Presidents of War Book Summary - Presidents of War Book explained in key points

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Presidents of War summary

Name: Presidents of War
Rating: 4.4 (63 reviews)
Author: Michael Beschloss

Michael Beschloss

The epic story, from 1807 to modern times

4.4 (63 ratings)

33 mins

What is Presidents of War about?

Presidents of War (2018) is a panoramic study of eight US presidents and the conflicts into which they led their country. Detailing each POTUS’ motivations for war, their decisions once hostilities began, and the mood of the press and public at home, these absorbing portraits of wartime leaders look at American history on the grandest of scales – from the War of 1812 to Vietnam.

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Presidents of War
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What’s in it for me? A sweeping account of US leaders and their wars.

The most difficult choice a national leader can make is deciding whether to wage war. Forget about the huge financial costs, the diplomatic consequences and the potential damage to political careers – a declaration of war inevitably involves condemning some of their citizens to death, parents to a life without their children, and children to a life without parents.

But as we’ll see in these blinks, many US presidents didn’t heed this wisdom and rushed into pointless wars, wasting American blood and treasure. True, some were utterly unavoidable, like Lincoln’s Civil War or Roosevelt’s entry into World War Two, but even these great leaders made dubious decisions which stain their record.

We’ll meet presidents who were goaded into a conflict they didn’t want by the public and press, presidents who were forced into war by an act of foreign aggression, and presidents who actively sought war for crude and ignoble reasons. But through it all comes a common theme – a progressive abandonment of the Founding Fathers’ desire for a democratic war-making process.

In these blinks, you’ll find out

when the United States engaged in a land grab of over one million square miles,
how Abraham Lincoln – a man admired for his liberal humanism – blatantly ignored civil liberties, and
how Roosevelt heard hints about a Japanese attack before Pearl Harbor.

Thomas Jefferson used his presidential power to keep America out of a war.

Although these blinks focus on wartime presidents, we shouldn’t forget leaders who used political maneuvering and diplomatic nous to keep their country out of conflict. In this, every president should look up to Thomas Jefferson, who, in 1807, successfully avoided war with Great Britain.

The incident that almost led to war was the Chesapeake Affair. On June 22, 1807, the American frigate USS Chesapeake sailed through the waters of Virginia and was intercepted by the British vessel HMS Leopard. The Leopard was searching for four British Navy deserters and demanded that the US ship surrender for inspection.

When the Chesapeake refused, the Leopard opened fire, killing four American sailors. The Chesapeake surrendered, and four more sailors were arrested as British deserters.

With the War of Independence still in living memory, anti-British sentiment in the United States was rife. The Chesapeake Affair intensified this, causing a domestic uproar. The public whipped themselves into an anti-British war frenzy, stoked by a bellicose press.

Jefferson witnessed all this unfold but was determined not to declare war.

Jefferson was a pacifist, despising war and its needless financial and human costs. Also, he was uncertain his country could beat the British again. He knew the United States’ young and inexperienced navy couldn’t take on the Royal Navy – the world’s best – and even more so since his spending cuts had weakened his forces.

But Jefferson also knew his nation wanted revenge. Dispatching an envoy to London, Jefferson demanded the return of the four sailors, an apology for the Chesapeake attack and reparation. A savvy operator, Jefferson knew that it would take at least four months to receive a reply. He hoped that, by then, America’s war frenzy would have quieted.

In the meantime, Jefferson prepared the military in case diplomacy failed, and tried to defuse the political situation. He reminded aggressive politicians that, as per the Constitution, a declaration of war could only come from Congress – the legislative branch of government, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. He refused to call an emergency session of Congress – where a declaration of war might be made – until he received the British reply.

Thankfully, the British agreed to Jefferson’s terms, and the fervor for war evaporated. The United States’ third president showed superhuman restraint in avoiding a destructive war, but it wasn’t an action replicated by his successors.

Against his better judgment, James Madison was persuaded to fight the War of 1812.

Thomas Jefferson’s devotion to peace was the exception rather than the rule. Had James Madison – Jefferson’s successor – showed similar restraint and political deftness, the War of 1812 against the British might’ve been avoided.

But the United States did have legitimate grievances – and they’re related to Britain’s struggle against France during the Napoleonic Wars.

James Polk was determined to fight a war of territorial expansion.

With the 1845 election of James Polk, we reach the United States’ most shameful wartime episode. Many wartime leaders have made deplorable decisions, but none had worse motives than President Polk.

That’s because Polk – a veteran politician from Tennessee – manufactured a war with Mexico for the sole purpose of expanding US territory.

To wage a morally just war, Abraham Lincoln encroached on civil liberties.

When Abraham Lincoln – the fervent opponent of slavery – was elected president in 1861, the nation was plunged into chaos. Seven southern states, whose economies were reliant on huge slave plantations, seceded from Washington and declared a Confederate States of America.

Lincoln tried to resolve the dispute diplomatically – even promising not to interfere with slavery in southern states. He vowed no military action unless it was forced on the government. But he also said that the Confederacy was invalid and wouldn’t be politically recognized.

The spark that ignited the Spanish-American War was probably a misinterpretation.

In 1895, Cuba was a reluctant colony of the Spanish Empire. That year, a rebellion broke out on the island, and its inhabitants waged a guerrilla war against Spanish troops. To crush the revolt, Spanish General Valeriano “Butcher” Weyler forced one-third of Cubans into squalid, disease-ridden concentration camps. In them, around 25 percent of the population died.

Many Americans – citizens and politicians alike – watched these horrors unfold on their doorstep with disgust. Outspoken newspapers and aggressive politicians clamored for American military intervention.

Woodrow Wilson misled the public by hinting he could keep them out of World War One.

When World War One broke out in Europe in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson committed himself to a policy of neutrality. Even when a German submarine sank the British Lusitania, killing 128 Americans, Wilson promoted peace and dispassionate thinking, warning politicians and newspapermen against rash statements.

But as the war progressed, American civilian casualties grew. In August 1915, Germany sank a British passenger ship, killing two Americans. In March 1916 a similar event occurred, injuring four more. By now, the popular mood inside America was pro-British, and much of the press and political elite favored entering the war.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was a great wartime leader but still made some shameful choices.

December 7, 1941, is a day that, in then-President Roosevelt’s words, “will live in infamy.”

When the neutral United States ceased its much-needed oil exports to Japan in response to their World War Two aggression in Asia, the Japanese military launched a surprise assault on the American fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was devastating: Four battleships were sunk, and 4,403 Americans died.

President Truman wasn’t strong enough when dealing with North Korea.

The Cold War turned extremely hot on June 25, 1950, when the communist North Korean army invaded capitalist South Korea. Declaring the North Korean invasion an act of aggression, the United Nations (UN) formed the UN Command and dispatched a force to defend the South.

While President Truman didn’t want this war, he could have done much more to avoid it.

Lyndon Johnson misled the public and politicians to escalate the Vietnam War.

On August 2, 1964, Washington received a report that North Vietnamese forces had fired on the USS Maddox in the Tonkin Gulf. At the time, the United States had a military presence in Vietnam, but only in an advisory role to the South Vietnamese government. Things were about to change.

On August 4, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara informed the president of a second attack on the Maddox. But as conflicting military reports trickled through to Johnson and his advisers, it became uncertain whether a second attack had taken place.

Presidents have persistently abandoned the Founding Fathers’ ideals and used their authority to make war.

When American giants like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison sat down in Philadelphia in 1787 to write the American Constitution, they envisaged a country free from the oppressive power of European monarchs. They understood that these authoritarian leaders had often wielded their power to launch destructive wars – to expand their own power, steal resources and territory, or increase their regime’s popularity.

To counter this, the Founding Fathers stated in the Constitution that only Congress – and not the president – could declare war. Each time Congress declared war, a majority of votes in both the Senate and House of Representatives would be required. In this way, it was hoped that the decision to go to war wouldn’t rest on the shoulders of a single person.

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About the Author

Michael Beschloss is an American historian specializing in US presidential history. He is the NBC News presidential historian and the author of nine books including Eisenhower: A Centennial Life and Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America, 1789-1989.

Who should read Presidents of War?

Americans wanting to understand their past leaders
Foreigners whose knowledge of American history is limited to the twentieth century
Future presidents trying to avoid the mistakes of their predecessors

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