First Friends: The Powerful, Unsung (And Unelected)People who Shaped our Presidents by Gary Ginsberg

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In the bestselling tradition of The Presidents Club and Presidential Courage, White House history as told through the stories of the best friends and closest confidants of American presidents.

Here are the riveting histories of myriad presidential friendships, among them:

Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed: They shared a bed for four years during which Speed saved his friend from a crippling depression. Two decades later the friends worked together to save the Union.

Harry Truman and Eddie Jacobson: When Truman wavered on whether to recognize the state of Israel in 1948, his lifelong friend and former business partner intervened at just the right moment with just the right words to steer the president’s decision.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Daisy Suckley: Unassuming and overlooked during her lifetime, Daisy Suckley was in reality FDR’s most trusted, constant confidant, the respite for a lonely and overworked President navigating the Great Depression and World War II

John Kennedy and David Ormsby-Gore: They met as young men in pre-war London and began a conversation over the meaning of leadership. A generation later the Cuban Missile Crisis would put their ideas to test as Ormsby-Gore became the president’s unofficial, but most valued foreign policy advisor.
These and other friendships—including Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, Franklin Pierce and Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Bill Clinton and Vernon Jordan—populate this fresh and provocative exploration of a series of seminal presidential friendships.

Publishing history teems with books by and about Presidents, First Ladies, First Pets, and even First Chefs. Now former Clinton aide Gary Ginsberg breaks new literary ground on Pennsylvania Avenue and provides fresh insights into the lives of the men who held the most powerful political office in the world by looking at the friends on whom they relied.

First Friends is an engaging, serendipitous look into the lives of Commanders-in-Chief and how their presidencies were shaped by those they held most dear.

An interesting, though sometimes simplistic look at the best friends of some presidents. I didn’t feel that there was much depth to some of the writer’s take on some of these friendships. Still, I enjoyed learning some new things. Such as:

Jefferson and Madison
I didn’t realize that these two were such good friends. All I ever read about was Jefferson’s relationship with Adams, and Adams’ last words: Thomas Jefferson still survives (he didn’t; he had died five hours earlier.)

Pierce and Hawthorne
As the author noted, Nathaniel Hawthorn is the only First Friend to be better known that the man he befriended. Which is probably for the best, since Pierce was a terrible president, his actions moving the country closer to war. His friendship with Hawthorne was interesting, though ultimately, tragic.

Lincoln and Speed
Though they met later in life (Lincoln was in his thirties,) their friendship was deep, Lincoln looking at Speed as his best friend, even his soulmate. Which, along with them sharing a room, later gave rise to the rumor that there was more between them. But rumor is all it is. Nothing has even been found to substantiate it.

Wilson and House
I’m not sure if what these two men had was truly a friendship, since it basically only encompassed the years Wilson was in the White House. For House, the friendship seemed more as a stepping stone to power. Wilson, on the other hand, was too cold, rigid, and unforgiving to do the work a friendship often entails.

FDR and Suckley
Daisy Suckley may have been what was at the time called an old maid, (regardless what some think, it seems that, not only did she not have a sexual relationship with FDR, but probably wasn’t intimate with anyone,) she would lead a fascinating and thoroughly interesting life. All because of her friendship with FDR. It does happen from time to time, that two people mesh so thoroughly that a deep and abiding friendship is inevitable. That seems to be the case with these two. And their story is both interesting and moving. Together, they made history.

Truman and Jacobson
I was surprised to learn that Truman had a best friend. I don’t know a lot about the man, but what little I’ve read he didn’t appear to be very likable.

Kennedy and Ormsby-Gore
The type of person we have as a best friend can say a lot about the type of person we are. Jack Kennedy’s best friend seemed to have been as extraordinary as he was.

Nixon and Rebozo
It’s odd that such a well-known friendship should be so little known. Nixon, the loner, and Bebe, the extrovert. It shouldn’t have worked, but somehow it did.

Clinton and Jordon
Because of all the scandals that surrounded Clinton, some real, some created by enemies, Jordon would pay for being Clinton’s best friend. Yet, though it all, he stuck it out and stayed squarely by Clinton side.











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