On May 8, I attended a talk at the Westport (CT) Public Library given by author and schoolteacher Jim Cullen about his new book, Imperfect Presidents: Tales of Misadventure and Triumph. Mr. Cullen analyzes eleven U.S. presidents and presents a success alongside a failure for each of the eleven. Unfortunately, I have not yet read the book, but I found Mr. Cullen’s presentation very enjoyable. He rates JFK in the “overrated” category and feels that the recent hoisting of Truman into the “top 5″ list of presidents is somewhat undeserved. On the other hand, he feels the constant accolades given to Washington are justified and that his greatness is not only well deserved, but somewhat less understood because of the time period. He describes Lincoln as perhaps the first “media” president with means of communication much more prevalent of course than Washington’s time, and perhaps why Washington’s greatness is more “distant” than Lincoln’s.

I was impressed with the turnout. The room was completely filled and the library staff had to scramble to add more seats. Many in the audience wanted to discuss more of the modern era presidents (Nixon, Reagan, Ford) and not surprisingly, many had strong opinions on George W. Bush. Others asked Mr. Cullen to handicap the 2008 race and he felt that this could be a watershed-type election. He wouldn’t offer a prediction on nominees. But he noted how much times have changed in that the Republicans may have a nominee with a vowel on the end of his name (Giuliani), which drew a laugh from the audience. The interest was so high that the library staff finally had to cut off questions from the audience so Mr. Cullen could begin signing books. All in all, a very enjoyable event.