Looking back at presidential courage and folly

Men whose commander Washington had been during the war for independence now toast to his early demise. Critics compose an odious ode: "May it please your Highness, I, John Jay/Have traveled all this mighty way/To show all others I surpass/In love, by kissing of your --." (And we thought talk radio devolved public discourse .) Yet Washington, knowing the country is not prepared for another war with Britain, signs the treaty.

"Washington gave his country a gift that was almost as important as his victorious Revolutionary command -- the gift of peace," Beschloss writes. Almost 20 years later, when war with its former colonizer finally did come, the nation was strong enough to defend itself. The first president set a precedent: A leader "must use his unique standing -- even if it made him unpopular or cost an election -- to convince Congress and the American people to accept unpopular notions that may be in their long-term interest."

Historians will judge whether our current president's war policy and the attendant plunge in his popularity will be recalled as a profile in courage or folly. "Presidential Courage" is an engaging reminder that unpopular presidential acts are not necessarily wrong-headed ones. Beschloss's rundown of nine presidents who defied public or party to pursue the national interest has little new for those versed in history. Sadly, many people aren't, and this is a breezy and fun (if not exceptionally literary) survey.

Beschloss sidesteps hero worship, acknowledging presidents' mistakes even in their moments of courage. Andrew Jackson killed the national bank, a forerunner of the Federal Reserve, in the face of corrupt behavior by the bank's president. But Jackson, who'd flunk high school economics today, failed to put in place a more honest central bank to provide sound currency, sentencing generations of Americans to economic downturns that might have been mitigated.