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Every American president, when faced with a crisis, longs to take bold and decisive action. When American lives or vital interests are at stake, the publicand especially the news media and political opponentsexpect aggressive leadership. But, contrary to the dramatizations of Hollywood, rarely does a president have that option. In Presidents in Crisis, a former director of the Situation Room takes the reader inside the White House during seventeen grave international emergencies handled by the presidents from Truman to Obama from North Koreas invasion of South Korea to the revolutions of the Arab Spring, and from the thirteen days of the Cuban Missile Crisis to the taking of American diplomats hostage in Iran and George W. Bushs response to the attacks of September 11, 2001.