He remembered what good they could do for the country, at their best: “All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view. The palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of god.”

Excerpted from “Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House,” © copyright Jared Cohen (Simon & Schuster, Feb. 2024), by special arrangement. All rights reserved. 

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Jared Cohen is a New York Times bestselling author. His latest book is “Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House” (Feb. 2024, S&S).