Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in Ohio in 1822 a couple months after his father died of typhus. Two of his siblings died before he was born and when he was two, his brother drowned while ice skating. As a result, his mother became very protective of her two remaining children.

Rud (as he was called) was 7 before she allowed him to play with other children and 9 before she let him play sports. He was very close with his older sister Fanny who was a tomboy and superb rifle shot. They loved hunting, fishing, rowing, sailing, swimming, skating, riding, and reading. They would share irreverent jokes and puns their pious mother didn’t approve of. (Throughout his life, he never officially joined a church, although he attended services regularly.) George Washington was his hero and he would memorize patriotic speeches of famous Americans.

Grant wasn’t brilliant, especially handsome, or charming. He was an alcoholic and he wasn’t good at public speaking. He made mistakes, especially when it came to trusting businessmen. What made him successful was his honesty, his tenacity, and his reliance on others. He remained calm in battle. Once, while writing a dispatch, a shell landed near him. He only looked up briefly before he returned to writing.

Andrew Johnson was born in a log cabin in 1808 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Despite being the state capitol, Raleigh was still a small town at the time. His parents were illiterate. His older sister died as a child. His father, Jacob Johnson, died soon after heroically saving three men who were in a capsized boat.

His mother, Mary (Polly) Johnson, was left to care for two boys by herself. She was a seamstress and laundress. Because Andrew had black hair and a darker complexion than his older brother William (who had freckles and light hair), there were rumors that Andrew’s biological father was a lawyer his mom did laundry for. Poor white women at the time did the same work as enslaved black women and were likewise at the mercy of the men in whose houses they worked, so the rumors are at least plausible.

In the 1950s and 60s, H.L. Hunt was the richest man in the world. He hosted a conservative radio program called Life Line which told the world about the evils of JFK, RFK, MLK, and labor unions. He wanted to promote his radio show at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and spent millions of dollars on roller coasters and other investments, however his contract was cancelled and he lost all the money. Vice President LBJ told him the decision had been made by a “higher authority”, which Hunt took to mean President JFK. On the plane ride back to Dallas, Hunt told John Curington, the author of this book, “I’ve about got a bellyful of those Kennedy boys. They both need to go.”

Abraham Lincoln spoke in a high-pitched voice and had disproportionately large hands and a long neck. Walt Whitman wrote that Lincoln’s face was “so awful ugly it becomes beautiful.”

Lincoln didn’t speak a lot. His law partner said “He was the most shut-mouthed man that ever existed.” He was careful not to express certainty, once stating, “I am almost ready to say this is probably true.” He sought out the opinions of his opponents and looked at questions from every side. He had a keen sense of humor. He never officially joined a church, but he became deeply religious after becoming president.

James Buchanan was born in a log cabin in Pennsylvania in 1791, the second of 11 children, not far from the Mason Dixon line. His father, also named James Buchanan, owned a general store which was successful enough for him to buy a substantial farm, then a store on main street in Mercersburg, and he eventually became one of the richest men in the area. As the oldest son, the younger James Buchanan was the favorite among his siblings, and was particularly close to his mother.

At 16, Buchanan went to college at Dickinson, but since his mother had already educated him in the classics, he found college too easy. He began his lifelong habit of smoking cigars (in later years, he would chew the ends of unlit cigars). He was the smartest student and also the most arrogant, flouting school rules. He got expelled for disorderly conduct.

Benjamin Pierce fought in the Revolutionary War, was a sheriff, state legislator, and a local hero. However, his lack of education made him hesitate from a life of politics. He encouraged his son Franklin to be a politician. At 14, Franklin Pierce was sent to boarding school, then to Bowdoin College two years after that.

He wasn’t enthusiastic about school and came in dead last on the list of student standings his first year. He determined to do better. During the summer he made some money teaching. When he returned to college, he formed a marching unit. Younger students Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow drilled under his command and became friends with him.

Millard Fillmore was born in 1800 in a log cabin to a poor tenant farmer in New York. He was named Millard after his mother’s maiden name. His father and uncle had been sold a land title sight unseen. The land turned out to be hard clay not good for farming. On top of that, the title was faulty and they lost the land. They ended up moving a few miles south where the land wasn’t much better.

Fillmore grew up doing farm chores. He had four brothers and four sisters. His father considered hunting and fishing (“sporting”) to be a waste of time. When Fillmore was 14, he was apprenticed to an ill-tempered cloth maker. He quit after 4 months, but his father found him another cloth-making apprenticeship that he stayed at for years.