Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Gore Vidal's American Presidency

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From the United States

Propaganda video on par with "Triumph of the Will"

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2003

Gore Vidal's American Presidency was actually shown in my American Government course, and boy was I enraged! At one point in the video I threw my pen down in total disgust. Never had I experienced such a blatant propaganda "documentary"--not since Leni Reifenstahl's "Triumph of the Will." Worst of all, this was shown to impressionable young college students by an already liberal-minded professor. This went beyond liberal bias (just to show that Vidal was "fair and balanced" he goes on to say that JFK was one of our worst presidents). This was pure anti-Americanism.
From the get go, Vidal makes the preposterous claim that whichever presidential candidate can be the most subtly racist usually wins the election. Of course, he doesn't offer one example to back up such nonsense.
He goes on about the presidents in chronological order, finding every gritty, distorted piece of info about them. "Imperial" presidents, as he calls them, are pictorially portrayed as physically ugly and decrepit. They are viewed as conquerers and butchers. And those presidents who weren't, he labels "dull." They just can't win in Gore's eyes.
Vidal calls Abraham Lincoln a "dictator" and basically implies that the preservation of the Union was a bad thing. An argument can be made that he even portrays the South as the victims of oppression and that Lincoln had it coming to him when he was assassinated.
Vidal ferociously attacks Teddy Roosevelt, claiming that he was a racist and he invented a war, and calling him the "Warrior Emperor" and the "Apostle of War. He also specifically says that he was the "precursor of Mussolini." Of course, again he makes no clear sense of his argument. Citing examples are--to Vidal--just too tedious.
He frequents the phrase "unilateral action," says that Jefferson set a precedent for it. In other words, the United States has no right to act in its own interests. If we ever did, it's labeled "unilateral action." As if every nation in the history of man hasn't acted in self-interest. Yeah, Jefferson invented this concept of "unilateral action." Chinese, Muslim, and African empires never acted unilaterally.
According to Vidal, we really were the ones to cause Hitler to come to power and to instigate Stalin. Vidal justifies Stalin's conquest of Eastern Europe by asserting that it was used as a "buffer." It was only self-defense because we were just so hostile and so brutal. Not one mention of Stalin's atrocities are mentioned in the video, the tens of millions were murdered and imprisoned and forced to labor. He claims that the communist threat was "nonsense."
We also--according to Vidal--attempted to destroy the country of Vietnam. Yes, this was our ultimate, evil goal. Actually, he insists that we went into Vietnam with no motive at all. Now, you may very well have disagreed with the Vietnam War, but there surely was a REASON why we went in--other than ego.
The film is obviously a perversion of reality. I don't think Vidal says one good thing about America. Oh yeah, he said...oh no, wait, that was the thing about America committing genocide. Nevermind
This doesn't even begin to describe just how it felt watching the thing. Please don't subject yourself to such garbage. And let's hope that this video doesn't strongly influence students.

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reprehensor

The Imperial Presidency

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2004

Verified Purchase

I think that 'The Imperial Presidency' would be a more fitting title for this program. The video comprises a three-part series that Vidal wrote, narrates, and appears in for Channel Four in London.
It was a success in Great Britain, so the History Channel bought the U.S. broadcasting rights. Then they watched it. Evidently, they were so appalled by Vidal's interpretation of the American Presidency that they had to preface the program when it aired in the U.S. with a disclaimer by Roger Mudd. At the end of the History Channel's version, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., (and others), attempt to nitpick the historical accuracy of the video.
Schlesinger is the only one to score a direct hit when he points out that Tyler, not Polk, annexed Texas. (Fortunately, the version that Amazon sells is untainted by the History Channel's dubious contribution.)
Beyond that, accusations that the video contains historically incorrect data are FALSE. You may disagree with Vidal's opinions, but he is an excellent historian with an intimate knowledge of the Democratic Republic that is America. He has done research at the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress among other places, not the 'prestigous internet'.
You might even think you're not living in an Empire. Conversely, you might think America is at the zenith of its Empirical status. No matter what you think, this presentation will make you think.
'Gore Vidal's American Presidency' is an antidote to jingoist uber-patriot propaganda. He skewers Republican and Democratic Presidents mercilessly in an admirable display of non-partisanship.
For Vidalophiles, it's a welcome addition to the collection. For American history buffs, it's a challenge to step in the ring with someone who has looked at the facts, and drawn a different conclusion than 'court historians'.

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LMJ

Pretty good revisionist history

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2004

Verified Purchase

Gore Vidal's American Presidency contains much of what you would expect from Vidal; wit, sarcasm, and thorough revisionism. Although far from an in-depth documentary, the portrayal of national "heroes" like TR and Lincoln as dangerous warmongers and statists is refreshing. Sure, Vidal leaves out most of his subjects' virtues, but you can get that information anywhere else. This video fills in the gaps.

The only reason Gore Vidal's American Presidency fails to earn 5 stars is that Vidal, as always, occasionally slips and says something crazy. Example: The individual who routinely gets elected president is the candidate "who subtly hates the blacks the most." Pure idiocy. There are other examples, but a genius can generally be forgiven such eccentricities.

Bottom line: entertaining and good revisionist info.

2 people found this helpful

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Gore Vidal's American Presidency

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