierce approves the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and permits residents of Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether their territories will admit slavery.

The Result: Dozens of settlers murdered; Lawrence, Kansas, burned and looted; John Brown elevated to the status of national hero among abolitionists; the country moves closer to civil war.

• Convinced the 20,000 men, women, and children of the Bonus Army were Communists and criminals, Herbert Hoover sends 600 crack troops, a detachment of cavalry, and five tanks to drive the protesters out of Washington.

The Result: 4 dead, including two infants; more than 1,000 injured; the Communist Party in America enjoys a public relations field day; Hoover is driven into political exile.

• In an effort to install a capitalist government in the Middle East, stabilize the region, and protect America from a possible Iraqi terrorist assault using weapons of mass destruction, George W. Bush orders the invasion of Iraq.

The Result: More than 4,000 American soldiers and personnel dead; estimated hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians dead; hundreds of billions of dollars spent; the torture of prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction leave American global credibility in tatters.

Take a humbling journey through America's proud history with this engaging and informative look at the nation's most epic presidential blunders. Failures of the Presidents recounts twenty of the worst bad calls to come out of the executive office, ranging from the nation's birth to the start of the twenty-first century. Author Thomas Craughwell begins with George Washington, who tried to pay for the Revolutionary War with a tax on whiskey—a choice that sparked the newly formed country's first bloody rebellion. Centuries later, another George—the second President Bush—was convinced that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction. His invasion of the country resulted in a protracted, deadly, and costly war that gave a serious blow to American credibility around the world. Between these episodes, there were many other regrettable, embarrassing, or downright disastrous mistakes made by residents of the White House—the worst of which are explored in this book. George Washington, the Whiskey Rebellion John Adams, the Alien and Sedition Acts Thomas Jefferson, the Embargo Act James Madison, the War of 1812 Andrew Jackson, the Trail of Tears Franklin Pierce, repeal of the Missouri Compromise Andrew Johnson, the attempted invasion of Canada Ulysses S. Grant, the attempt to annex Santo Domingo Grover Cleveland, the Pullman strike William McKinley, "a splendid little war" with Spain Woodrow Wilson, the punitive expedition into Mexico Herbert Hoover, the Bonus Army Franklin D. Roosevelt, the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II John F. Kennedy, the Bay of Pigs invasion Lyndon B. Johnson, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution Richard Nixon, the bombing of Cambodia Richard Nixon, Watergate Jimmy Carter, the Iranian hostage crisis Jimmy Carter, the energy crisis and "malaise" Ronald Reagan, the Iran-Contra Affair. Stories of the disastrous blunders of American presidents will show readers the inner workings of the White House and how some of our greatest leaders could make decisions that were terribly wrong. The fascinating stories are recounted as narratives and are as entertaining as they are shocking. The 23 stories, each about 10 pages in length, retell the histories behind bad presidential decisions. They are told in a real time narrative style, bringing readers inside the White House, introducing them to the main characters, exposing why these decisions were made, and describing the ill-fated aftermaths Stories of the disastrous blunders of American presidents show readers the inner workings of the White House and how some of our greatest leaders could make decisions that were terribly wrong. The 23 narrative stories, each about 10 pages in length, retell the histories behind bad presidential decisions. They are told in a real time narrative style, bringing readers inside the White House, introducing them to the main characters, exposing why these decisions were made, and describing the ill-fated aftermaths. Introduces a collection of twenty-three stories examining the reasons for and results of bad decision making by presidents throughout this nation's history, from the time of George Washington to the present day.