Free Library Of Philadelphia Kicks Off Its American Presidency Series
By Justin Udo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A presidential historian gives Philadelphia a rundown of some of the biggest failures of men who ran the country.
Wednesday's lecture was the first of the Free Library of Philadelphia's American presidency series.
Presidential historian Richard Norton Smith says there's been a lot of failures in the White House over the years, but there are a few that stick out more than most.
"You've got presidents who've had scandal. U.S. Grant Warren Harding, well meaning, personally honest, but who exercised poor judgement in the people they had around them, misplaced loyalties."
Smith says no president sets out to fail, but the tests are on a pretty steep curve.
"Most presidents, I judge not by what they announce they want to do in their inaugural address, but how they react to unforeseen events. It's the 3 a.m. phone call."
When looking to the future, Smith says the next president is going to have an uphill battle avoiding major failures.
"Whoever wins runs the risk of being so bruised and diminished in some ways, that they'll start out in a hole."