They Also Ran

"They Also Ran" is the title of a 1943 book by Irving Stone. Stone, a historian, evaluates several unsuccessful candidates for President of the United States in light of their places in history (and those of their victorious opponents), and attempts to assess whether or not the American people made the "right" choice in rejecting them for that office.

The "Chicago Tribune" called "They Also Ran" "a fascinating and challenging book," [Will Davidson. "An Author Rates Presidents and Their Opponents." "Chicago Tribune". 30 May 1943.] while the "New York Times" praised it as "a brilliant idea . . . brilliantly executed". [Maxwell Gesimer. "The New York Times". 30 May 1943.] The book inspired the Also-Ran Gallery in Norton, Kansas, a collection of black-and-white portraits of unsuccessful presidential candidates. [Teresa Mendez. "Kerry joins the also-ran club." "The Christian Science Monitor". 8 November 2004.]

tructure

Similar to Plutarch, the also-rans are grouped into parallel lives. For example, the first section compares newspapermen Horace Greeley and James M. Cox favorably to the candidates who served their troubled terms of office: Grant and Warren Harding.

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