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Customer Reviews of The American President (PBS Box Set)

American History Teachers should check out this one
The simple but ironic rule of thumb for "The American President" PBS series is that the less you know about a particular President the more you will be impressed by a particular segment, and visa versa. Of course, this certainly makes sense. Reducing the Presidency of Washington, Lincoln or FDR into a 10-12 minute block is extremely reductionalistic. But for the lesser lights of history these segments can be quite revealing. I certainly had more respect for John Quincy Adams than I had before. This is not to say you will not learn anything new from the other segments; I was surprised to learn that Truman's poll numbers when he left office were lower than Nixon's before his resignation.

The format is that each tape, with one exception, presents five American Presidents lumped together thematically: (1) "Family Ties" looks at those men born to the office: John Quincy Adams, Benjamin Harrison, Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy; (2) "Happenstance" looks at most of Vice-Presidents who became "accidental" Presidents: John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester A. Arthur and Harry Truman; (3) "An Independent Cast of Mind" covers John Adams, Zachary Taylor, Rutherford B. Hayes and Jimmy Carter; (4) "The Professional Politician" covers Martin Van Buren, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson; (5) "The American Way" features Thomas Jefferson, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Ronald Reagan; (6) "The World Stage" looks at internationalist presidents: James Monroe, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson and George Bush; (7)"The Heroic Posture" looks at the war hero Presidents: George Washington, William Henry Harrison, Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower; (8) "Compromise Choices" examine the administrations of Franklin Pierce, James Garfield, Warren Harding and Gerald Ford; (9) "Expanding Power" covers the imperial presidencies of Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon; and (10) "The Balance of "Power" finishes off the series with James Madison, James K. Polk, William Taft and Bill Clinton.

It is impossible not to look at this arrangement and not see some obvious liabilities. LBJ does not get dismissed as an "accidental" President while Jefferson ends up representing the "American Way" more than an "Independent Cast of Mind." Putting Jefferson, Coolidge, Hoover, and Reagan in the same category seems rather forced. But this is just quibbling because once you decide not to proceed chronologically through the Presidents it is always going to be open to debate. This format at least sets up some comparisons and contrasts that would engender classroom debate (or you can feel free to quibble in the sanctuary of your own mind).

Each program is narrated by Hugh Sidney, who has been the White House correspondent for Time magazine for as long as I can remember. Harvard scholar Richard Neustadt offers up academic preachments on each President, having interviewed most of the living Presidents for their own insights. Whenever possible the actual voices of the Presidents are used, while for the others John Glenn, Walter Cronkite, Morley Safer, Norman Schwarzkopf, and a host of others provide the voices (Bob Dole is Hoover and Colin Powell is Taft).

Obviously this series is a godsend for history teachers who can pick and choose particular Presidents to show their class. For example, showing a class the segment on Hoover before getting to the Depression, FDR and the New Deal, would be quite beneficial. I would also think the segments on Buchanan, Cleveland and Ford would be particularly useful. I feel less secure recommending the segments on the more important Presidents since I have to think most textbooks will cover pretty much the same point. "The American President" series helps best when it fills in the gaps of your standard American history textbook. But if that is what you are teaching, then you should certainly invest some time going through this series and seeing what could work for you and your cherubs.

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Highly entertaining video series (some caution needed)
The American President video series is probably the best overview of the Presidents I have seen to date. I thought the grouping of each President into categories (i.e. "Happenstance", "The Heroic Posture", etc.) was a unique and thought provoking way to arrange the material. I especially appreciated the material on obscure Presidents such Fillmore and Arthur. For the most part the commentary by Richard Neustadt is worthwhile. Also, the voices used for the earlier Presidents were for the most part well done.

There are criticisms though. The first is that the presentation of Eisenhower is far, far more critical than positive and Eisenhower was a much better President than Neustadt would have us believe. Perhaps his opinion is skewed because he worked for Harry Truman and carries too much bias into his review. Secondly, in a couple of situations, Presidents are placed in the wrong category. JFK's placement in the "Family Ties" category comes to mind since all of the other Presidents in that segment were related to a previous President and JFK is the only one there who was not related to a previous President (had they waited a couple of years to release this, George W. Bush would be an obvious inclusion in this category). Thirdly, Neustadt reveals outright hypocrisy in his views of Nixon and Clinton. In the Nixon segment he claims Nixon's Watergate actions were "unforgivable" while he then gives Bill Clinton a COMPLETE WHITEWASH. This is absolutely inexcusable on Neustadt's part and it harms the integrity of the video series.

Still even with those criticisms, I still recommend "The American President" though watch out for Mr. Neustadt's partisan bias (which he only reveals on some Presidents, not all).

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more education than mere entertainment
This video series is notable for its coverage of the "obscure" presidents, its fascinating collection of pictures and photographs, and its reflection of modern theoretical conceptions of the presidency. Other reviewers have questioned the format (which looks at presidents according to what they share in common, rather than the traditional chronological approach), but this format reflects an important theoretical approach in political science that compares presidents according to their position in "political time," rather than historical ordering.
This organizational format may certainly make the series more complicated and harder to understand for the general public or for high school students. The series may be best understood by college undergraduates who have encountered work by Stephen Skowronek.
In short, the series features wonderful material, but the organizational approach forces the viewer to actively think as he or she watches, not merely passively view the series. In effect, the series is more education than entertainment, and prospective buyers may want to keep this in mind.