Potus Geeks: 2017 in Review
As the sand runs out on 2017, many people have expressed a sentiment that I too have been feeling: where did the year go? Yes, I know, as we age time seems to go faster, but 2017 seemed like the Flash compared to past years. As in past years, it is once again time to look back on the year that was.
January: It was an inauguration year once again, and January 20th meant the inauguration of a new president, one who emerged unexpectedly, leaving a politically polarized populace in his election's wake. To mark this event, our January theme was Inaugural Addresses and we looked back at some of those more memorable for their content (Lincoln, Kennedy, FDR, Reagan) and some more memorable for their unique circumstances (William Henry Harrison and Franklin Pierce, as well as that of President Trump). It was also the end of an era and we looked at some of the more memorable Farewell Addresses, including those of Washington, Eisenhower, and Nixon. Books reviewed in January: Met His Every Goal by Tom Chaffin.
February: President Trump's proposed ban on allowing persons from certain countries to enter the nation inspired a look at how other presidents addressed the subject of Immigration. This was our theme for February, as we looked at such topics as the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Nativist Riots, the Know-Nothing Party, and President Trump's Executive Order 13769. On Valentine's Day we also picked the 5 Most Romantic Presidential Couples. Books reviewed in February: Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations by John Avlon; Bill Clinton (American Presidents Series) by Michael Tomasky; The Making of the President 2016: How Donald Trump Orchestrated a Revolution by Roger Stone; The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics by John B. Judis.
March: Is populism growing or is it on the decline? To consider this question, we looked at the history of Populism in US Presidential politics, from Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy, the late 19th century populist party, William Jennings Bryan's brand of populism, early 20th century populists like Robert LaFollette, depression era populists like Father Charles Coughlin and Huey Long, late 20th century populists like George Wallace or John Anderson, all the way up to 21st century populists like Ra;ph Nader, Pat Buchanan, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, and populist movements like the Tea Party and the Occupy Movement. Books reviewed in March: Five Days in Philadelphia: Wendell Willkie, Franklin Roosevelt and the 1940 Convention that Saved the Western World by Charles Peters; Ike and McCarthy: Dwight Eisenhower's Secret Campaign Against Joseph McCarthy by David Nichols.
April: April was a month without a theme that looked at an assortment of topics which included the goodwill tours of James Monroe and Andrew Johnson, the first succession crisis, John Quincy Adams and the Gag Rule, and other diverse subjects. I also visited Washington DC that month, and made a special side trip to the James Monroe Museum and to Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. Books reviewed in April: Richard Nixon: The Life by John Aloysius Farrell.
May: In May, President Trump marked his first 100 days in office, and as this community's theme, we looked at what other Presidents had accomplished in their First 100 Days. On May 29th we also marked the centennial of the birth of John F. Kennedy.
June: Once again President Trump inspired this month's theme as he embarked on some international travel. We looked at the globe-trotting of other presidents, and the subject of Presidential Travel both in and out of office, including Theodore Roosevelt's first international visit by a President (to Panama) and Richard Nixon's epic visit to China, as well as the tour that ended Warren Harding's life. We also looked at the diplomatic careers in Europe of John Adams, James Monroe, and James Buchanan. We also looked at some interesting travel by former presidents, including Ulysses Grant's round-the-world tour, and the European visits of Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce. Books reviewed in June: Lincoln's Pathfinder: John C. Fremont and the Violent Election of 1856 by John Bicknell (selected as best book for potus_geeks of 2017).
July: Speculation about how Barack Obama would spend his post-presidential years inspired July's theme of Presidents in Retirement. These encompassed a variety of interesting stories from the prolific retirements of John Quincy Adams, Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman, to the tragically short retirements of Chester Alan Arthur and Calvin Coolidge. (I left out the stories of living presidents because, as Natasha Bedingfield sings, "the rest is still unwritten.")
August: August was a month of Summer Reruns when we recycled posted articles from previous years. We took a second look at the theories that James Buchanan was gay, the poetry of John Quincy Adams, the heroic wartime service of George H. W. Bush, the time that Richard Nixon coached the Washington Redskins, the Exhuming and Autopsy of Zachary Taylor, and Dwight Eisenhower's secret professional baseball career. Books reviewed in August: Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes; I Like Ike: The Presidential Election of 1952 by John Robert Greene; Avenging the People: Andrew Jackson, the Rule of Law and the American Nation by J. M. Opal.
September: Labor Day inspired the theme of the complex relationship between Presidents and Labor, organized (or sometimes unorganized) over the years. We looked at how many presidents dealt with national labor strikes and disruption, including Grover Cleveland, Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan, and even Bill Clinton's unsuccessful effort to settle the 1994 Major League Baseball strike. I also spent a delightful day at the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio. Books reviewed in September: James A. Garfield (American Presidents Series) by Ira Rutkow; The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur by Scott S. Greenberger.
October: As a war of words (and tweets) between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took place, many feared that a new crisis was on the horizon. This community's theme for October was Presidents and Crisis, how previous presidents dealt with and averted (or sometimes mismanaged) crisis. The obvious subjects this brought to mind were JFK and the Cuban-Missile Crisis and Lincoln and the Secession Crisis. But there were also other lesser known moments of wise presidential guidance, including John Adams and the Quasi-War, Eisenhower and the Korean War, and George Washington and the Whiskey Rebellion. Less stellar moments included Rutherford Hayes and the disputed election of 1876, Franklin Pierce and Bleeding Kansas, and James Buchanan and the secession crisis. In October I paid a visit to the Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri. Truman also had a crisis on his hands: the dropping of the atom bomb.
November: In November rumors of a rift between President Trump and his Secretary of State surfaced, and that spawned that month's theme: looking and the lives and careers of some of the prominent Secretaries of State. We considered some of those who became president (Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Buchanan), as well as some of the more prominent secretaries such as Daniel Webster, Lewis Cass, William Seward, James G. Blaine, John Hay, William Jennings Bryan, Cordell Hull, George Marshall, Foster Dulles, Dean Rusk, Henry Kissinger, Hillary Clinton and the current incumbent, Rex Tillerson.
December: We celebrated the Christmas season with a look at how many of the Presidents celebrated the Christmas season (in a theme called Presidents at Christmas). We learned that young Nellie Arthur was probably the most Christmas-minded child, and that William Howard Taft resembled Santa in more ways than one. We also looked at some of the best books of 2017 and some attractive choices in reading for 2018 as well. Books reviewed in December: President McKinley by Robert W. Merry (the best biography of 2017); Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (best work of non-fiction in 2017); The Election of 1860: A Campaign Fraught With Consequences by Michael F. Holt.
This ends our look back at the year 2017 in this community. I hope it was a good year for you and a happy and prosperous one and I hope 2018 turns out to be your best year yet!
January: It was an inauguration year once again, and January 20th meant the inauguration of a new president, one who emerged unexpectedly, leaving a politically polarized populace in his election's wake. To mark this event, our January theme was Inaugural Addresses and we looked back at some of those more memorable for their content (Lincoln, Kennedy, FDR, Reagan) and some more memorable for their unique circumstances (William Henry Harrison and Franklin Pierce, as well as that of President Trump). It was also the end of an era and we looked at some of the more memorable Farewell Addresses, including those of Washington, Eisenhower, and Nixon. Books reviewed in January: Met His Every Goal by Tom Chaffin.
February: President Trump's proposed ban on allowing persons from certain countries to enter the nation inspired a look at how other presidents addressed the subject of Immigration. This was our theme for February, as we looked at such topics as the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Nativist Riots, the Know-Nothing Party, and President Trump's Executive Order 13769. On Valentine's Day we also picked the 5 Most Romantic Presidential Couples. Books reviewed in February: Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations by John Avlon; Bill Clinton (American Presidents Series) by Michael Tomasky; The Making of the President 2016: How Donald Trump Orchestrated a Revolution by Roger Stone; The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics by John B. Judis.
March: Is populism growing or is it on the decline? To consider this question, we looked at the history of Populism in US Presidential politics, from Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy, the late 19th century populist party, William Jennings Bryan's brand of populism, early 20th century populists like Robert LaFollette, depression era populists like Father Charles Coughlin and Huey Long, late 20th century populists like George Wallace or John Anderson, all the way up to 21st century populists like Ra;ph Nader, Pat Buchanan, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, and populist movements like the Tea Party and the Occupy Movement. Books reviewed in March: Five Days in Philadelphia: Wendell Willkie, Franklin Roosevelt and the 1940 Convention that Saved the Western World by Charles Peters; Ike and McCarthy: Dwight Eisenhower's Secret Campaign Against Joseph McCarthy by David Nichols.
April: April was a month without a theme that looked at an assortment of topics which included the goodwill tours of James Monroe and Andrew Johnson, the first succession crisis, John Quincy Adams and the Gag Rule, and other diverse subjects. I also visited Washington DC that month, and made a special side trip to the James Monroe Museum and to Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. Books reviewed in April: Richard Nixon: The Life by John Aloysius Farrell.
May: In May, President Trump marked his first 100 days in office, and as this community's theme, we looked at what other Presidents had accomplished in their First 100 Days. On May 29th we also marked the centennial of the birth of John F. Kennedy.
June: Once again President Trump inspired this month's theme as he embarked on some international travel. We looked at the globe-trotting of other presidents, and the subject of Presidential Travel both in and out of office, including Theodore Roosevelt's first international visit by a President (to Panama) and Richard Nixon's epic visit to China, as well as the tour that ended Warren Harding's life. We also looked at the diplomatic careers in Europe of John Adams, James Monroe, and James Buchanan. We also looked at some interesting travel by former presidents, including Ulysses Grant's round-the-world tour, and the European visits of Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce. Books reviewed in June: Lincoln's Pathfinder: John C. Fremont and the Violent Election of 1856 by John Bicknell (selected as best book for potus_geeks of 2017).
July: Speculation about how Barack Obama would spend his post-presidential years inspired July's theme of Presidents in Retirement. These encompassed a variety of interesting stories from the prolific retirements of John Quincy Adams, Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman, to the tragically short retirements of Chester Alan Arthur and Calvin Coolidge. (I left out the stories of living presidents because, as Natasha Bedingfield sings, "the rest is still unwritten.")
August: August was a month of Summer Reruns when we recycled posted articles from previous years. We took a second look at the theories that James Buchanan was gay, the poetry of John Quincy Adams, the heroic wartime service of George H. W. Bush, the time that Richard Nixon coached the Washington Redskins, the Exhuming and Autopsy of Zachary Taylor, and Dwight Eisenhower's secret professional baseball career. Books reviewed in August: Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes; I Like Ike: The Presidential Election of 1952 by John Robert Greene; Avenging the People: Andrew Jackson, the Rule of Law and the American Nation by J. M. Opal.
September: Labor Day inspired the theme of the complex relationship between Presidents and Labor, organized (or sometimes unorganized) over the years. We looked at how many presidents dealt with national labor strikes and disruption, including Grover Cleveland, Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan, and even Bill Clinton's unsuccessful effort to settle the 1994 Major League Baseball strike. I also spent a delightful day at the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio. Books reviewed in September: James A. Garfield (American Presidents Series) by Ira Rutkow; The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur by Scott S. Greenberger.
October: As a war of words (and tweets) between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took place, many feared that a new crisis was on the horizon. This community's theme for October was Presidents and Crisis, how previous presidents dealt with and averted (or sometimes mismanaged) crisis. The obvious subjects this brought to mind were JFK and the Cuban-Missile Crisis and Lincoln and the Secession Crisis. But there were also other lesser known moments of wise presidential guidance, including John Adams and the Quasi-War, Eisenhower and the Korean War, and George Washington and the Whiskey Rebellion. Less stellar moments included Rutherford Hayes and the disputed election of 1876, Franklin Pierce and Bleeding Kansas, and James Buchanan and the secession crisis. In October I paid a visit to the Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri. Truman also had a crisis on his hands: the dropping of the atom bomb.
November: In November rumors of a rift between President Trump and his Secretary of State surfaced, and that spawned that month's theme: looking and the lives and careers of some of the prominent Secretaries of State. We considered some of those who became president (Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Buchanan), as well as some of the more prominent secretaries such as Daniel Webster, Lewis Cass, William Seward, James G. Blaine, John Hay, William Jennings Bryan, Cordell Hull, George Marshall, Foster Dulles, Dean Rusk, Henry Kissinger, Hillary Clinton and the current incumbent, Rex Tillerson.
December: We celebrated the Christmas season with a look at how many of the Presidents celebrated the Christmas season (in a theme called Presidents at Christmas). We learned that young Nellie Arthur was probably the most Christmas-minded child, and that William Howard Taft resembled Santa in more ways than one. We also looked at some of the best books of 2017 and some attractive choices in reading for 2018 as well. Books reviewed in December: President McKinley by Robert W. Merry (the best biography of 2017); Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (best work of non-fiction in 2017); The Election of 1860: A Campaign Fraught With Consequences by Michael F. Holt.
This ends our look back at the year 2017 in this community. I hope it was a good year for you and a happy and prosperous one and I hope 2018 turns out to be your best year yet!