It was their moms who had made them feel they could become president of the United States. A mother herself, Angelo grew curious about how anyone accomplished this. It's not as dreary as it sounds. Angelo quotes Bobby Kennedy during the crucial 1968 California presidential primary. In her journalistic career, Angelo covered Washington, London and New York for Time magazine.
Nobody writes about the first mothers.
For example, she writes that Dorothy Bush, a competitive tennis player and powerful swimmer, was so concerned about sportsmanship she may have made her son George more gentlemanly than was always advantageous for a president. He's more rough and tumble. That attitude was not lost on her son, who came to feel that rules were for other people . . . In many instances, the secret of a mother's strong influence on her son was that she focused on him in particular. Of the 11 mothers profiled, she concludes four made such a crucial difference that their sons would never have become president without them.