What the Presidents Read

Elizabeth Goodenough has taught at Harvard, Claremont McKenna, and the University of Michigan’s Residential College, School of Education, and School of Information. Her books include Secret Spaces of Childhood (University of Michigan Press); Under Fire: Childhood in the Shadow of War; and Infant Tongues: The Voice of the Child in Literature (Wayne State University Press). She helped produce the award-winning PBS documentary, Where Do the Children Play? and authored companion volumes A Study Guide to the Film and A Place for Play. A recent member of the Children’s Literature Association’s critical book and Phoenix Award committees, she now serves on the advisory boards of The Michigan Quarterly Review and the Max Courage Curriculum.Marilynn S. Olson has been professor and director of Advanced Studies in English at Texas State University. She was associate editor and then editor of the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly from 1991-2000; her recent book (2012) is Children’s Culture and the Avant-Garde: Painting in Paris 1890-1915. Recent chapters include “John Ruskin and the Mutual Influences of Children’s Literature and the Avant-Garde” for Elina Druker and Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer’s Children’s Literature and the Avant-Garde (2015) and “Art History and the Picturebook” for the Routledge Companion to the Picturebook (2018). Olson has also co-authored a number of articles on astronomy, art, and literature with her husband, Donald Olson.

Perhaps nothing more profoundly influences an individual than the books read in childhood. America has been blessed with readers who became our leaders. Goodenough and Olson have done a great service. Their remarkable book ambitiously sets out to prove how deeply children’s literature has helped shape the minds and souls of those who have guided our nation through war and peace. And I for one am grateful for it.

• ForewordChapter I. History and GeographyIntroductionWords from Presidents and White House FamiliesWilliam Henry HarrisonZachary Taylor Millard FillmoreCalvin CoolidgeHarry TrumanLyndon Baines JohnsonBill ClintonContemporary CommentMatthew Goetz, “Young George Washington's Literary Voyage Round the World”Marilynn Olson, “Why Fillmore Remembered Abyssinia”Mark W. Graham, “Charles Rollin and Universal History in America” Tim Utter, “Peter Parley’s Geographical Education of Children in the Mid-19th Century”Stephen Bertman, “Andrew Jackson: Savage Sophisticate”Catharine M. Parisian, “A Thirst for Knowledge”Eric Best, “Growing Up near Sagamore Hill” Laureen Tedesco, “The Little Brown Sister: A Children’s Book Model for William Howard Taft’s Benevolent Paternalism”Tom Mallon, “The Row to Zanzibar” Bethanee Bemis, “The White House and Mickey Mouse: Presidents and the Disney Parks”Chapter II. Sports, Games, and Play Introduction Words from Presidents and White House Families John AdamsThomas JeffersonDolley MadisonTad LincolnUlysses GrantGrover ClevelandTheodore Roosevelt Louise TaftNellie TaftCalvin CoolidgeEleanor RooseveltHarry TrumanLady Bird JohnsonRichard NixonJimmy CarterGerald FordGeorge H. W. BushBill ClintonContemporary CommentJames G. Leaf, “NO SISSIES ALLOWED: Qualifications for U.S. Presidency”Laura Wasowicz, “Kitchen Table Politics for Children in the Hero of Tippecanoe”Scott Eberle, “Wrestling and Storytelling in Lincoln’s White House”Edward G. Lengel, “Nellie Arthur in the White House” Elizabeth Goodenough, “Frances Cleveland and First White House Kindergarten”Peggy Ellsberg, “TR and the Icon of the Cowboy”Margo Taft Stever, “Searching for the Young William Howard Taft: The Tortoise and the Hare”Annette B. Dunlap, “Lou Henry Hoover and the Spirit of Play”Rebecca Schwartz, “Truman Reading Music” Michelle Guillen, “Jackie and her Children Riding at Glen-Ora”John Woodford, “The Men Who Would be President”Douglas Brinkley, “The Ebb and Flow of John F. Kennedy”Donald Holloway, “The Education of Gerald Ford” Stuart Brown, “Winning isn’t Everything”James G. Leaf, “'Finis Origines Pendent': George W. Bush at Andover” Corky Siemaszko, “Obama’s High School Basketball Coaches, Teammates Remember ‘Barry’”Chapter III. Animal Tales Introduction Aesop’s FablesAesop as Political Commentary: The Bayeux Tapestry Aesop in American PoliticsGeorge Washington, 1st President (1789-1797)Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President (1801-1809) Millard Filmore, 13th President (1850-1853)Abraham Lincoln, 16th President (1861-1865)William Howard Taft, 27th President (1909-1913)Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking GlassAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland and American PoliticsAlice on the StageAlice in Political Parodies and CartoonsAlice in the Age of the New Deal and BeyondAlice, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA)4. Billy WhiskersJohn F. KennedyBilly Whiskers and Women’s Travel WritingSeeing the World with Billy Whiskers A Voice of its TimeNation BuildingWho Lives Here?What Does the Country Look Like?5. The Story of FerdinandFranklin and Eleanor RooseveltDwight D. Eisenhower, Ferdinand, and Munro LeafThe Aftermath of World War II: Berlin, Christmas 1946 Harry Truman and the Marshall PlanKennedy’s People-to-People Exchange and Johnson’s War on Poverty Chapter IV. Performing Story, Poetry, Speech Introduction Words from Presidents and White House FamiliesJames MonroeAbigail Adams and John Q. Adams John Q. Adams Louisa AdamsMartin van BurenJames K. PolkJames BuchananAbraham LincolnMary Todd LincolnAndrew Johnson Julia GrantRutherford B. HayesChester A. ArthurGrover ClevelandCorrina RooseveltWoodrow WilsonFranklin Delano RooseveltCaroline KennedyDonald TrumpJoe BidenContemporary CommentMarilynn Olson, “‘A Favourite Author of Mine’: Monroe’s Note and Pleasures of Imagination” Eric Sterner, “Joseph Addison’s Cato: Liberty on the Stage” Donelle Ruwe, “Theater of Education and School Plays”Suzanne Rahn, “The Appeal of Walter Scott”Leslie Stainton, “Reading James Buchanan” Henry Meares, “Black Folks Hero: He Freed the Slaves” Jerry Mikorenda, “A Poem, a President, and his Pupil”Alicia Clapp-Itnyre, “Cleveland and Fanny Crosby”Rob Tally, “Fenimore Cooper and the Leatherstocking Tales”Brian C. Wilson, “Donald Trump and Reverend Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking” Steve Wilson, “Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “‘The American Scholar’: The Thought Heard Round the World” Chapter V. Verities of Instruction Introduction Words from Presidents and White House Families George WashingtonJohn AdamsJohn Adams and John Quincy AdamsAbigail AdamsJohn TylerJames BuchananAbraham LincolnUlysses S. GrantJesse GrantGrover ClevelandTheodore RooseveltGerald FordGeorge H. W. BushBill ClintonBarack ObamaMelania TrumpContemporary CommentAndrea Immel, “Little John Quincy Adams and the Gingerbread Hornbook”Don Olson, “Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic: How Presidents Learned the 3rd of the 3Rs”Peter A. Wallner, “Franklin Pierce’s Admission to Bowdoin College”Margaret Mackey, “The Blue Back Speller: Primers as Totemic Objects” Elvin Holt, “Performing Brer Rabbit”Marilynn Olson, “Horatio Alger: Gerald Ford‘s Blueprint for the Future.”Jill Abraham Hummer, “Laura Welch Bush: Roots of the First Reader” Donald E. Pease, “Barack Obama’s Dr. Seuss Story”Chapter VI. Periodicals IntroductionWords from Presidents and White House FamiliesJames MadisonFranklin PierceWilliam McKinleyTheodore RooseveltRichard NixonJimmy CarterGeorge W. BushDonald TrumpContemporary CommentMarilynn Olson, “Spectator Papers as Children’s Guide”Marilynn Olson, “The Tribune and McKinley’s Rural Ohio”Mark I. West, “Theodore Roosevelt: Our Young Folks”Stephanie Hawkins, “National Geographic Magazine in the 1920s”Marilynn Olson, “Boys’ Life in the 1930s”Adrianne Grubic, “A Presidential Passion for Sports Illustrated” Chapter VII. Biography and Autobiography IntroductionWords from Presidents and White House FamiliesFranklin PierceAbraham LincolnWarren G. HardingHarry TrumanDwight EisenhowerLyndon JohnsonGeorge W. BushContemporary CommentEbony Elizabeth Thomas, “George Washington and Slavery: Going Beyond Picture Books to Teach About Our Flawed Founders” Jacob Heberle and Mark Heberle, “Andrew Jackson: From Orphan of the Waxhaws to Father of a New America”Philip J. Deloria, “Becoming Mary Sully: Toward an American Indian Abstract”William C. Davis,"The Boy and the Book: Parson Weems and Abraham Lincoln"Mark Harris, “The Better Angels” Julia Mickenberg, “Lefty Lincoln for Kids” Jan Susina, “The Curious Connections Between Abraham Lincoln and Lewis Carroll”Omar Khan, “‘Who are You?’ Eleanor Roosevelt Goes Rogue”Craig Fehrman, “Author in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote”Julie Pfeiffer, “The ‘First Lady from Plains’ Re-Imagines Home”Carol Tell Morse, “Summer Sisters First: Judy Bloom and the Bush Twins”Andrea Immel, “The Trump Presidency in Picture Books” Megan Marshall, “The Mouse that Scored”Chapter VIII. Narrative Fiction IntroductionWords from Presidents and White House FamiliesJohn AdamsThomas JeffersonJames A. GarfieldBenjamin HarrisonHerbert HooverFranklin Delano RooseveltJacqueline KennedyLady Bird JohnsonRosalynn CarterAmy CarterRonald ReaganBarbara BushBill ClintonHillary ClintonChelsea ClintonLaura BushJenna Bush Hagar and Barbara Pierce BushBarack ObamaMichelle ObamaJoe BidenJill BidenContemporary CommentAndrew O’Malley, “Robinson Crusoe”Laura Wasowicz, “Awash inan Ocean of Sea Stories: Some Historical Context”Mark I. West, “The Influence of Mayne Reid’s Adventure Stories on Theodore Roosevelt’s Life”Claudia Nelson, “Morality and Fair Play: Reagan's Childhood Reading”Anne Phillips and Greg Eiselein, “Alcott’s Little Women and the US Presidency”Stephen Meyer, “Institutional Conversion: Postwar Christianity and The Robe”John Blair, A Wrinkle in TimeSally E. Parry, “Cherry Ames and the Call of Duty”Teya Rosenberg, “The Magical and Educative Properties of P. L. Travers’ Mary Poppins”AfterwordAbout the EditorsAbout the Contributors