Ntroduction -- Abraham Lincoln : the nation's worst crisis -- Franklin D. Roosevelt : the Great Depression -- Harry Truman : the battle with Douglas MacArthur -- Dwight Eisenhower : the U-2 mission -- John F. Kennedy : the Cuban Missile Crisis -- Lyndon B. Johnson : the war in Vietnam and re-election -- Richard M. Nixon : the Watergate scandal and national disgrace -- Gerald R. Ford : the pardon -- Jimmy Carter : the Iranian hostage crisis -- Ronald Reagan : a matter of life and death -- George H.W. Bush : the Persian Gulf War -- Bill Clinton : impeachment and scandal -- George W. Bush : 9/11 and the global war on terror -- Barack Obama : ending the "Great Recession" -- Donald Trump : a new era of perpetual crisis -- Epilogue.