Preface and Acknowledgments

I have endeavored in this book to present profiles about America’s presidents in largely chronological narratives that avoid academic wordiness. My aim has been to reveal character alongside policies and social developments alongside politics. I found all of the presidents, even the most obscure, intriguing. Each had his own challenges, achievements, and failures, shaped by institutional requirements and individual personalities, and I have tried to capture them through anecdotes while maintaining the format required for an encyclopedic reference book.

I would like to thank two colleagues at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, for their help in uncovering sources and tracking down little-known facts: Bret Heim, the Government Documents and Reference Librarian, and Richard Weaver, the In-structional/Access Librarian, both at Thomas Byrne Memorial Library. In addition to their work, Phyllis Compretta helped acquire numerous books and articles through interlibrary loan in her usual prompt and courteous manner.

I owe a special debt of thanks to Nicole Bowen, executive editor for American history at

Facts On File. She originated the idea for this book and provided invaluable guidance in seeing it through to publication. Her professionalism made my work more productive and enjoyable while keeping my nose to the grindstone. My thanks go also to Ellen Scordato for her expertise in line editing the manuscript and to Tracy Bradbury for helping to pull together the completed copy.

Finally, I would like to thank my mother for the time she took in reading the profiles and offering innumerable suggestions that added clarity and smoothness to my writing, ridding it of characteristics that would have detracted from its final form. Her keen insight has made this book stronger.

My hope is that the reader will find as much value and pleasure in this volume as I did in similar volumes written by others and read by me in my childhood. Those stories of presidents stirred my imagination and enticed me to delve into biographies that told more about the role of individuals in shaping America’s development.