 Failures
of the Presidents: From the Whiskey Rebellion and War
of 1812 to the Bay of Pigs and
War in Iraq
THE NATIONAL TREASURY CRIPPLED.
COUNTLESS LIVES RUINED.
WHOLE NATIONS DESTROYED.
Everybody makes mistakes, but when an American president
blunders the result can be catastrophic.
This in-depth look at presidential decision-making processes
gone wrong reveals the policies and courses of action that
seemed promising at the time, but turned out to be the worst
decisions American presidents have made. The stories
featured here altered the course of the nation’s history,
and in some cases changed the history of the world for the
worse.
Every chapter takes the reader inside the White House as the
president confronts troubles at home and threats from abroad
and explains the problems and choices the president faced,
what he hoped to achieve, and why his decision went horribly
wrong, including:
• The war that cost 20,000 American lives, reduced the U.S.
Capitol and the White House to smoking ruins, and achieved
none of the president’s goals.
• The relocation plan that sent a clear message to former
Confederates that the federal government had abandoned the
millions of newly freed slaves.
• The half-hearted invasion that led the world to the brink
of nuclear war.
• The failed burglary and the bungled cover-up that forced a
president from office.
Failures of the Presidents is a gripping and horrifying
history of presidential directives—most well intended but
some arguably not—resulting in terrible disaster.
WHAT WERE THEY THINKNG?
• In an effort to put an end to Britain and France’s policy
of seizing American ships and sailors, Thomas Jefferson
calls for an embargo.
The Result: 30,000 sailors put out of work; mercantile
families bankrupted overnight; a nationwide economic
depression; and the New England states, which depended
heavily on international commerce, threaten to secede from
the Union.
• To promote the doctrine of popular sovereignty, Franklin
Pierce approves the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and
permits residents of Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether
their territories will admit slavery.
The Result: Dozens of settlers murdered; Lawrence, Kansas,
burned and looted; John Brown elevated to the status of
national hero among abolitionists; the country moves closer
to civil war.
• Convinced the 20,000 men, women, and children of the Bonus
Army were Communists and criminals, Herbert Hoover sends 600
crack troops, a detachment of cavalry, and five tanks to
drive the protesters out of Washington.
The Result: 4 dead, including two infants; more than 1,000
injured; the Communist Party in America enjoys a public
relations field day; Hoover is driven into political exile.
• In an effort to install a capitalist government in the
Middle East, stabilize the region, and protect America from
a possible Iraqi terrorist assault using weapons of mass
destruction, George W. Bush orders the invasion of Iraq.
The Result: More than 4,000 American soldiers and personnel
dead; estimated hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians
dead; hundreds of billions of dollars spent; the torture of
prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison and the failure to find
weapons of mass destruction leave American global
credibility in tatters.
by M. William Phelps and Thomas J. Craughwell
mwilliamphelps.com
All Rights Reserved.
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