Released when much of American political news was focused on the potential impeachment of Donald Trump (a process that was, sadly, unsuccessful despite overwhelming evidence), David Priess's latest book takes a look at other instances from American political history when a president became the focus of efforts or events to remove him from power -- sometimes justified, sometimes not.

Indeed, not all of these efforts/events were sinister or politically-motivated. For example, Wilson, Eisenhower and Reagan had their authority temporarily removed due to incapacity. Similarly, four presidents died in office: William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren G. Harding (although, there's a persistent conspiracy theory that he was actually poisoned by his wife or mistress), and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

At other times, presidents were rejected by their own parties: John Tyler (a president of many firsts, as it happens), Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan (until Trump, widely considered the worst president in history), Chester Alan Arthur (who surprised everyone by not being a machine politician when he ascended to the presidency), and Lyndon B. Johnson (who disappointed the racists by supporting Civil Rights, and also ruined his reputation in Vietnam). Other instances were perhaps more serious, of course, including four assassinations, Watergate, and impeachment (Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton - even though both remained in office).

Preiss writes well, if a little drily. It's an interesting book, and recommended for anyone with an interest in the Executive Branch and those who occupied the highest office.

The President of the United States is often referred to as the most powerful person in the world, but that does not mean the President is always popular. With an eye toward the unpopular, unable, and unfit occupants of the Oval Office, political analyst and former CIA officer David Priess offers a fun history of the Presidency in his new book, How to Get Rid of a President.

Priess reviews all methods of Presidential removal- legal and extra-legal- from the history of the United States, from ejection in the voting booth to assassination. He also covers underrated methods of Presidential removal or undercutting, such as the internecine battles that have neutered a President from within his own party.

The strength of the book comes from the exploration of "almosts." We learn about unsuccessful assassination attempts, shady medical procedures on a boat, medical infirmities, and other near misses where a President wasn't removed, but easily could have been.

Fans of Presidential history will find much to enjoy in How to Get Rid of a President. Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Every president’s time in office is fleeting and, willingly or not, they’ve each had to turn power over to the next person. After two terms, President George Washington, the original, happily stepped aside upon the election of John Adams. William Henry Harrison wasn’t so lucky, becoming the first president to die in office after a mere thirty-one days. For each person who assumes the great position, it’s much less a question of when they’ll leave, but, rather, how they’ll leave.

Author David Priess explores this expertly, considering how each of the previous forty-four presidents have ultimately left the highest office in the land. The result is a compendium of vignettes suggesting the typical transition of power in the United States has been anything but peaceful. Impeachment remains the most obvious way of removing a president, but it remains one of the least used methods. After all, Richard Nixon resigned over the pressure from growing bipartisan calls for his impeachment. And George H.W. Bush was knocked aside during his reelection bid—the most democratic was of removing a president.

Reading about the more famous stories are fascinating, but Priess excels when he gets deep into the research of less obvious cases. He breaks the book up by listing the various ways a president can be removed, ranging from losing an election to being declared unable to serve. The latter section is particularly startling. His portrait of Henry Clay, who consistently lost out on the presidency through various circumstances, also deserves special mention. For being so brief, it’s deeply effective.

It’s hard to imagine this type of book being released without the current backdrop in American politics. For anyone hesitant to pick up another book featuring forty-five, it should be noted that he’s only mentioned briefly, though he creeps over each page. The good news is that, within these pages, it becomes apparent that we’ve seen serious tribulations before and we always manage to get through them. The only question is, how?

“The Executive will be always increasing here, as elsewhere, till it ends in a monarchy.” Benjamin Franklin. How to Get Rid of a President describes the true stories of how former Presidents were removed from office.

Ben didn’t need to worry as there are many ways to remove an unpopular President from office. Here are the eight explored in the book:
1. Rejected by the party in the next election
2. Undermined by others
3. Dismissed preemptively
4. Displaced by death
5. Taken out by force
6. Declared unable to serve
7. Impeached and removed
8. Shoved aside at the polls

How to Get Rid of a President Is a dense read chock full of examples of bad Presidents and their comeuppance. If you believe Trump is bad, you should read the story of Andrew Johnson, who is in most of the chapters as both parties tried desperately to get him out of the oval office. Nixon’s own staffers set a precedent of ignoring his often crazy or drunken executive orders. Despite democrats’ frequent calling for it to be used, impeaching a President is difficult to do and has never led to a sitting President’s removal.

This book is an important look into presidential politics. It is recommended for history buffs but also anyone unhappy with our current President. The stories here make him and even Hillary, if she had won, look good by comparison. 4 stars!

Thanks to the publisher, PublicAffairs, and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Informative read on presidential history and various methods presidents have been removed or nearly removed from office. This is one of the best books I've read about presidential history and there were nuggets of unknown information in each situation to take away, even when you think you knew the story well.

David Priess thinks we’re so wound up in the miasma of the Trump administration, we have lost sight of history. He is right. The United States has always been like this. Presidents are routinely reviled by many, blocked by Congress, subject to threats and assassinations, and are forever under siege to efforts to remove them early. For every “shocking” Trump manoeuvre, there seems to be a removal precedent we should examine. In How to Get Rid of a President, Priess has collected the stories and the background to 45 presidents’ worth of intrigue. He has divided them into their modi operandi in a valuable and most entertaining compendium.

Four out of 45 US presidents have been assassinated. Many more escaped attempts or plots. One in ten was defeated seeking a second term. One in four had a psychiatric ailment. (Which, by the way, is the average across the whole population.) There is also impeachment, popular since the 1820s, attempted numerous times, with little success. Any politician who dislikes the president can make a complaint that Congress will consider and send to the Judiciary Committee. Where it is usually left to die. Finally, the 25th amendment provides a rationale for removing a president incapacitated mentally or physically. This now includes brief periods of anesthesia for surgery. Dick Cheney was President of the United States for eight hours one day, and sent his daughter an official letter from the Oval Office to commemorate it.

Samuel Tilden lost the presidency to Rutherford Hayes by one electoral vote, despite an overwhelming win in the popular vote. Hillary Clinton’s loss pales in comparison. A hastily assembled committee of politicians and judges decided the election in the face of conflicting and competing electoral college reported outcomes. So Bush v Gore is nothing new either. The committee awarded ALL the contested electoral college votes to Hayes, giving him that one vote majority. The Hayes election included both parties bribing official election returning officers, in addition to the voter suppression tactics we think of as a new plague.

Just as gripping are the stories of those who did not get elected, not even winning the nomination. Men of extraordinary quality, experience and vision who didn’t have the fashionable military record, or who were assassinated before the vote, or who fell afoul of the party dinosaurs. Men like Henry Clay, James Blaine and Robert Kennedy never got their shot, and the country was usually not better off for it. Clay for one, lost the nomination to a soldier, who went on to do nothing of note. Soldiers made fashionable candidates - almost sure winners. Jackson, Taylor, Harrison and Grant, for example. Didn’t matter that they might never have run for anything before, had no legislative experience and no platform. Winning was (and is) more important than a quality candidate.


Congress has always fought with the president. The founders set it up that way. It so hated Andrew Johnson, it would override his vetoes the same day he issued them. It eventually impeached him, then failed to convict, because he had broken no laws, and the thought of his constitutionally mandated replacement as president was too much to stomach. Sound familiar?

Many presidents were inexperienced in office, ineffective in politics and unable build bridges not only to the opposition, but to their own parties. Priess says. Some actually recognized they were unfit. Harding admitted: “I am not fit for office and should never have been here.” But he fulfilled his term.

Some became ill or infirm, and until Eisenhower implemented a real succession plan, their entourages simply hid the fact the president was not in control. Grover Cleveland had his entire upper jaw removed in a makeshift surgery on a borrowed boat, by the light of a single bulb attached to a battery. Because he didn’t want anyone to know he had cancer and needed surgery. The operation was hidden as a simple sailing from New York to Boston. Surgeons implanted a prosthetic jaw, and corrected it until people wouldn’t notice. Wilson was incapacitated by a stroke – and more – and his wife and doctor kept everyone away, leaving them to run the presidency. The games were – and are – endless, and Priess has done us a fine service putting it into perspective.

David Wineberg

This book was really interesting.
It touched on different Presidents over the years who left office before their term ended. Whether by sickness, assassination, or impeachment.
It also had honourable mentions in would be presidents who failed to make it to the White House.

With so much attention surrounding the White House and those currently in the Presidents Administration, I think many people will enjoy this book, and find it entertaining and informative.