In this unique look at the presidency, Kenneth T. Walsh, the chief White House correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, peers into the private worlds of our leaders at their retreats. In the process, he illuminates one of the most revealing but largely unexamined facets of American history. Since the beginning of the Republic, our presidents have eased the burdens of office by escaping from the confines of the White House to a personal retreat, from George Washington's estate in Virginia to George W. Bush's ranch in Texas. These havens have been the sites of many important decisions and historic events-such as Theodore Roosevelt's mediating of a war between Japan and Russia at his home in Sagamore Hill, New York, or Jimmy Carter's peace-brokering at Camp David, a permanent hideaway cherished by every chief executive since Franklin Roosevelt.

Moreover, the specific habitats created by each First Couple, tailored to their individual needs and tastes, have served to convey their distinctive personalities and to reflect the times in which they lived. Virtually every president has had a getaway of one kind or another, a place where he could truly let down his guard. Some sought solace from personal tribulations, such as Abraham Lincoln, who suffered from depression and found strength and camaraderie at a residence for injured soldiers. Some enjoyed the opportunity to socialize in a more relaxed setting, such as Bill Clinton, who hobnobbed with celebrities on posh Martha's Vineyard. And others hoped to convey a specific image to the public, such as Ronald Reagan, who cultivated his reputation as a Washington outsider and rugged outdoorsman on his California ranch. But first and foremost, for all of the presidents profiled, the institution of the retreat provides a "sanity break" from the rigid protocols, routines, and pressures of the West Wing. Based on Walsh's extensive research and interviews with all five living presidents, as well as scores of advisers and aides, historians, political scientists, and journalists, From Mount Vernon to Crawford is the first-ever comprehensive look at this important dimension of our nation's history. It is filled with entertaining and often hilarious anecdotes about our commanders in chief and their (often bad) behavior at their retreats, such as Lyndon Johnson's scaring the wits out of guests at his ranch by plunging his amphibian car into a river without informing his passengers that the vehicle operated in water.

What emerges is a series of portraits of real human beings, subject to self-doubt and overconfidence, physical afflictions and exhaustion, sorrow and heartache, depression and melancholy, self-indulgence and laziness-in short, the same weaknesses and problems that affect us all.