The Games Presidents Play: Sports and the Presidency

Preface

In the winter of 2001, when I began research on this book, Bill Clinton had just left the presidency and George W. Bush had recently taken the oath of o;ce. For a historian of contemporary sport, I could not ignore the parallels of the old and new presidents. Clinton played golf with a disregard for the rules that seemed to mirror his behavior in Monicagate. Bush, on the other hand, used his highly visible position as managing partner of the Texas Rangers to catapult himself into Texas politics. Many people questioned whether playing fast and loose with the rules of golf was presidential and whether baseball was a proper preparation for the highest o;ce in the land. Several thoughts intrigued me as I began digging into my topic. Sports and political character might be more intimately connected than is commonly acknowledged. Presidential sports might even in?uence a president’s career and his approach to foreign and domestic policy. Furthermore, through sports and games, presidents can create a positive image and schmooze with those who can be of use. And, of course, presidents use games and sports for rest and recreation. Visiting presidential libraries, I concluded that sports indeed matter. I also found that archivists working for the National Archives and Records Administration in presidential libraries and repositories were remarkably familiar with the sports and physical regimens of the presidents. Many libraries have even organized their materials so that sports can easily be accessed. I never felt as if I were given short shrift because I chose sports and games rather than foreign or economic policy. In fact, archivists went to great pains to obtain oral histories, materials that were in other libraries, and photos that >t my needs. Although I discuss eighteenth- and nineteenth-century presidents, readers will >nd that I spend far more time on more recent presidents, beginning with Theodore Roosevelt. The reason is simple: These presidents generally showed more interest in sports and used their sports—and games—for personal and political purposes. George W. Bush’s sporting presidency is almost too close at hand to evaluate. Yet newspaper articles on Bush are constantly calling ★ ★ ★ Preface attention to his athletic obsessions. Because sports contributed to his rise to power—and, since then, to the macho climate of the Bush White House—I could hardly neglect him. Now his second term has given me more to write about and a clearer view of his attitude toward sports. As for the title, the reader should be aware that it does not refer to simply athletics, sports, and traditional games. Increasingly, the games that presidents play are just that—political games, carefully designed to burnish and shape presidential images and to send a message that the commander in chief, like many of his fellow Americans, is a sports fan. Richard Nixon’s ill-advised forays into sports may have caused people to view cynically his all-star teams, his suggestions to NFL coaches, and Air Force One ?ights to high-pro>le football and baseball games. But Nixon was hardly the >rst and surely not the last to use sports politically. And wasn’t it also possible that his sporting antics stemmed from his sincere and intense interest in sports that manifested itself so clearly when he was a third-string lineman on the Whittier College football team? Although much of my research and writing has taken place at my home in Charlottesville, Virginia, I would like to thank those who helped me both near and far. My thanks go out to the numerous members of research sta=s who assisted me at presidential libraries, presidential homes and sites, at the National Archives repositories at College Park, Maryland, and Laguna Beach, California , and at the Library of Congress. This includes the NARA archivists at the many presidential libraries and presidential sites who worked with me to obtain the photos I needed. Among the others who deserve to be acknowledged are Cynthia Bittinger, Philander Chase, Wallace Dailey, Alvah Drew, Frank Grizzard, Mike Greco, Michael Lansing, Brian MacDonald, William McNitt,GeorgeRugg,AlexandriaSearls,DianeSheth,KennethThompson,and Martha Williams. I would like to thank University Librarian Karin Wittenborg and her sta= at the University of Virginia Library; the books and articles that I found there kept my research alive. The Miller Center of Public A=airs at the University of Virginia, especially its library, also proved to be a valuable resource. Other people also rendered assistance. I was fortunate to have...