Little Ben Harrison once stole a pocketful of apples from a fruitstand, to the consternation of his grandfather, President William Henry Harrison. Few of our Presidents had such notable beginnings to their careers as that, but all were real boys, with real boys' problems.

Some of them had school troubles: John Adams played hookey, John Tyler tied up the schoolmaster and Zach Taylor nearly got scalped by Indians one day on his way home. Few people know that U. S. Grant—the man who never turned back—won his first big victory riding a greased pony bareback in a circus ring with a monkey sitting on the top of his head; or that Abraham Lincoln was haled into court for operating an illegal ferry.

Some survived bitter disappointments: George Washington, Jim Garfield and Franklin Roosevelt wanted to be sailors; Jack Kennedy and Ike Eisenhower wanted to be football stars. Incalculable but fascinating are the effects of hardships on the formation of character. Some of our strongest Presidents developed mind and body through fighting physical handicaps; some won a grim struggle against poverty. Herbert Hoover, orphaned as a child, became famous for helping others in times of desperate trouble.

Here they are in one book—all thirty-four of them real, live people—each man in some way a hero. Young Americans can feel proud to know them.

At the end of each President's story, an "At a Glance" summary of his life and career gives a resumé of the significant events during his administration—really a thumbnail history of the United States in which the great news of the past assumes new significance in its relationship to a personality the reader has come to know and like. 

From the dust jacket