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Presidential Fiction

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Throughout the history of American fiction, many authors have featured fictionalized versions of actual U.S. Presidents in their novels and short stories. The following is a list of prominent novels featuring actual Presidents and their families in fictional tales. The Presidents and their First Ladies about whom Lincoln City Libraries owns adult fiction books are listed here in order of their terms of office.


George Washington [1789-1797]

Christian Cameron — Washington and Caesar
Mary Higgins Clark — Aspire to the Heavens [a.k.a. Mount Vernon Love Story] Howard Fast — The Unvanquished
David Garland — Valley Forge
Newt Gingrich — To Try Men’s Souls
Zane Grey — George Washington, Frontiersman
Katherine Kurtz — Two Crowns for America   sficon
William Martin — Citizen Washington
Nancy Moser — Washington’s Lady

John Adams [1797-1801]

Irving Stone — Those Who Love

Thomas Jefferson [1801-1809]

Ron Burns — Enslaved: A Mystery  mysicon
Max Byrd — Jefferson
Barbara Chase-Riboud — The President’s Daughter
Barbara Chase-Riboud — Sally Hemings
Roberta Grimes — My Thomas
Jane Langton — Murder at Monticello   mysicon
William Safire — Scandalmonger

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James Madison [1809-1817]

Connie Briscoe — A Long Way From Home
David Nevin — Eagle’s Cry
David Nevin — Treason
Dorothy Clarke Wilson — Queen Dolley: The Life and Times of Dolley Madison

Andrew Jackson [1829-1837]

Max Byrd — Jackson
Alfred L. Crabb — Home to the Hermitage
Eric Flint — The Rivers of War
Noel Gerson — Old Hickory
David Nevin — Eagle’s Cry
Irving Stone — The President’s Lady
Paul I. Wellman — Magnificent Destiny

James Knox Polk [1845-1849]

Noel Gerson — The Slender Reed

James Buchanan [1857-1861]

John Updike — Memories of the Ford Administration

Abraham Lincoln [1861-1865]

Seth Grahame-Smith – Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
Benjamin King — A Bullet for Lincoln
Christopher Leppek — The Surrogate Assassin   mysicon
Thomas Mallon — Henry and Clara
Helen Topping Miller — Christmas for Tad
Honore Morrow — Great Captain: The Lincoln Trilogy
David Robertson — Booth
William Safire — Freedom
Richard Slotkin — Abe
Philip Van Doren Stern — The Man Who Killed Lincoln
Irving Stone — Love is Eternal
Gore Vidal — Lincoln
Connie Willis — Lincoln’s Dreams  sficon

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Andrew Johnson [1865-1869]

Noel Gerson — The Yankee From Tennessee

Ulysses Simpson Grant [1869-1877]

Max Byrd — Grant
Newt Gingrich — Grant Comes East
Newt Gingrich — Never Call Retreat
Ted Jones — Grant’s War
Ann Parker — Iron Ties
Richard Parry — That Fateful Lightning
Jeff Shaara — The Last Full Measure
Robert Skimin — Ulysses

Theodore Roosevelt [1901-1909]

Lawrence Alexander — Speak Softly: A Theodore Roosevelt Mystery   mysicon
Matt Braun — Dakota   westicon
Brian Garfield — Manifest Destiny   westicon
Noel Gerson — TR

Warren Gamaliel Harding [1921-1923]

Martin Blinder — Fluke
Glen David Gold — Carter Beats the Devil

Calvin Coolidge [1923-1929]

John Derbyshire — Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream

Franklin Delano Roosevelt [1933-1945]

Ellen Feldman — Lucy
Rhoda Lerman — EleanorThe Sands of Sakkara
David Poyer — The Only Thing to Fear
Elliott Roosevelt — New Deal For Death   mysicon
Elliott Roosevelt — The President’s Man   mysicon

Harry S. Truman [1945-1953]

Thomas Mallon — Dewey Defeats Truman

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John Fitzgerald Kennedy [1961-1963]

Don DeLillo — Libra
Don DeLillo — The Names
Stephen Frey — The Legacy
William Harrington — Columbo: The Grassy Knoll
Homer H. Hickam — The Ambassador’s Son
Robert Mayer — I, JFK
Mel McKinney — Where There’s Smoke
Jed Mercurio — American Adulterer
David Poyer — The Only Thing to Fear
Mario Puzo — The Fourth K
Marly Swick — Paper Wings
Robert Tannenbaum — Corruption of Blood
D.M. Thomas — Flying in to Love

Richard Milhous Nixon [1969-1974]

John Ehrlichman — The China Card
Homer H. Hickam — The Ambassador’s Son
Jonathan Lowy — Elvis and Nixon  sficon

Gerald Rudolph Ford [1974-1977]

John Updike — Memories of the Ford Administration

Ronald Wilson Reagan [1981-1989]

Peter Delacorte — Time on My Hands

George Herbert Walker Bush [1989-1993]

Lydia Millet — George Bush, Dark Prince of Love

William Jefferson Clinton [1993-2000]

Joe Eszterhas — American Rhapsody
R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and “Anonymous” — The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton: A Political Docu-Drama

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Imaginary Presidents

These adult fiction books do not have actual U.S. Presidents as the main subject, but rather feature fictional Presidents.

[anonymous] — Primary Colors
John Calvin Batchelor  — Father’s Day
Roy Blount — First Hubby
Sophy Burnham — The President’s Angel
Stephen J. Cannell — The Plan
Caleb Carr — Killing Time   mysicon
Zeev Chafets — The Project
William Christie — The Warriors of God
David Corn — Deep Background
Peter David — One Knight Only   sficon
Joseph Flynn — The Next President
Tim Green — The Fourth Perimeter
Jack Higgins — The President’s Daughter
James Houston — Marine One
Franklin Allen Leib — Behold a Pale Horse
Roderick MacLeish — A City on the River
Jamie Malanowski — Mr. Stupid Goes to Washington
John J. Nance — Headwind
Michael Palmer — The First Patient
David Poyer — The Threat
Patrick Robinson — To the Death
Philip Roth — The Plot Against America
Erik Tarloff — Face-time
Brad Thor — State of the Union
Casper Weinberger — Chain of Command
Donald Westlake — Put a Lid on It
Jack Womack — Going, Going, Gone  sficon

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Many more novels about the U.S. Civil War and World War II feature Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt prominently. You can see lists of these by doing a subject search under either United States — History — 1861-1865 (Civil War) — Fiction or World War — 1939-1945 — Fiction.

mysiconindicates mystery title

sficonindicates science fiction or fantasy title

westiconindicates western title

Printed List February 2000 bwc | Updated and expanded for the Web February 2004 sdc / Last updated and expanded November 2016 sdc