|
First Dads:
Parenting and Politics from George Washington to Barack
Obama
by Joshua Kendall
c.2016, Grand Central
$27.00 / $32.50 Canada
392 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
Ah, Dear Old Dad…
He can fix almost anything, make something from nothing, and
he tells great bedtime stories. He’s the Workshop King,
Master of the TV, Lord of the Grill, The Yard Czar, and he
likes to think he rules the house, too. Or, as in the new
book First Dads by Joshua Kendall, he might
rule a different House.
George Washington, the Father of Our Country, was not.
|
 |
|
He wasn’t a father, that is, and that, according to Joshua
Kendall, is one of the “key” reasons why Washington was
“unanimously elected as our first President.” Yes, George
helped raise Martha’s children, which apparently didn’t
count among his peers.
“Of the forty-three men” who’ve become President, says
Kendall, “thirty eight have produced progeny.” He classifies
them in groups according to their parenting styles, which
sometimes reflected their leadership styles.
Because Franklin Delano Roosevelt, for example, “was simply
too busy to provide much guidance to… his children,” he was
a “preoccupied” First Dad. It probably didn’t help that, for
much of their early lives, he was fighting polio; still,
being a father “did not come naturally” to the charming FDR.
Ronald Reagan also fell under the “preoccupied” category, as
did Zachary Taylor, Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson.
Kendall says that Ulysses Grant and Teddy Roosevelt were
both “Playful Pals.” They were permissive fathers who were
happiest with their children around. Woodrow Wilson, despite
his “dour” reputation, was lighthearted with his kids, too.
John Tyler was an example of a “Double-Dealing Dad.” He had
nine children with his first wife, seven kids with his
second wife, and a rumored 52 children by slaves and free
black women. He didn’t publicly acknowledge any of the
latter, nor did Warren Harding, Thomas Jefferson or Grover
Cleveland publicly acknowledge their illegitimate offspring.
John Quincy Adams, his son John Adams, and Dwight Eisenhower
were “tiger dads” who demanded exceptional behavior from
their children. Harry Truman, Rutherford Hayes and Barack
Obama go in the “nurturer” category. And Franklin Pierce
never recovered from the death of his youngest son, nor has
George H.W. Bush, the death of his preschool daughter
decades ago.
Imagine having a family of your own… and then being
responsible for 124 million more families. Some presidents
have done well at both and some, as you’ll see in First
Dads, were real duds.
Much of that, of course, is a matter of conjecture and
history but author Joshua Kendall takes things a little
further in this book. Here, we get an idea of the parenting
the presidents received and the childhoods they
enjoyed (or didn’t) which, perhaps, affected the kind of
parenting they gave their own children. Kendall also reveals
what it was like for the wives of these men, the emotional
legacy they left their children, and what became of those
sons and daughters.
This is a great book for Dad the Historian or Grandpa, who’s
a political animal. It’s an absorbing summer read, too, so
if you need a book that’ll last awhile, First Dads
could be very dear.
|
