Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our Recent History

by Kati Marton

Book Overview

An engrossing look at twelve presidential marriages --from Edith and Woodrow Wilson to Laura and George W. Bush--that have profoundly affected America's history. "Insightful.... Colorful.... A shrewd... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375401067
• ISBN13: 9780375401060
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.7" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Behind Closed White House Doors

The reader will be engrossed from the first page to the last. Reads like a novel; but is factual. A real page-turner. I offer slight criticism with the overall scheme of the book: not including the Gilded Age presidents alluded to in the introduction. I agree that Mamie Eisenhower and Bess Truman did not play significant roles along with their husbands; but Florence Harding, Grace Coolidge, and Nellie Taft did influence their husbands....and significantly so. I hope that when a revision is done, the author will include chapters on these three presidential couples. The reader will be "hooked" after reading the first chapter on Woodrow Wilson and his second wife. Its refreshing to find that Mrs. Marton, the author, did not gloss over the cover-up that Edith Wilson perpetuated with Dr. Cary Grayson, Wilson's White House physician. Every stone is turned over, including the little-known fact that Grayson attended to Edith during her first marriage to Mr. Galt when she had a miscarriage; this is an important connection often over-looked by historians who have preferred to over-look the Wilsons' peccadilloes, including his affairs with the Princeton professor's wife and Mary Peck. Readers will be intrigued to learn about Woodrow's sharing of secret intelligence codes and allowing his wife to use them and the State Department documents which arrived encoded. The author does a good job explaining why it was Edith who turned Woodrow against his closest advisor, Colonel House, his personal secretary, Mr. Tumulty, and Secretary of State Lansing, and even Vice President Marshall...all of whom he desperately needed while desperately ill. Any serious student of presidential history needs this volume in their library. The reader will learn how a woman with only two years of formal education ended up secretly running the country in one of the most devastating cover-ups in our nation's history. Unlike the personal memoirs of Edith Wilson and Dr. Grayson, this is not a self-serving account. Not wishing to spoil the rest of the book by revealing too much, the reader will be engrossed with chapters on the other presidential couples to the present day. This is one book not to be missed.

A fascinating book about modern first ladies

I was extremely impressed with "Hidden Power," which explores 20th century presidential marriages and the impact that first ladies have had on White House politics. The book begins with a chapter devoted to Woodrow and Edith Wilson and culminates in an epilogue about George W. and Laura Bush. Author Kati Marton gives readers a fascinating (albeit a bit light) account of the lives of these famous political couples and explains how each first lady coped with being married to the most powerful man in the world, handled the duties and expectations that come along with being a presidential spouse, and adjusted to the ever-changing roles that women have in this country. This isn't a super intense or scholarly book and much of the information in it has been presented before, but I've never encountered a book that's solely dedicated to the influence first ladies have had on the American presidency, and I enjoyed every page. "Hidden Power" is not a boring history book: It's an exciting compilation of the lives of this country's first families, and I couldn't put it down.

Entertaining read

There wasn't much new in this book, but it was a lively tale nonetheless and there were some things. I enjoyed reading about how Nancy Reagan as First Lady tried to (and did) minimize Barbara Bush's role on several occasions. Also, Marton's perspective on the Nixon relationship and the Kennedy's too, ones that I'd never really seen before. Goes fast because you'll want to keep reading.

strives for balance

Kati Marton knows Washington, and high powered marriage. In Hidden Power, she gives a serious, but not overly scholarly look at the ways the White House changes marriages. It seems to make decent marriages better, and fractures marginal ones.Marton strives for objectivity, and comes very close. However, I found her section on the private pain of Pat Nixon to be touching, and very real. I am not a Republican. I have more empathy now for Pat Nixon. I admired her, but had no idea.The chapter about the Kennedys is well written, and not sensationalized at all.This is a well-written piece of medium-weight journalism.

Rethinking My Marriage

In contrast to the star-struck cheeriness of the well known pop-historian of first ladies, Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Kati Marton's book is thought-provoking and somber. Marton's reason for not writing on some of the presidential couples is that these relationships offer little that would interest a reader--a effort that Sferrazza-Anthony would have done well to have made. Although Marton offers few new historical facts, her book is unique because of the side-by-side analysis--often comparison--of presidential couples. There is plenty of good gossip here. Analyzed at length, are presidential mistresses--continually present in the White House, it appears. How some first ladies--Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson, and Clinton each handled these affairs in her own way is of interest. Seeking clues with regard to enhancing my marriage, I found lots of advice.