Whether throwing out the first pitch of the baseball season, fishing for trout, or cheating at golf, American presidents through history have had connections to the world of sports in many ways. This book explores how various commanders-in-chief worked and played-and how their athletic activities reflected their political identities.
The author considers George Washington, whose athleticism contributed to his success on the battlefield and perhaps to the birth of the republic. He moves into the nineteenth-century, when frontier sports were part of the formative years of Jackson, Lincoln, and Cleveland. With twentieth-century presidents-most notably the hyperactive, headline-grabbing Teddy Roosevelt-he shows how the growth of mass media and transportation transformed presidential sports into both a form of recreation and a means of establishing a positive image. Exploring everything from FDR's fight to restore his polio-ravaged body to Eisenhower's obsessive love affair with golf to Nixon's enthusiasm for football, this book uses sports to open a window onto the presidency and the nation's culture, as well as the strengths, weaknesses, and personalities of America's leaders.
