The Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presidential Library and Museum
presents a conversation and book signing
with
founder and CEO of
Jigsaw at Alphabet Inc.
Jared Cohen author of
ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENTS:
EIGHT MEN WHO CHANGED AMERICA
and Fareed Zakaria --
acclaimed host of
CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS
Friday, April 12, 2019 at 6:00 p.m.
Henry A. Wallace Center at the
FDR Presidential Library and Home
HYDE PARK, NY -- The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum presents a conversation and book signing with
founder and CEO of Jigsaw at Alphabet Inc. Jared Cohen author of
ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENTS: EIGHT MEN WHO CHANGED AMERICA and
Fareed Zakaria -- acclaimed host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS -- on Friday, April 12, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. The event will be held in the Henry A. Wallace Center at the FDR Presidential Library and Home.
This is a free public event but registration is required.
Synopsis:
The strength and prestige of the American presidency has waxed and waned since George Washington.
ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENTS: EIGHT MEN WHO CHANGED AMERICA looks at eight men who came to the office without being elected to it. It demonstrates how the character of the man in that powerful seat affects the nation and world.
Eight men have succeeded to the presidency when the incumbent died in office. In one way or another they vastly changed our history. Only Theodore Roosevelt would have been elected in his own right. Only TR, Truman, Coolidge, and LBJ were re-elected.
John Tyler succeeded William Henry Harrison who died 30 days into his term. He was kicked out of his party and became the first president threatened with impeachment. Millard Fillmore succeeded esteemed General Zachary Taylor. He immediately sacked the entire cabinet and delayed an inevitable Civil War by standing with Henry Clay's compromise of 1850. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded our greatest president, sided with remnants of the Confederacy in Reconstruction. Chester Arthur, the embodiment of the spoils system, was so reviled as James Garfield's successor that he had to defend himself against plotting Garfield's assassination; but he reformed the civil service. Theodore Roosevelt broke up the trusts. Calvin Coolidge silently cooled down the Harding scandals and preserved the White House for the Republican Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. Truman surprised everybody when he succeeded the great FDR and proved an able and accomplished president. Lyndon B. Johnson was named to deliver Texas electorally. He led the nation forward on Civil Rights but failed on Vietnam.
ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENTS adds immeasurably to our understanding of the power and limits of the American presidency in critical times.
Jared Cohen is the founder and CEO of Jigsaw at Alphabet Inc. He also serves as an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, he ran Google Ideas at Google Inc. and served as chief advisor to Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. From 2006 to 2010 he served as a member of the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff and as a close advisor to Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton. He is the
New York Times bestselling author of ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENTS, THE NEW DIGITAL AGE, CHILDREN OF JIHAD, and ONE HUNDRED DAYS OF SILENCE: AMERICA AND THE RWANDA GENOCIDE. He lives in New York City with his wife and two daughters and spends his weekends in Rhinebeck, New York.
Fareed Zakaria is the Emmy-nominated host of CNN's
Fareed Zakaria GPS, contributing editor for
The Atlantic, a columnist for the
Washington Post, and the best-selling author of THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD and THE FUTURE OF FREEDOM. He lives in New York City.
