Part 1. Ambition and the recognition of leadership -- Abraham: "Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition" -- Theodore: "I rose like a rocket" -- Franklin: "No, call me Franklin" -- Lyndon: "A steam engine in pants" -- Part 2. Adversity and growth -- Abraham Lincoln: "I must die or be better" -- Theodore Roosevelt: "The light has gone out of my life" -- Franklin Roosevelt: "Above all, try something" -- Lyndon Johnson: "The most miserable period of my life" -- Part 3. How they led: man and the times -- Transformational leadership: Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation -- Crisis management: Theodore Roosevelt and the Coal Strike -- Turnaround leadership: Franklin Roosevelt and the Hundred Days -- Visionary leadership: Lyndon Johnson and Civil Rights -- Epilogue: Of death and legacy