#memories of the ford administration by john updike

[presidenttyler]

the weirdest, horniest shit i have ever read about 19th century politicians has been written by ostensibly straight middle aged men

[pranklinfierce]

Obscure/lost media plays about the presidents is my favorite niche.

Buchanan Dying by John Updike? Very strange. Updike was not normal about Buchanan. Just read Memories of the Ford Administration and you'll see. Everyone refused to put it on because of how wordy and confusing it was. No one could be asked to memorize that much dialogue that no audience would understand about James Buchanan. I mean I understood it. But I'm hardly representative of the average would-be Buchanan Dying audience member.

The Tragedy of Woodrow Wilson by William C. Bullitt (and Sigmund Freud)??? The world isn't ready for that. And it's lost media now. Freud liked it, but it was rejected as too scandalous. If only. We can dream. They would have dragged him.

45 Plays for 45 Presidents? I heard about it on a ridiculously bad podcast and can't find anything about it playing anywhere. All I know is that Pierce's play is apparently a beauty contest judged by the "two likely gay presidents": James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln(!??!?) The world doesn't need to suffer through that. Although I've maybe discovered the scripts. If I can get past this sign up wall I'll read at least half of them.

[braidedgraphite]

John Updike asked what books of his he would suggest to the 2008 Presidential candidates:

'Here we go. For Obama I'd recommend a novel of mine called The Coup. It's about an imaginary African country where the dictator pretends to hate the US, though he actually went to college here. The politics were based on Gaddafi - what's he called, not Mohamed, Muammar, right? The joke is how unlike Obama my character is! Now for McCain. I think he should read another novel, Memories of the Ford Administration. It's about an academic who hardly remembers Gerald Ford's term in office because he was too busy committing adultery and researching James Buchanan's presidency. Buchanan was old, tired, ineffective, and failed to prevent the Civil War; Abe Lincoln succeeded him. Maybe if McCain read the book he'd have the humility to realise he should gracefully yield to a younger, brighter man. Or maybe not.'

Enjoying the game, Updike was reluctant to stop playing. 'I could assign books to the vice-presidential candidates too,' he chuckled. 'Let's see. Palin is religious and so I am. She should read A Month of Sundays, which is about an errant minister rehabilitating himself in the Arizona desert. Who knows, maybe McCain's ranch is nearby? The book is as goofy as Palin, all brightness and gloss. And I want to give something to Joe Biden, Obama's running mate. He reminds me of the good-natured, diligent guys I grew up with in smalltown Pennsylvania. For him I'd say it ought to be any one of the Rabbit books - maybe the second, Rabbit Redux, in which my deplorable character at least appears as a working man. How's that?' Updike's satisfaction was deserved: in his store there is a book for every occasion, which justifies my belief that he has imagined everyone and everything, prescriptively narrating the lives that the rest of us lead.