The Games Presidents Play: Sports and the Presidency Review

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(More customer reviews)In his latest work, "Games Presidents Play", author John Watterson has brought us an easy read and one filled with plenty of interesting anecdotes to satisfy even the most knowledgeable presidential historians. This book is clearly the perfect item for any reader with even a casual interest in the presidents and/or sporting activities in general.

While there is some basic material about each man's time as the country's president, the primary focus of the book is to tell us about the athletic or sporting activities that aided the presidents in finding much-needed relaxation away from the office, while also having some influence on American culture in general on occasion.
Watterson obviously begins with George Washington, and while the first president's physical strength and horsemanship are still held in great regard even today, what was interesting to this reader was Washington's fervent interest in the formal horse-racing and surrounding social functions that he often attended in Annapolis and Philadelphia.
Not every president comes in for a writeup by the author -- after all, it is difficult to imagine men like John Adams or James Madison participating in anything more strenuous than an occasional horseback ride out of sheer necessity.
The sporting activities of the presidents really began to gain national recognition with Theodore Roosevelt -- a man the author describes as one who "represents a melding of sports and politics that has now become commonplace." Watterson credits Roosevelt with originating what he calls "the twentieth-century sporting presidency."
From there on we get a good deal more material on the sporting activities of the varios 20th century presidents, including such men as Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford (who actually was a very capable football lineman at the University of Michigan in the early 1930s), Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. The stories of Clinton bending the rules of golf to suit his fancy was no surprise to this reader, and Watterson mentions that Clinton's "critics suggested that his golfing character was a mirror image" of some of his other White House misbehavior that landed him in big trouble.
Again, "The Games Presidents Play" is an easy read -- well researched and well written -- by an author who has previously produced one of the best books ("College Football") written on the off-the-field history of college football. GPP would make a nice gift for any reader with even a casual interest in the American presidency.
R.S.
Ventura, CA

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