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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
What Bob Greene did on his summer vacation, December 8, 2004
It's not unusual for people to visit presidential libraries and museums or collect presidential memorabilia. There is even a surprising number of people who seek out presidential gravesites (and write books about it, like C-SPAN's Brian Lamb). But it's far rarer for someone to attempt to meet and spend time with former presidents themselves. This book is the story of Bob Greene's effort to collect the whole set.
As other reviewers have noted, this book is as much about Greene as it is about the living historical markers he sees the ex-presidents as having become. Americans have lived with president as Caesar, president as criminal, even retrospectively, president as demigod. Now we have president as tourist souvenir.
Back during the 1992 campaign, when that young woman asked then-candidate Clinton the famous "boxers or briefs" question, I remember thinking, "You have a chance to ask a likely future president a question, and that's the best you could do? Shame on you." I had something of the same reaction to this book. Greene explicitly set out to be non-political and non-confrontational, and if that's the direction he had to take to get in the door, than so be it. But it makes Greene's subjects -- whom, he argues, have fallen from exalted heights and are all mournfully cognizant of what they have lost -- seem even more banal to wind up sitting in their living rooms, offices, or hotels discussing sweaters or college football with Bob Greene. Only Jimmy Carter comes across as really *doing something* -- and consequently Greene in those chapters is reduced to part of the hyperkinetic Carter's entourage instead of being the sole object of hours of his subjects' attention, as he is in most of the rest of the book. (A great companion for this section, by the way, is Steven Hayward's " The Real Jimmy Carter: How Our Worst Ex-President Undermines American Foreign Policy, Coddles Dictators and Created the Party of Clinton and Kerry".)
Greene comes to the realization that "you can be elected out of [the presidency], but ... apparently, in some ways, you can never really leave" (p. 182). This " Hotel California" existence is a sign of how much we invest in our presidents, emotionally, symbolically, and even spiritually. Even a man like Gerald Ford, who filled the office for little more than two years, is elevated -- apotheosized -- for all time. Greene suggests Ford's image may show up on a coin someday (Ford himself, entirely rightly, considers the idea laughable). To see how this process affects the men themselves, and to try to tease some insights into the men's personalities out of Greene's readable but not especially deep prose, is probably the best way to approach this book.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Quick and Pleasant, October 17, 2004
Bob Greene's quest to meet and interview all five living Presidents in the early 1990s has a few moments of surprise, but it's mostly reflective of how ex-presidents lead pretty normal lives.
He begins with Nixon who might be the oddball in this fraternity. He's the most serious about himself and the office of President. He's a very formal man who admits to Green that he never called Eisenhower, Ike, in their private meetings. It was always General or Mr. President. Further, Nixon's best friend, Bebe Rebozo, always addressed Nixon as Mr. President from the day he was elected onward even when they were alone.
Greene's meetings with Carter revealed how hands-on the guy is. Whether he is seeing to one of his charities or meeting with his fellow faculty members at Emory University, Carter is on hand and active. Greene's experience would lead one to believe that Carter's immersion into things may have been a hindrance to his presidency where there were just too many concerns to handle personally.
George Bush 41 revealed himself as a decent chap during a 1994 meeting in Chicago when he and Jeb were in town to address some businessmen. Since Jeb was running for Florida governor that year (He lost) and brother George W. was running for Governor of Texas that same year (He won) Greene lets the episode be as much about passing the baton as anything else.
Ford seems such a normal guy because unlike the others who have books to write, charities to tend to, or sons to groom, Ford is just plain retired playing golf in Palm Springs. The Ford visit is interesting because he talks with Betty alone when Gerry is outside doing a golf documentary shoot. He asks her some of the same questions he asked the former president and he gets different answers. When asked what he would have done had he not become President, Gerry says that he'd probably be living in Michigan retired from practicing law. Betty says that they would have moved to Southern California just the same. When asked the toughest day of his life, Gerry says losing re-election to Carter. Betty says his toughest day was no doubt her cancer surgery. The most interesting comment is that Gerry feels closer to Carter than any of the other former Republican Presidents.
The book ends with Greene's attempt to meet Reagan at the Ronald Regan Freedom Awards, but Reagan had already made his Alzheimer's announcement and he would cancel his appearance. Still, Greene does a good job of explaining Nancy's fill-in for him, something she would learn to do for the next ten years. The recipient of that night's award of Prime Minister Rabin of Israel, and he would sadly die of assassination a year later.
At first glance there isn't a whole lot to the book. Bob Greene seems to be asking innocuous questions, but you gradually see some revelations that you probably wouldn't get from the hard-hitting interview.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Friendly, conversational and quick read with famous folks..., November 9, 2004
Bob Greene's breezy, nostalgic journey to chat with 5 of our former Chief Executives is a great book to give as a gift, or to pleasantly pass the time in a single sitting. His enthusiasm and humor shine through in his chatty chapters with Nixon, Carter and Ford...all three statesmen come off as interesting, intelligent men (even Nixon with his always astounding idiosyncracies). With the elder Bush, however, Greene seems to have less to work with, so fills out the chapter with his own reflections on the man and his legacy. The final chapter, on Ronald Reagan, is certainly poignant as no interview was possible due to the onset of Alzheimer's Disease.
Greene is a great writer and I'd suggest a follow up on either the former First Ladies or the women of the Senate, entitled SORORITY.
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