The Presidents’ War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them Chris DeRose (Book 18 of 2015)
Through the years,I have read many books about the Civil War. Most of those books center around the battles and the Generals. Until I saw the book The Presidents’ War I never thought or knew about the former Presidents who were alive during the conflict. As a matter of fact, the book’s author Chris DeRose writes in the Acknowledgments of the book
….I had never known of the former presidents who lived to see the Civil War until a visit to Seattle in 2012 and a conversation with my friend.
It was that friend Rob Peck, who inspired the book! Anyway, the point is if Mr DeRose author of two previous Congressman Lincoln: The Making of America’s Greatest President(2013) and Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election That Saved a Nation ( 2011) and a visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Arizona Summit Law School, where he teaching Constitutional Law, International Law, and Election Law/Voting Rights hadn’t heard about the presidents alive during the Civil War until 2012, I don’t feel so bad about not thinking about them until after reading his book!!
The five living ex-President’s alive at the start of the Civil War were John Tyler, Martin Van Buren, Millard Filllmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. Each of those Presidents faced the underlying causes of the War and did little to avoid the coming conflict. Here’s a little about each of those Presidents from DeRose’s website….
* John Tyler engaged in shuttle diplomacy between President Buchanan and the new Confederate Government. He chaired the Peace Convention of 1861, the last great hope for a political resolution to the crisis. When it failed, Tyler joined the Virginia Secession Convention, voted to leave the Union, and won election to the Confederate Congress.
* Van Buren, who had schemed to deny Lincoln the presidency, supported him in his efforts after Fort Sumter, and thwarted Franklin Pierce’s attempt at a meeting of the ex-Presidents to undermine Lincoln.
* Millard Fillmore hosted Lincoln and Mary Todd on their way to Washington, initially supported the war effort, offered critical advice to keep Britain at bay, but turned on Lincoln over emancipation.
* Franklin Pierce, talked about as a Democratic candidate in 1860 and ’64, was openly hostile to Lincoln and supportive of the South, an outspoken critic of Lincoln especially on civil liberties. After Vicksburg, when Jefferson Davis’s home was raided, a secret correspondence between Pierce and the Confederate President was revealed.
* James Buchanan, who had left office as seven states had broken away from the Union, engaged in a frantic attempt to vindicate his administration, in part by tying himself to Lincoln and supporting the war, arguing that his successor had simply followed his policies. Read More
I think that The Presidents’ War would provide information for two or three great lesson plans in any high school history class! I certainly think that exposing to the conflicting views that these Ex-President’s held and the fact that at last one President not to be named (Franklin Pierce) were openly hostile to Lincoln! One of the interesting tidbits from the book leads to the trivia question – who was the only ex-President who died as an enemy to his country??? John Tyler.
As I read this book a thought crossed my mind – George McClellan during the Peninsula Campaign and at other times certainly misjudged the strength of the Confederate Army. What if the person providing those estimates was a Confederate sympathizer??? Sounds like making of a book to me!
Bottom Line: The Presidents’ War is a great read for every American! DeRose it shows that sometimes the President had to go it alone! And in doing so Lincoln saved the Union and recreated a country based on our country’s original tenet that “All Men are Created Equal!!
Check it out!! As for me I think the next book by Chris DeRose that I want to read is Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election That Saved a Nation!
Links for Further Explorations of Chris DeRose
Chris DeRose Website
Amazon: Chris DeRose
Goodreads: Chris DeRose
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