Ambition, Pragmatism, and Party, Scott Kaufman
Ambition, Pragmatism, and Party, Scott Kaufman
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Ambition, Pragmatism, and Party
A Political Biography of Gerald R. Ford

Author: Scott Kaufman

Narrator: Robertson Dean

Unabridged: 16 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/17/2017


Synopsis

Within eight turbulent months in 1974 Gerald Ford went from the United States House of Representatives, where he was the minority leader, to the White House as the country's first and only unelected president. His unprecedented rise to power, after Richard Nixon's equally unprecedented fall, has garnered the lion's share of scholarly attention devoted to America's thirty-eighth president. But Gerald Ford's (1913–2006) life and career in and out of Washington spanned nearly the entire twentieth century. Ambition, Pragmatism, and Party captures for the first time the full scope of Ford's long and remarkable political life.

The man who emerges from these pages is keenly ambitious, determined to climb the political ladder in Washington, and loyal to his party but not a political ideologue. Drawing on interviews with family and congressional and administrative officials, presidential historian Scott Kaufman traces Ford's path from a Depression-era childhood through service in World War II to entry into Congress shortly after the Cold War began. He delves deeply into the workings of Congress and legislative–executive relations, offering insight into Ford’s role as the House minority leader in a time of conservative insurgency in the Republican Party.

About Scott Kaufman

Scott Kaufman is chair of the Department of History at Francis Marion University, Florence, South Carolina. He is the author of many books, including Rosalynn Carter: Equal Partner in the White House, and, with Burton Kaufman, The Presidency of James Earl Carter, Jr., both from Kansas.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jean

This is a well written and meticulously researched biography of Gerald Ford. Kaufman provides a balanced and insightful review of Ford’s political life; his personal life is lightly covered. Kaufman claims three traits emerge in Ford’s life: his ambition, his loyalty to the Republican Party and his p......more

Goodreads review by Steve

[URL not allowed] Published in 2017, Scott Kaufman’s “Ambition, Pragmatism, and Party: A Political Biography of Gerald R. Ford” is the most recent comprehensive biography of the thirty-eighth president. Kaufman is the author or editor of nearly a dozen books including a biograp......more

Goodreads review by Mark

Gerald Ford is unique among presidents for a number of reasons, but perhaps most so for the circumstances of his presidency. Alone among the forty-four people who have held the office he was never on a national ballot prior to occupying the office, as he owed his elevation to the presidency to the p......more

Goodreads review by Henry

Review of Ambition, Pragmatism, and Party Scott Kaufman’s biography of Gerald Ford has its good parts, but is also sometimes lacking. Kaufman does a good job with Ford’s pre-political life and his coverage of Ford’s congressional career is excellent. But Ford’s vice-presidency is only briefly covered......more

Goodreads review by Mike

I didn't expect much from Ford when I began this biography: my entire understanding of him was confined to a few Simpsons jokes (the song 'I'm Checking In' and the episode 'Two Bad Neighbors') and the knowledge that he was the unelected president who pardoned Nixon. Kaufman's biography did serve to......more