Politics

All Presidents Are Above Average

In biographies for children, presidents are great even before they become president.

Adults, accustomed to the harsh truths about our presidents revealed in newspaper accounts and best-selling biographies, can no longer perceive the glory of George W. Bush’s Vietnam military service or admire the “marriage” of Bill and Hillary Clinton. But children labor under no such disillusions. So long as they stick to the thin books with the fat type, students may safely study our illustrious leaders, protected from harmful references to Watergate, Iran-Contra, or a certain president’s taste for threesomes. Children’s biographies of presidents show our leaders as role models even as youngsters. For Presidents Day, we’ve culled some quotes from presidential biographies written for children—and then compared the quotes to see how much more inspiring these versions are than their adult counterparts.

Click here to launch a slide show featuring children’s books about the presidents.

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