Trump goes unmentioned but not overlooked as Clinton, Bush and Obama pen essays on US presidents
WASHINGTON, DC: Former Presidents George W Bush, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton have lent their voices to a big history project marking the 250th anniversary, offering essays on past presidents. President Donald Trump isn’t specifically mentioned, but some of the themes that come up make for an inevitable comparison with the current administration.
The essays are part of ‘In Pursuit,’ an effort to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States. Participants were asked to write essays about a president or first lady, not about current political arguments but about lessons from American history. Colleen Shogan, the former US archivist, is assembling the collection, and she said contributors have taken to heart the charge to avoid partisan or ideological comments.
Bush focuses on Washington and the power of stepping aside
Without naming Trump, Bush’s essay is difficult to read without thinking of Trump’s reluctance to cede power after his 2020 election defeat and his musings about a third term in defiance of the Constitution’s two-term limit.
Bush’s essay celebrates George Washington, the original “No Kings” guy. Bush, a Republican, hails a man whose legacy only grew larger because he modeled the limits of the presidency for centuries to come.
“Our first president could have remained all-powerful,” Bush writes, “but twice he chose not to. In so doing, he set a standard for all presidents to live up to.”
First, Washington resigned as commander in chief of the Continental Army, then set the precedent of serving only two presidential terms before that limit was enshrined in the Constitution.
Bush went on: “George Washington’s humility in giving up power willingly remains among the most consequential decisions and important examples in American politics.” Bush’s essay, released on Presidents’ Day as the first in the series on Substack, drove heavy engagement.
Obama, Clinton and others look back at presidential history
Obama’s article is on Abraham Lincoln, Clinton’s on Theodore Roosevelt. Clinton’s analysis explores Roosevelt’s efforts to broaden political participation of common people and challenge powerful corporate interests.
It also explores Roosevelt’s attitudes and policies toward Black and Indigenous Americans.
Notable contributors include Chief Justice John Roberts on William Howard Taft, Hillary Clinton on Eleanor Roosevelt and Michelle Obama with an essay on Jacqueline Kennedy. The series also includes historians, journalists and other public figures.
The only two presidents missing from the presidential roll call are Trump and ex-President Joe Biden.
They were both considered too recent to be evaluated with the historical perspective that the project seeks to offer, organizers said. The essays are being published weekly in chronological order and will continue until December.
“Everybody took those instructions and that guidance very seriously,” Shogan told The Associated Press. The goal was for all Americans to “feel welcome to be able to read these lessons and essays and learn something from them.”
The mission, Shogan said, “is to surface the lessons from the past 250 years of American history, so that we can learn from those lessons, from both our successes and our failures, so we can plan for the present and the future. It’s what has been described as debriefing the American story.”
The essays cover 43 presidents, all but Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Trump and 30 first ladies.
