ABSTRACT
The “Horatio Alger” and “Log-cabin-to-presidency” myths are deeply imbedded in our American traditions. Edward Pessen does a thorough and convincing job of analyzing the backgrounds of our presidents from Washington to Reagan. Many of people believe James Bryce’s observation that most presidents were self-made men of humble origin. Pessen takes into account the status not only of their fathers but also of their mothers, and where need be, their grandparents. While Pessen very successfully challenges Bryce’s humble-origins theory of the presidency, he has no quarrel with Bryce’s famous dictum that “few great men have been elected president.” The intelligence and other qualities ideally required of a political leader would seem to be as available among skilled mechanics, farmers, teachers, and architects as among politicians and lawyers; no less common among men and women of modest income than among the unusually well-to-do.”
