Make Your Mark: Lessons in Character from Seven Presidents

The award-winning author of Second Acts and The Last Republicans draws on interviews and conversations with seven presidents to identify the essential leadership lessons, character, and legacy that has defined each of them and the modern American presidency.

Throughout his career as an author, journalist, television commentator, and head of a presidential library and foundation, Mark Updegrove has had the privilege of getting to know seven U.S. Presidents, from Gerald Ford to Barack Obama. In this insightful work of presidential history, Make Your Mark, he offers incisive, compelling sketches of these modern presidents and the character trait that made each suited to his moment in the Oval Office and underlies his most significant accomplishments.

• Gerald Ford’s instinct to do the right thing in the wake of Watergate;
• Jimmy Carter’s mission to do good in the areas of peace and human rights during his presidency and throughout his post-presidency;
• Ronald Reagan’s optimism, restoring the nation’s confidence and pride after a sustained period of demoralizing national setbacks;
• George H.W. Bush’s humility, helping to ensure a peaceful end to the Cold War that had seethed between the superpowers for over forty years;
• Bill Clinton’s resilience and determination to keep working for the good of the American people in the face of political and personal obstacles;
• George W. Bush’s charge to give back as the deadly AIDS epidemic spread unchecked throughout much of the developing world;
• and Barack Obama’s grace as the first African American to hold the country’s highest office. 

Make Your Mark reveals that there is no one-size-fits-all model for leadership. We all have our own set of strengths and weaknesses. But by drawing on these presidential examples―a masterclass in character and leadership―we can ask ourselves how our character reflects our leadership, and be inspired to find the very best in who we are to make own unique marks as leaders. 

Mark K. Updegrove is a presidential historian and the author of six books on the presidency including The Last Republicans: Inside the Extraordinary Relationship Between George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House. He serves as the president & CEO of the LBJ Foundation and the presidential historian for ABC News. Earlier in his career he was director of the LBJ Presidential Library and publisher of Newsweek. He has interviewed seven US presidents.