A veteran White House reporter asks, Can a president's private life be separated from his performance in office? The American people have always expected their presidents to serve not only as political leaders but also as models of personal behavior, setting the standards by which they raise their children. But as the new millennium nears, character and values have taken on a significance never contemplated by Washington and the Founding Fathers. The Double-Edged Sword rebuts the claim put forward by Clinton and his supporters that a president's private life can be separated from his performance in office. By examining the morality of some of our most prominent and influential chief executives, Robert Shogan illustrates how presidential character is a double-edged sword- a weapon that can discredit a president and destroy his credibility, but also a weapon that he can use to define himself and mobilize support-in sum, the ultimate weapon in modern American politics.