For Obama and past presidents, the books they read shape policies and perceptions<\/a>. \u00a0Truman\u2019s reading about ancient history led to his support of the founding of Israel. \u00a0Kennedy and Johnson read books on the poor in American that led to the \u201cwar on poverty.\u201d \u00a0Nixon pored over histories in working through his foreign policies. \u00a0Jimmy Carter got his sense of national \u201cmalaise\u201d from \u201cThe Culture of Narcissism.\u201d \u00a0 Reagan read Milton Friedman, which led to his free-market reforms. \u00a0Bush, contrary to stereotype, read extensively, and his reading of Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky\u2019s books on democracy inspired him to attempt to spread democracy throughout the world.<\/p>\nWhat books have influenced YOUR political beliefs?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An interesting article on how most of our presidents have been big readers, and how the books they read have influenced their policies: \u00a0For Obama and past presidents, the books they read shape policies and perceptions. \u00a0Truman\u2019s reading about ancient history led to his support of the founding of Israel. \u00a0Kennedy and Johnson read books […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,28,36],"tags":[330,1791],"class_list":["post-5363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-literature","category-politics","tag-books","tag-presidents"],"yoast_head":"\n
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