The Heart of Power, With a New Preface

Health and Politics in the Oval Office

Author: David Blumenthal and James Morone

Explores the hidden ways in which presidents shape our destinies through their own experiences. Taking a close look at Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, this title shows what history can teach us as we confront the health care challenges of the twenty-first century.

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Even the most powerful men in the world are human-they get sick, take dubious drugs, drink too much, contemplate suicide, fret about ailing parents, and bury people they love. Young Richard Nixon watched two brothers die of tuberculosis, even while doctors monitored a suspicious shadow on his own lungs. John Kennedy received last rites four times as an adult, and Lyndon Johnson suffered a "belly buster" of a heart attack. David Blumenthal and James A. Morone explore how modern presidents have wrestled with their own mortality-and how they have taken this most human experience to heart as they faced the difficult politics of health care. Drawing on a trove of newly released White House tapes, on extensive interviews with White House staff, and on dramatic archival material that has only recently come to light, The Heart of Power explores the hidden ways in which presidents shape our destinies through their own experiences. Taking a close look at Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, the book shows what history can teach us as we confront the health care challenges of the twenty-first century.

Critic Reviews

“"This timely and insightful book puts Barack Obama's current quest for universal health insurance in historical context and gives new meaning to the audacity of hope."”

"A riveting history of health-care politics." -- Atul Gawande New Yorker "A book that sets a standard for the study of the presidency and of health policy." Congress & The Presidency -- Robert B. Reich New York Times Book Review "More than an excellent primer on American health policy, the book offers a thorough, incisive look at the presidency as an institution and the men who have occupied the office." STARRED REVIEW Publishers Weekly "A masterpiece and a valuable primer for future presidents as they wrestle with the dragon of health reform." -- Jeff Goldsmith Health Affairs

About the Author

David Blumenthal was until recently the Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine and Professor of Health Policy at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. He has advised Democratic presidential candidates from Michael Dukakis to Barack Obama, and now works on health issues for the Obama Administration. James A. Morone is Professor and Chair of Political Science at Brown University and the author of Hellfire Nation and The Democratic Wish, a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the Gladys Kammerer Award of the American Political Science Association.