Mark Updegrove

Make Your Mark

Drawing from his latest book, Make Your Mark: Lessons in Character from Seven Presidents, award-winning author, ABC News presidential historian, and LBJ Foundation CEO Mark Updegrove shares unique insights into the presidents he has personally known—Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Updegrove delves into the defining character trait that shaped each president’s most remarkable achievements. In this engaging and often humorous talk, he highlights the role of character in leadership, inspiring us all to reach for the best within ourselves.

Incomparable Grace: JFK in the Presidency

Over six decades after assassination, John F. Kennedy holds an outsize place in the American imagination. His graceful image, soaring rhetoric, and beguiling wit—and his glamorous wife, Jackie—continue to compel us even generations later. Moreover, his presidency is an inspiring story of an untested political leader forced to meet existential challenges and rise above initial missteps to lead a our nation into a new and hopeful era. 

ABC News Presidential Historian and LBJ Foundation CEO, Mark Updegrove, author of Incomparable Grace: JFK in the Presidency, discusses JFK’s enduring appeal and consequential presidential legacy. 

State of the Nation: America’s Eroding Democracy and What We Can Do About It

Historian Mark Updegrove looks at the root causes of the declining state of American democracy today, and viable solutions toward greater unity and the strengthening of our nation. 

Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency

Based on his book of the same name, author and presidential historian, Mark K. Updegrove, the former director of the LBJ Presidential Library, explores the enduring, often surprising legacy of the 36th president, the enigmatic Lyndon Baines Johnson. Playing a series of taped telephone conversations from LBJ’s administration, the audience will hear LBJ in rare, intimate moments that shed light on his consequential presidency: partnering with Martin Luther King, Jr., on seminal civil rights legislation; expressing his anguish about the Vietnam War with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara; bolstering the spirits of Jacqueline Kennedy in the wake of her husband’s assassination, which propelled Johnson into the Oval Office. The audience will get a revealing sense of LBJ’s bigger-than-life personality, passion for reform, and uncanny knack for getting things done—often through bipartisanship lacking in today’s Washington.

Lessons in Character and Leadership from Seven American Presidents

Drawing on meetings and exclusive interviews with seven U.S. presidents, author and ABC New’s presidential historian, Mark K. Updegrove, examines the lessons in character and leadership he has derived from the Presidents he has known: Gerald R. Ford (Doing Right), Jimmy Carter (Doing Good), Ronald Reagan (Optimism), George H.W. Bush (Humility), Bill Clinton (Resilience), George W. Bush (Compassion), and Barack Obama (Grace). Updegrove looks at how each man, overcoming inherent flaws in his nature and setbacks in his administration, drew on the best aspects of his character to contribute to our country—and ultimately to his legacy. Accompanied by photographs and short clips from interviews, this hopeful and entertaining speech provides leadership lessons that apply to any profession, inspiring us to find the best in ourselves to make our own marks.

The Last Republicans: Inside the Extraordinary Relationship Between George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush

Based on his book of the same name, author and presidential historian, Mark K. Updegrove, tells the intimate, untold story of the relationship between the forty-first and forty-third Presidents, the most consequential father-son relationship in American history—and only the second father-son pair to achieve the presidency. Using material garnered through exclusive access to and extensive interviews with both Bush Presidents, Updegrove dispels misconceptions about their relationship while exploring their influences and perspectives on each other’s presidencies and their views on family, public service, and America’s role in the world.