Scott Farris

A well-researched biography about a woman known primarily for the men in her life - Adolf Hitler and John F Kennedy. Inga Arvad, an attractive blond Dane who is touted here as 'Kennedy's great love', was also an intelligent and compassionate journalist who emigrated to the States in the 40s and almost immediately fell foul of Roosevelt and the FBI's J Edgar Hoover, who placed her under surveillance, especially after she started a relationship with Joseph Kennedy's second son. She was accused of being a spy because of her second husband's association with industrialist Axel Wenner-Gren and also because she was once granted a private interview with Hitler in the mid-30s. Her past not only haunted her career in America but prevented her from marrying Jack Kennedy - as a soon to be twice-divorced Protestant, she was an unsuitable match for his political ambitions. She did, however, boost his reputation by writing favourably about the PT-109 incident which made Jack a war hero. They parted company, although Jack kept going back to her and there was doubt over the paternity of her first child, and she later married - after innumerable proposals, including English politician Robert Boothby! - a real-life cowboy and disappeared into domesticity.

I must admit to buying this biography primarily because of the Kennedy connection, but appreciate Scott Farris' obvious fascination and loyalty to Inga herself. She was indeed a smart and friendly woman whose only failing was that she was completely man mad - and the wrong type of man at that, from other women's husbands to father figures who she admired but didn't really love. Jack Kennedy might have been a good match - he was apparently faithful to her, during their brief relationship - but she carried far too much personal baggage and was a political liability. Not only did she and Jack write to each other while he was in the Navy, but the FBI bugged her apartment and had her under surveillance, so the evidence of their time together is pretty thorough! 'As I told you yesterday, I know you pretty well and I still like you,' Inga wrote; 'you know, Jack that is a hell of a compliment because anyone as brainy and Irish-shrewd as you can't be quite like a white dove.'

Farris is a little hard on Kennedy's later marriage to Jackie - I think there was a little more to them both than money and ambition - but otherwise fair to the people he writes about, and obviously did a lot of research. An interesting new facet to Jack Kennedy!… (mer)

Not all who lose the presidency fade into oblivion. This book shows how some of the also-rans had a tremendous impact on the nation.

Two of the most obvious and most recent: Al Gore and Barry Goldwater.

Gore (controversially) lost to George W. Bush, then finding a new cause, raised the profile of the (controversial) issue of climate change. Would he have pushed the issue into the national psyche if he had won?

Goldwater was a conservative before his time, much-ridiculed and hated. But he impacted the conservative movement for good by influencing a personable ex-actor and future president, Ronald Reagan.

There are more stories like this, most of them unexpected. Always a good thing to read up on presidents during a presidential election year.

More reviews at my WordPress site, Ralphsbooks.… (mer)

Today, to attain the Presidency, is to rise to the height of power and influence in the United States and to fail to attain it, a sign that your political career and usefulness to the United States is at an end. However, this current state of affairs is a recent addition to America's governmental landscape. In fact, for most of the past 200 years, the "almost presidents" referenced in this book of the same name, provided good service to the United States, either before or after their failure to rise to the presidency. "Almost President: the Men Who Lost the Race But Changed the Nation" casts an investigative eye onto those men who forever changed this country through their failure.

These overlooked men include the Great Compromiser, "Henry Clay, a Secretary of State and the man who helped prevent the Civil War from occurring 40 years earlier with his Missouri Compromise, but who ran afoul of public opinion by daring to be a foe to war hero Andrew Jackson, which ultimately cost Clay the presidency.

In addition, the legacy of party loyalty to the Republican Party by African-Americans for a century was overturned by Barry Goldwater during his racist campaign to have the Republicans take back the South for white males, thus turning blacks into the Democratic Party stalwart supporters they are today. Goldwater's campaign sounded the death knell for bipartisanship in American politics.

The other "almost presidents", from Stephen Douglas, who worked hard after his loss to Abraham Lincoln to keep the Democratic Party a united force in American politics, as a result, the party survived the Civil War intact, to Ross Perot who changed the way presidential candidates campaign, to William Jennings Bryan, the perennial candidate who would have been appalled as the mudslinging which went on during the recent losses of Al Gore, John Kerry and John McCain, all made their mark on America without being President. Though the influence of the later three has yet to be determined, but Gore had made significant forays into protecting the environment, while both Kerry and McCain are powerhouses for their respective parties in the Senate.

I found "Almost President" by Scott Farris to be a very engaging and informative book. I was already interested in the history of American politics, so it wasn't a hard sell to get me to pick-up this book. But the style in which it was written, from word choice to the presentation of the information, would make it easily approachable by even history novices. I look forward to reading future historical forays by Scott Farris.… (mer)

Today, to attain the Presidency, is to rise to the height of power and influence in the United States and to fail to attain it, a sign that your political career and usefulness to the United States is at an end. However, this current state of affairs is a recent addition to America's governmental landscape. In fact, for most of the past 200 years, the "almost presidents" referenced in this book of the same name, provided good service to the United States, either before or after their failure to rise to the presidency. "Almost President: the Men Who Lost the Race But Changed the Nation" casts an investigative eye onto those men who forever changed this country through their failure.

These overlooked men include the Great Compromiser, "Henry Clay, a Secretary of State and the man who helped prevent the Civil War from occurring 40 years earlier with his Missouri Compromise, but who ran afoul of public opinion by daring to be a foe to war hero Andrew Jackson, which ultimately cost Clay the presidency.

In addition, the legacy of party loyalty to the Republican Party by African-Americans for a century was overturned by Barry Goldwater during his racist campaign to have the Republicans take back the South for white males, thus turning blacks into the Democratic Party stalwart supporters they are today. Goldwater's campaign sounded the death knell for bipartisanship in American politics.

The other "almost presidents", from Stephen Douglas, who worked hard after his loss to Abraham Lincoln to keep the Democratic Party a united force in American politics, as a result, the party survived the Civil War intact, to Ross Perot who changed the way presidential candidates campaign, to William Jennings Bryan, the perennial candidate who would have been appalled as the mudslinging which went on during the recent losses of Al Gore, John Kerry and John McCain, all made their mark on America without being President. Though the influence of the later three has yet to be determined, but Gore had made significant forays into protecting the environment, while both Kerry and McCain are powerhouses for their respective parties in the Senate.

I found "Almost President" by Scott Farris to be a very engaging and informative book. I was already interested in the history of American politics, so it wasn't a hard sell to get me to pick-up this book. But the style in which it was written, from word choice to the presentation of the information, would make it easily approachable by even history novices. I look forward to reading future historical forays by Scott Farris.… (mer)