Customer Reviews

The American President (PBS Box Set)

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The simple but ironic rule of thumb for "The American President" PBS series is that the less you know about a particular President the more you will be impressed by a particular segment, and visa versa. Of course, this certainly makes sense. Reducing the Presidency of Washington, Lincoln or FDR into a 10-12 minute block is extremely reductionalistic. But for the lesser lights of history these segments can be quite revealing. I certainly had more respect for John Quincy Adams than I had before. This is not to say you will not learn anything new from the other segments; I was surprised to learn that Truman's poll numbers when he left office were lower than Nixon's before his resignation.

The format is that each tape, with one exception, presents five American Presidents lumped together thematically: (1) "Family Ties" looks at those men born to the office: John Quincy Adams, Benjamin Harrison, Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy; (2) "Happenstance" looks at most of Vice-Presidents who became "accidental" Presidents: John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester A. Arthur and Harry Truman; (3) "An Independent Cast of Mind" covers John Adams, Zachary Taylor, Rutherford B. Hayes and Jimmy Carter; (4) "The Professional Politician" covers Martin Van Buren, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson; (5) "The American Way" features Thomas Jefferson, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Ronald Reagan; (6) "The World Stage" looks at internationalist presidents: James Monroe, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson and George Bush; (7)"The Heroic Posture" looks at the war hero Presidents: George Washington, William Henry Harrison, Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower; (8) "Compromise Choices" examine the administrations of Franklin Pierce, James Garfield, Warren Harding and Gerald Ford; (9) "Expanding Power" covers the imperial presidencies of Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon; and (10) "The Balance of "Power" finishes off the series with James Madison, James K. Polk, William Taft and Bill Clinton.

It is impossible not to look at this arrangement and not see some obvious liabilities. LBJ does not get dismissed as an "accidental" President while Jefferson ends up representing the "American Way" more than an "Independent Cast of Mind." Putting Jefferson, Coolidge, Hoover, and Reagan in the same category seems rather forced. But this is just quibbling because once you decide not to proceed chronologically through the Presidents it is always going to be open to debate. This format at least sets up some comparisons and contrasts that would engender classroom debate (or you can feel free to quibble in the sanctuary of your own mind).

Each program is narrated by Hugh Sidney, who has been the White House correspondent for Time magazine for as long as I can remember. Harvard scholar Richard Neustadt offers up academic preachments on each President, having interviewed most of the living Presidents for their own insights. Whenever possible the actual voices of the Presidents are used, while for the others John Glenn, Walter Cronkite, Morley Safer, Norman Schwarzkopf, and a host of others provide the voices (Bob Dole is Hoover and Colin Powell is Taft).

Obviously this series is a godsend for history teachers who can pick and choose particular Presidents to show their class. For example, showing a class the segment on Hoover before getting to the Depression, FDR and the New Deal, would be quite beneficial. I would also think the segments on Buchanan, Cleveland and Ford would be particularly useful. I feel less secure recommending the segments on the more important Presidents since I have to think most textbooks will cover pretty much the same point. "The American President" series helps best when it fills in the gaps of your standard American history textbook. But if that is what you are teaching, then you should certainly invest some time going through this series and seeing what could work for you and your cherubs.

Based on the book by Peter and Philip Kunhardt, The American President is an ambitious five-part series of mini-documentaries about the 41 men who served as President. What distinguishes this documentary from others is its grouping of Presidents into broad themes based on shared administrative styles, family backgrounds, and other shared features. For example, FDR and Kennedy are grouped according to the influence and power of their families in shaping their careers. Jefferson, Coolidge, and Reagan share time according to their governing philosophies. Spanning about 10 hours, each biography lasts roughly 15 minutes.

While a new and interesting idea, treating each President by theme rather than in chronological order presented some nagging problems for me. Inevitably, some Presidents could fit into more than one category (do you put Coolidge into the Vice-Presidential succession category or treat him by his governing philosophy?). This in itself isn't the problem. The danger in shuffling Presidents around and fixing them under themes is the potential for over-emphasizing the role of these influences in shaping their administrations. For instance, in the "family" category, much is made of the power and influence of Kennedy's family in his decision-making, too much perhaps. If you knew nothing about him, you might think that JFK considered his father's wishes whenever making a decision. Even if this was somehow true, how would anyone be qualified to make that assertion? If I were to do a documentary of myself (God forbid) and spend fifteen minutes talking about my entire life in the context of my relationship with my turtle, I think you'd walk away with a pretty distorted and lopsided view of who I am (among other things).

Also at issue was the length of each segment. Obviously, the nature of the project forced the producers to spend just minutes covering each person. This means that corners had to be cut and facts omitted. Unfortunately, when this isn't done with precision, it can create misconceptions. If I know little about FDR's background and the program tells me that he had an "affair" which damaged his marriage (without further explanation), I might be tempted to group him with the indiscretions of those like President Clinton. In fact, the exact nature of his relationship with Lucy Mercer and his personal secretary has never been well-defined. In the past, historians have characterized FDR's relationship with these individuals more along the lines of close "companions." Some even question the existence of a physical relationship. I'm not a big fan of prying into the personal histories of our leaders (past or current), but I offer this as an example of how easy such general statements can inaccurately color one's perception of another. Much of this has to do with the extremely short amount of time allotted each President.

Also of note is the use of a unique first person narrator for each President to complement the program's main narrator. There were some interesting and I'd say, questionable choices. I don't know, but radio personality Don Imus as the voice of Andrew Johnson just didn't work for me.

For a basic introduction or overview of the big facts, you might find this documentary useful. But I would suggest looking elsewhere. My favorites are the Presidential documentaries produced by the PBS series, "The American Experience" over the past several years. This is a comprehensive, masterful, and thoroughly enjoyable series covering Presidents such as Jefferson, the Roosevelts, Eisenhower, Nixon, and several others. Each program runs nearly four hours and is about as thoroughly-researched and comprehensive as you can get for T.V. while still being fun to watch.

Clearly the segregational approach is difficult to follow and at times puzzling. However, as a teacher of American History for 10th graders I have found the 12-15 minute biographies on each of the presidents very valuable. They are great supplemental sources. I could never show a 50 minute or 90 minute video on a president, but with this series I can address 2 or 3 within the 85 minute block that the course is taught. My students seemed engaged and because of the short snipet of time, the basic underpinnings of the presidents and their accomplishments stays pretty well focused. Without this my students would have been denied some good background on presidents such as McKinley, Taft, Hoover and Coolidge. Reorganization into a timeline of presidents would have made it a super source.

This video series is notable for its coverage of the "obscure" presidents, its fascinating collection of pictures and photographs, and its reflection of modern theoretical conceptions of the presidency. Other reviewers have questioned the format (which looks at presidents according to what they share in common, rather than the traditional chronological approach), but this format reflects an important theoretical approach in political science that compares presidents according to their position in "political time," rather than historical ordering.
This organizational format may certainly make the series more complicated and harder to understand for the general public or for high school students. The series may be best understood by college undergraduates who have encountered work by Stephen Skowronek.
In short, the series features wonderful material, but the organizational approach forces the viewer to actively think as he or she watches, not merely passively view the series. In effect, the series is more education than entertainment, and prospective buyers may want to keep this in mind.

We'll always have documentaries (the superb PBS American Experience docs) on Kennedy, Nixon, FDR, Truman, Lincoln, T.R., Reagan etc etc... but where else can you spend any time on Franklin Pierce, Chester Alan Arthur, Rutherford B Hayes, or Benjamin Harrison? Each President gets at least around 15 minutes. Want some William Henry Harrison... a guy that was only President for a month? Well you got him. And that is the best thing about this set. Sure it's better to watch the 4-hour LBJ on The American Experience than to watch him on this... but where are you gonna find some quality time dedicated to Grover Cleveland or James Buchanan? Only here.

Next best thing? The Kurnhardts have the most amazing photo collections at their disposal... second to none... and they also spared no travel expense to gather film on location.

Least best thing? Like so many other reviewers here, I have to say the fact that they are chronilogically out of order is frustrating. It would be more fun to watch through time as each administration has to deal with so much of the previous administrations issues.

I tremendously enjoyed this PBS series on the first forty-one men to serve as president from Washington to Clinton (although Clinton was the forty-second president Cleveland was both the twenty-second and twenty-fourth president, throwing the total off by one). Far and away the most enjoyable aspect was pulling from a host of visual imagery of the presidents. There are a host of photos of the White House and the Capitol from sources contemporaneous with the particular president under discussion as well as paintings or photos or film, depending on the era the president lived. For instance, they show some fascinating photos of Andrew Jackson, the first president of whom we have such a record. All in all, one's knowledge of history will be greatly enhanced.

Nonetheless, this is more in the line of infotainment than the true study of history. Even for the television documentary the treatment of each president is rather slight. Contrast this series with, say, Ken Burns's documentary on Lincoln or even the sketchier one on Jefferson. The weakness of the series is seen in the treatment of the more important presidents. For instance, the treatment of Woodrow Wilson left an enormous amount of truly crucial material out, such as the numerous invasions of Latin America he ordered or his actively racist policies. Wilson is a great president, but it is despite such aspects of his presidency. It is simply impossible given the format of the series--devoting a bit less than fifteen minutes to each president--to do justice to the vast majority of American presidents. The space is enough to do approximate justice to someone like Zachary Taylor, but how can you do justice to the mystery that was Richard Nixon in the same span?

People will quibble with the treatment of individual presidents. For instance, I strongly agree with those who see Reagan as a poor president, a perspective this show assumes without emphasizing (Richard Neustadt's comments show that he is far from a fan of the Gipper), but a significant minority of Americans thinks he was a great president. But most presidents are beyond partisan bickering. Most of the issues that divided Americans at the time of the individual presidents simply don't fit in contemporary frameworks. If I were transported back in time, just how would I stand on the need for a national bank? Or if Jefferson were magically transported today and he saw the dangers inherent in a society where a weak federal government was faced with powerful trusts, would he still hold to his ideal of a small federal government? Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson thought he would not. But the point is that most presidents are not partisan icons like Reagan.

Another negative on the show was the choice of many of the people to perform the voices of the various presidents. Why was the somnolent William F. Buckley chosen to voice the high-pitched, highly animated Teddy Roosevelt? While Buckley was the worse, many other performers simply seemed inappropriate for the president they voiced. I think the show would have been enhanced if they had asked more gifted individuals to participate.

I really did enjoy this series, but I do feel the need to voice one more complaint. For the life of me I can't understand why they attempted--somewhat weakly--to arrange the presidents topically or thematically rather than chronologically. I personally think the latter would have dramatically improved the series. For one thing, it would have given a far stronger sense of how the presidency evolved over time. Moreover, many of the presidents overlapped with those administrations that went before. I think they would have been able to pack more real content into the show by beginning with Washington and ending with Clinton.

Nonetheless, this is a good series with a lot to offer. There is only one commentator, but fortunately that is one of the premiere presidential scholars of recent decades, the late, great Richard Neustadt, who died a couple of years after the series. Few individuals possess a more wide-ranging or deeper understanding of the presidency than Neustadt and this serves as a fine reminder of how prescient he was in understanding the office. The actual information on each president tended to be highly accurate. Viewers might argue with particular assessments, but rarely can they dispute particular facts. Any sins were sins of omission, not of commission.

Anyone with any degree of interest in American history is going to find this series rewarding and highly entertaining. It isn't anywhere near as educational as reading a good presidential biography like Doris Kearns Goodwin's NO ORDINARY TIME on FDR or a study of the presidency like Richard Neustadt's PRESIDENTIAL POWER AND THE MODERN PRESIDENTS, but it is probably more entertaining and educating in its own way.

I thoroughly enjoyed this series on the American presidents. I am a fan of historical programming on television, both on cable channels and on the PBS network, from which this collection comes. Perhaps the most unique feature of this series is that instead of going through the list of presidents in chronological order, it groups them into broad categories. These categories include:

* Family Ties
* Happenstance
* Independent Cast of Mind
* Professional Politicians
* The American Way
* The World Stage
* Heroic Posture
* Compromise Choices
* Expanding Power
* The Balance of Power

These ten categories have four presidents each, save one, Happenstance, which has an extra member of the category, to add up to 41 presidents. (If you recall that the current President Bush is number 43, you would be correct; Grover Cleveland gets two numbers in the listing, his terms of office being non-consecutive). Deriving from the book on the presidents by the Kunhardts, the categories are not definitive, but rather generally descriptive of some of the key aspects of the individual presidents.

For example, the presidents featured under the category 'Heroic Posture' in episode seven were all military leaders. These included Washington, Harrison, Grant, and Eisenhower. While one might question the inclusion of Harrison in this, in fact he was elected in part based on his heroic image, even if he didn't last long. His death early in office provided America with its first 'Happenstance' leader, John Tyler, who set the precedent for vice presidents assuming full authority when a president dies or otherwise leaves office (it is hard for us in the modern day, when such a transfer seems automatic, to image there was a time when it was unclear if the vice president should become president at this event).

The overall narration is given by Hugh Sidey, the recently deceased White House correspondent who served with presidents throughout the last half of the twentieth century. Adding 'colour commentary' is Richard Neustadt, himself a veteran of White House work. No presentation of political figures can ever be apolitical, particularly when issues reach into the current day, but between Sidey, Neustadt and the Kunhardts, a reasonably balanced picture is portrayed of most of the presidents.

There is a necessary limitation to the depth that can be devoted to each figure in this kind of format. Given the balance of presentation, it also seems somewhat strange for William Henry Harrison and Millard Filmore to get equal time with figures such as Washington, Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt - after all, FDR's term of office was almost 150 times as long as W.H. Harrison's, yet they both have almost equal time in the documentary. However, the presentation does more than simply present the politics or the personalities of the presidents highlighted, but also give a sense and flavour of the time in the country in which each served.

For later presidents, their own voices and words are heard in part describing their actions and presidencies - some sat for interviews as part of this series (both Carter and Bush gave extensive interviews). For earlier presidents, other notable figures lent their voices to the task - William F. Buckley as Teddy Roosevelt, Walter Cronkite as George Washington, Billy Graham as James Garfield (a clever casting, given that Garfield was the only minister ever to become president), and so forth.

This series will be useful to teachers, students at the high school and undergraduate level, and those who simply want more information. This is more of a survey with some interesting trivia bits than a comprehensive treatment, but in honesty, how many people have time to watch a multi-night documentary on each president? One thing that viewers might draw from this is an interest to do further reading and further viewing on selected topics raised.

The use of art work, natural settings, manuscripts, and archival footage makes for a very interesting presentation. This is a series I watch on a frequent basis to reacquaint myself with aspects of American history.

The American President video series is probably the best overview of the Presidents I have seen to date. I thought the grouping of each President into categories (i.e. "Happenstance", "The Heroic Posture", etc.) was a unique and thought provoking way to arrange the material. I especially appreciated the material on obscure Presidents such Fillmore and Arthur. For the most part the commentary by Richard Neustadt is worthwhile. Also, the voices used for the earlier Presidents were for the most part well done.

There are criticisms though. The first is that the presentation of Eisenhower is far, far more critical than positive and Eisenhower was a much better President than Neustadt would have us believe. Perhaps his opinion is skewed because he worked for Harry Truman and carries too much bias into his review. Secondly, in a couple of situations, Presidents are placed in the wrong category. JFK's placement in the "Family Ties" category comes to mind since all of the other Presidents in that segment were related to a previous President and JFK is the only one there who was not related to a previous President (had they waited a couple of years to release this, George W. Bush would be an obvious inclusion in this category). Thirdly, Neustadt reveals outright hypocrisy in his views of Nixon and Clinton. In the Nixon segment he claims Nixon's Watergate actions were "unforgivable" while he then gives Bill Clinton a COMPLETE WHITEWASH. This is absolutely inexcusable on Neustadt's part and it harms the integrity of the video series.

Still even with those criticisms, I still recommend "The American President" though watch out for Mr. Neustadt's partisan bias (which he only reveals on some Presidents, not all).

(original version posted May 11, 2000)
Based on the book by Peter and Philip Kunhardt, The American President is an ambitious five-part series of mini-documentaries about the first 41 men who served as president. What distinguishes this documentary from others is its grouping of presidents into broad themes based on shared administrative styles, family backgrounds, and other features. For example, FDR and Kennedy are grouped according to the influence and power of their families in shaping their careers. Jefferson, Coolidge, and Reagan share time according to their governing philosophies. Spanning about 10 hours, each biography lasts roughly 15 minutes.

While an interesting idea, treating each president by theme rather than in chronological order presented some nagging problems for me. Inevitably, some presidents fit into more than one category (do you put Coolidge into the vice-presidential succession category or treat him by his governing philosophy?). History is largely about studying themes, but the danger of shuffling presidents out-of-time and forcing them into categories is the potential for over-emphasizing the role of these factors in shaping their administrations while de-emphasizing other important influences (e.g. the time in which they lived). For instance, in the "family" category, much is made of the power and influence of Kennedy's family in his decision-making, too much perhaps. If you knew nothing about JFK, he might come off as someone who considered his father's wishes before making every decision-- how could anyone be qualified to make that assertion in a 15 minute overview?

Fifteen minutes per president means that major corners had to be cut and major facts omitted. These kinds of cuts are hard enough when trying to touch upon major chronological events. This becomes nearly impossible when trying to present themes since omissions are more likely to lead to generalizations and create misconceptions. For example, if I knew little about FDR's background and the program tells me, as it does, that he had an "affair" which damaged his marriage (without further explanation), I might be tempted to group him with the indiscretions of those like President Clinton. In fact, the exact nature of his relationship with Lucy Mercer had a long evolution and has never been very well-defined. I'm not a big fan of prying into the personal histories of our leaders (past or present), but I offer this as an example of how easy such general statements can inaccurately color one's perception of another. On a minor note, I also didn't find it helpful to have a different celebrity first person narrator speaking as each president... radio personality Don Imus as Andrew Jackson just didn't do it for me.

If the producers wanted to discuss presidents in terms of themes, they should have abandoned covering all the presidents and focused on the themes that interested them. For instance, you could do a whole documentary on presidents who expanded executive power and have more time to deal with the subject. This series tries to be an overview of all the presidents, but it does little more than condense the life of each man into the documentary equivalent of a "soundbite." At best, you're left wanting more. At worst, you may be left with some false impressions. I'd suggest looking elsewhere...

My favorite series of presidential documentaries have been produced by the PBS series, "The American Experience" over the past several years. This is a comprehensive, masterful, and very enjoyable series covering presidents such as Jefferson, the Roosevelts, Eisenhower, Nixon, and several others. Each program runs nearly four hours and is about as thoroughly-researched and comprehensive as you can get for T.V. while still being fun to watch.

I have a 33 year old autistic son who loves politics.But he really loves presidential history so these DVDs seemed just perfect for him.He really likes the DVDs and watches them almost every day.Thanks