Make Your Mark

Lessons in Character from Seven Presidents

By: Mark K. Updegrove

Length: 12 hrs

Publisher's summary

The award-wining author of Second Acts and The Last Republicans draws on interviews and conversations with seven presidents to identify the essence of character, leadership and legacy that has defined each of them and the modern American presidency.

The American writer, politician, and ambassador Clare Boothe Luce used to lecture the presidents she knew—from Herbert Hoover to Ronald Reagan. “A great man is one sentence,” she would say. Then, she would challenge them: “What is your sentence?”

Throughout his career as an author, journalist, television commentator, and head of a presidential library and foundation, Mark Updegrove has had the privilege of getting to know seven U.S. Presidents, from Gerald Ford to Barack Obama. In Make Your Mark, he offers incisive, compelling sketches of these modern presidents and the character trait that made each suited to his moment in the Oval Office and shaped the sentence that defined their destiny:

• Gerald R. Ford/Doing Right “He healed the nation from the nightmare of Watergate.”
• Jimmy Carter/Doing Good “He brokered the Camp David Accords and continued to fight for peace and human rights in his post-presidency.”
• Ronald Reagan/Optimism “He restored our faith in America and strengthened democracy abroad.”
• George H.W. Bush/Humility “He ensured a peaceful end to the Cold War and ushered in a New World Order.”
• Barack Obama/Grace “He made real our most sacred promise of equality for all Americans.”

Make Your Mark reveals that there is no one-size-fits-all model for leadership. We all have our own set of strengths and weaknesses. Drawing on these presidential examples, we can be inspired to find the very best in who we are, discover how we can make our own unique marks as leaders, and ultimately shape what we want our own sentences to be.

©2025 Mark K. Updegrove (P)2025 HarperCollins Publishers