Alone At the Top: the Problem of Isolation

Perhaps only twice in the past half-century have we had Presidents who did not become, in one way or another, cut off from the country. Those two, and both | served briefly, were John Kennedy and Gerald Ford, vigorous men, not backslappers but they liked to get around, fond of sports, parties--Kennedy cool but alive with intellectual curiosity, Ford stolid and very comfortable with all kinds of people. Both tapped in often on the judgment of friends outside the White House.

All the other modern Presidents came to be seriously isolated. Franklin Roosevelt's mobility was restricted by his polio and then...

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