"Hunting the President" by Mel Ayton

I really enjoyed reading Mel Ayton's "Hunting the President". 

The book is a very easy to read telling of various assassination attempts and threats on US Presidents, starting with FDR.

The author doesn't get into much biographical information on the presidents, which I think is appropriate for the book.  He does give just enough to set things up though.

Also, Ayton tells a good amount about the Secret Service working with each President.  He gives a brief description of how each of the Presidents related to those protecting them.  I enjoyed reading about how Jimmy Carter's relationship with his Secret Service changed and became very different after he left office.  I also thought it was fascinating that some of the Secret Service may have had a good relationship with the president, but not as good of a relationship with the spouse.

Mel gives some info on how each President viewed the possibility of an attempt on their lives.  Some expressed that they felt very safe with their Secret Service.  Some expressed a religious faith that helped them deal with the stress of a potential attack.

Each chapter gives a brief name, date and description of the various threats that were dealt with during that president's term(s).  These are mostly a couple of paragraphs describing the situation.

I learned a lot of interesting things from the book.  It seems there have been a lot of people who have shot their mouths off at bars about their plans.  Many of these people would later find themselves questioned by authorities, and often also serving jail time.  Many people in jail have also made threats for various reasons.  I also found it interesting that President Reagan briefly thought about trying to meet with the person who unsuccessfully tried to assassinate him.

This is just a fascinating book, especially if you are interested in Presidential history.