Tevi Troy - What Jefferson read, Ike watched, and Obama tweeted: 200 years of popular culture in the White House

Tevi Troys tour through how presidents consumeand are consumed bypopular culture is very interesting reading. Readers who pick up this book, whether they love history or pop culture, will find the history of our presidents and their free time predilections not just educational but also entertaining.

WILLIAM J. BENNETT, former U.S. secretary of education, host of Bill Bennetts Morning in America

Tevi Troy has written a fast-paced, surprising, and shall I say it, very entertaining look at how presidents have affected the culture, how the culture has affected them, and the nature of the presidency itself. A fun and illuminating read.

KARL ROVE, former deputy chief of staff and senior advisor to President George W. Bush and author of Courage and Consequence

As someone who does not know Kardashian from Kissinger, I find a primer on how presidents deal with popular culture not only useful but indispensable. Tevi Troy gives us a good road map here to understand how every White House has kept a finger on the popular pulse without getting overly palpitated.

MIKE MCCURRY, former White House press secretary

Tevi Troys witty and informative book reminds us that, from the beginning, presidents have been consumersand manipulatorsof popular culture. Its comforting, sort of, to learn that our current media- and celebrity-obsessed age isnt really new. Troy makes it all fun and riveting to read.

ROB LONG, Emmy- and Golden Globenominated writer, former executive producer of Cheers, and contributing editor of National Review

Tevi Troy has written a brilliant, witty, refreshingly novel and insightful book about how the engagement of our American presidents in the popular culture of their era provides insights into their personalities and shaped their presidenciesfrom the books they read, the theater they saw, later the television and movies they watched, and, with President Obama, the social media he employs. We will look at our presidents in a different light after reading his book.

STUART E. EIZENSTAT, former U.S. ambassador to the European Union and former chief domestic policy advisor to President Jimmy Carter

This is an excellent account of the impact popular culture increasingly has had on the American presidency from George Washington into the Obama administration. Beginning with Andrew Jackson, although educated people with intellects were not excluded, having a common touch now was essential to winning. Troy presents well the reality of changes in culture and politics, changes which do not enthrall him.

JOHN M. PAFFORD, Ph.D., author of The Forgotten Conservative: Rediscovering Grover Cleveland

Copyright 2013 by Tevi Troy

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, website, or broadcast.

First ebook edition 2013

eISBN: 978-1-62157-057-8

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Published in the United States by

Regnery History

An imprint of Regnery Publishing, Inc.

One Massachusetts Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20001

www.RegneryHistory.com

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Books are available in quantity for promotional or premium use. Write to Director of Special Sales, Regnery Publishing, Inc., One Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001, for information on discounts and terms, or call (202) 216-0600.

Distributed to the trade by

Perseus Distribution

250 West 57th Street

New York, NY 10107

To my parents, Dov and Elaine Troy

For their unyielding faith in me and, more importantly, in this great country

CONTENTS

D uring the Congressional battle over his health-care bill, President Barack Obama joked, The following individuals shall be excluded from the indoor tanning tax within this bill: Snooki, J-WOWW, the Situation, and House Minority Leader John Boehner. The line was delivered before the White House Correspondents Dinner, an annual gathering of Washington insiders and glitterati, and the president received the expected laughs from the crowd. A short time later, Obama professed on the daytime talk show The View that he didnt know who Snooki was. He reaffirmed his ignorance the next day before the National Urban League, saying, I was on the The View yesterday, and somebody asked me who Snooki was. I said, I dont know who Snooki is. But I know some really good teachers that you guys should be talking about. Three months and three presidential references to the diminutive denizen of the Jersey Shore.

By the end of 2012, Obama was not the only presidential candidate to discuss the social phenomenon that is Nicole Elizabeth Snooki Polizzi. On a daytime interview with Kelly Ripa, Mitt Romney acknowledged that he was kind of a Snooki fan. The buttoned-down former Massachusetts governor continued, Look how tiny shes gotten. Shes lost weight. Shes energetic. Just her spark-plug personality is kind of fun.

So the 2012 candidates of each major party, seeking to be the commander in chief of the United States of America, were familiar with this buxom and foul-mouthed reality-show starlet from MTVs Jersey Shore. The only philosophy governing Snooki and her friends is GTLgym, tan, laundry. Snookis exploits are not uplifting or enlightening in any way, but shes a major starthe perfect symbol of the degradation of American culture. She is followed assiduously by entertainment magazines and is known to millions, almost certainly by more Americans than the 28 percent who can name the chief justice of the Supreme Court. A future historian surveying the interests of Americans