Hollywood's White House: the American Presidency in Film and History - Book Review

EDITED BY PETER C. ROLLINS AND JOHN E. O'CONNOR, THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY, 2008, 341 PAGES, $32.00

This well-written book, with contributions by both film critics and historians, is an interesting study of the real presidency and the reel presidency. It may be true that the man makes the office and the office makes the man, but one should not forget the impact of "the tube" as well as the silver screen upon viewers' perceptions of that august position. The latter certainly have been shaped by the popular TV show, "The West Wing." Rather than taking media presentations as gospel truth, we must remember that Hollywood's purpose in producing various films and programs about the presidency is threefold: to inform, criticize, and entertain. One should never forget the latter.

One of the most popular TV films, a WNET-PBS production, was the 1976 miniseries, "The Adams Chronicles." Indeed, it set the pace and tone for future series, such as Ken Burns' "The Civil War." The former was used for history courses in colleges throughout the nation. Its focus was on John Adams, the second president of the U.S., as seen in the perspective of a husband, father, politician, and diplomat. Added strengthes were the portrayal of Abigail, his wife and "friend," and the early call for women's rights.

Another PBS film was "The Crossing," the story of George Washington's surprise attack and victory over the Hessians in Trenton, N.J, in 1776. (Only recently have we learned that the enemy was tipped off to this military maneuver, but Ignored the information.) The difficulty in portraying Washington, the "indispensable man of the American Revolution," can be seen by his multisided personality. He had a "fidelity to republicanism, perseverance, dignified personal demeanor, aggressive strategic thinking, and a decisive leadership style." Hollywood, meanwhile, produced many purely fictional pictures about the presidency. Some of them, like "Wag the Dog," were only thinly veiled critiques of the Commander-in-Chief.

Television first got into the act of lampooning the presidency on "Saturday Night Live." Chevy Chase was merciless in his caricatures of Gerald Ford as a bumbling idiot whose brains had been jumbled by his football days in college. The Richard Nixon jowl was fair play, and the show of course had a field day with William Jefferson Clinton.

The ability of the media to influence (willingly or not) our perception of presidents cannot be overestimated. Political scientists still claim that Nixon's "five o'clock shadow" doomed him from the start in the Kennedy-Nixon TV debates. Some filmmakers, such as Oliver Stone, who produced movies about Nixon and Kennedy, had an axe to grind and the popular author Stephen Ambrose called him to task on it.

Reviewed by GERALD F. KREYCHE American Thought Editor

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