geeky
potus_geeks and frequently I hear of people who are trying to read a bio of every president. So this post is about recommendations for some of those lesser known Commanders-in-Chief.Probably the least famous presidents are Arthur, Millard Fillmore, William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor. (Coincidentally these four were either presidents who died in office or men who completed the term of office of a president who died in office.) In this series I've already discussed reading options for Fillmore (here) and Harrison (here), so let's look at the other two.
Chester Alan Arthur: Easily the leading biography of Arthur is that written by Thomas C. Reeves entitled Gentleman Boss: The Life and Times of Chester Alan Arthur (reviewed here in this community). There are two things that stand out for me as amazing about this book. The first is the incredible handicap in researching this book that the author is able to overcome so well. While on his deathbed, Chester A. Arthur ordered the destruction of many of his personal papers, making much about the life of this lesser known president permanently hidden. Reeves is over to work around this problem through an incredible amount of research which included tracking down his subject's descendants, and conducting a painstaking review of some of Arthur's papers at the Library of Congress both while as President and when he held the prestigious post of Collector at the New York Customs House, as well as combing through a variety of other sources. The second incredible feature of this biography is the remarkable objectivity and honesty with which Reeves writes about his subject. He succumbs neither to hero worship, fawning, adulation nor a berating of his subject for Arthur's short-comings. Reeves tells it like it was. When Arthur deserves credit, credit is given, and when Arthur is deserving of criticism, Reeves lets him have it. This is especially important for a subject like Chester A. Arthur, who is both naughty and nice.
The volume about Arthur in the American Presidents Series is written by Zachary Karabell and is reviewed here. Other books about Arthur are difficult to find, but here are a few more for those inquiring minds: Chester A. Arthur: A Quarter Century of Machine Politics by George Frederick Howe (originally writtin in 1935) and Chester Alan Arthur: The Life of a Gilded Age Politician and President by Gregory J. Dehler.
An especially interesting book with some great photos in it is entitled A President in Yellowstone: The F. Jay Haynes Photographic Album of Chester Arthur’s 1883 Expedition by Frank H. Goodyear III. It tells the story, in words and pictures, of a voyage Arthur made in late July of 1883 to Yellowstone National Park, established by an act of Congress only eleven years earlier. No sitting president had ever traveled this far west. Arthur’s primary guide was Philip H. Sheridan, the famed Union general. Also slated to join the expedition was a young photographer, Frank Jay Haynes. This fascinating book showcases Haynes’s remarkable photographic album from their six-week journey.
Zachary Taylor: Like William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor is more famous for his accomplishments as a General than as President, and yet I'm in what is perhaps a minority that believe that he would have been a strong president, if his term had not been cut short by his death. Taylor's leading biographer is Holman Hamilton who wrote a two volume set about the life of the twelfth president. Volume one is called Zachary Taylor: Soldier of the Republic (focusing on Taylor's early life) and volume two is called Zachary Taylor: Soldier in the White House.
A more recent bio of Taylor is K. Jack Bauer's book entitled Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest (reviewed here in this community). I didn't like this book because I though the author was unfairly critical of Taylor without really explaining why. (For example, while he acknowledges that as a General, Taylor won a number of battles in which he was severely out-numbered, he says that Taylor really doesn't deserve credit for this, without explaining why. This is in conflict with the opinion of Ulysses Grant and with other military historians such as John Eisenhower).
There are a few other Taylor books that I would recommend as being unique and interesting. Party Over Section: The Rough and Ready Presidential Campaign of 1848 by Joel H. Silbey (reviewed in this community here) tells the story of how Taylor, a politically disintersted candidate, won victory in the election of 1848. There is also Clara Risling's controversial book The Taylor File. Risling has floated the theory that Taylor was assassinated by poisoning, and she was actually able to convince the medical examiner to have Taylor's body exhumed in 1991 for a modern day autopsy. Foul play was not proven, but the author maintains her assertion that Taylor was covertly assassinated and makes the case for her theory in this volume. Finally there is the American Presidents Series volume on Zachary Taylor written by the brilliant military historian and former General John Eisenhower (son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower).
Arthur and Taylor may be among the least known Presidents, but I would argue that they are not the least interesting. Both have lives with interesting stories, in both cases about two of the least unlikely men to find their way into the oval office (neither held any elected position before being elected Vice-President and President respectively). Their lives make for interesting summer reading.