I feel like I had been reading this book forever because it is perfect for reading in small bits. While the Presidents and First Ladies are much written about, little is publicized about their parents and their influence on their famous offspring. Their stories include fascinating vignettes of history, charming love stories, hardships, tragedies, and successes. Some parents actively encouraged their sons' political ambitions while others were not at all thrilled with their aspirations. Wm. McKinley's mother wanted him to be a Methodist bishop while Lyndon Johnson's father groomed him for politics from a young age. The book covers the presidential parents from Augustine and Mary Washington through Barack Obama, Sr. and Ann Dunham. And how many know that George H. W. Bush's father, Prescott Bush, was an early founder of Planned Parenthood? The parents are as varied as their Presidential offspring and many of their stories explain much about the men they raised.
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