Abstract:
The American Presidency is the crown jewel of American politics. When someone first gets elected president, their future administration projects a feeling of hope and potential. But what happens when the president leaves office? The president becomes an afterthought. The president has no more political battles to fight after the inauguration of their successor—or so it appears. Political figures always engage in legacy building and American presidents are no different. Recently George W. Bush has engaged in trying to craft his version of history by writing his memoir Decision Points. The presidential memoir highlights the need to analyze the political importance and value of cultivating a legacy through the memoir. I examine issues such as the importance of projecting an image, retelling stories, and the memoirs place in history. I also focus on those issues within the context of how I remember the events talked about in the memoir.
