The fifth volume of Presidential Chronicles tells the life stories of the following five American Presidents who bridged the transition to the 20th Century and the emergence of the United States as a power on the world stage:
Chester Arthur
Grover Cleveland
Benjamin Harrison
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
Fisher explores the American Gilded Age, an era that tried to move beyond the Civil War and Reconstruction, but continued to face intense sectional divides over issues of the economic haves and have-nots. These executives fought through currency wars that nearly brought the nation to insolvency, while also finally dealing with the scourge of all Presidents – the destructive habits associated with political patronage. As the 20th Century neared, Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt took an expansionist view, helped by a growing naval power, embracing war while turning away from a century-long policy of neutrality in the affairs of other nations. The United States emerged at the Dawn of a New Century as a world power, strongly influenced by the policies and personalities of its national executives during this era.