Ronald Gruner: An American Story

Ronald Gruner recently wrote We The Presidents: How a Century of Presidents from Harding to Trump Forged Today’s America. A newly released edition commemorates the 250^th Anniversary of American Independence. Epic in the making, both books have received critical acclaim from people who take presidential history seriously.

Ironically, Ronald Gruner hasn’t always been an author, nor is he an historian or well connected in academia. How he came to write both versions of We The Presidents is a circuitous journey of his own design.

Gruner grew up with a deep understanding of what it means to be an American. His earliest thinking was influenced by this father. Born and raised in Germany, Gruner’s father was only eighteen when he came to America in 1924. The years after World War I were unkind to Germany. The nation was trying to recover financially and offered few job opportunities. Gruner’s father didn’t speak English, but he had been trained as a machinist.

Gruner’s father went to Cincinnati because his sister lived there, but unbeknownst to him she had died of the flu a few months before his arrival. Cinncinatti was a huge manufacturing center and Gruner’s father was able to get a job at LeBlond Machine Tool Company.

While Gruner’s father was still living in Germany, he had heard about the Wild West Shows, featuring stars like Annie Oakley and Wild Bill Hickok. So off to Oklahoma he went in pursuit of adventure, where he stayed at a YMCA in Tulsa. His roommate stole everything he had, including his shoes. Soon he found himself in the Oklahoma oil fields, manufacturing drill bits for oil wells. In no time at all, he was making money.

It was the elder Gruner’s adventure to the Wild West that paved the way for his son to grow up in Ponca City, Oklahoma, an historic community named for the Native American Ponca tribe and made rich by the oil industry. 

One of Gruner’s fondest memories took place during his early teen years, while he was traveling with his father back to Cincinnati. The LeBlond Factory site was an historic example of the early 20^th century “Factory Beautiful” movement. The factory architecture used sophisticated aesthetics rendering a landscape that included wide open spaces and abundant natural light. Workers were given a beautiful place to work. Gruner never forgot that factory. To him, it looked like a college campus.

It’s no wonder that Gruner was drawn to study engineering. Before he became an author, he was a CEO and founder of three businesses in the technology sector. He had been successful in business for decades and was known for his innovation. Alliant Computer Systems streamlined operations by running computers in parallel. This supercomputer company went public in 1986 with a market capitalization of nearly $500 million.

Then along came shareholder.com, which requires little introduction. Shareholder.com was fueled by the rise of the internet. Fulfilling a huge need in the marketplace, shareholder.com conveyed stockholder information to individual investors in real time. The company was such a success that it was sold to NASDAQ in 2006.

The next company he co-founded was Sky Analytics, a legal analytics firm that he ran for five years before it was acquired by Huron Consulting Group in 2015.

Not quite ready to retire, Gruner pursued something he had always enjoyed—writing. Long ago he had written for his high school newspaper, and later, in business, he wrote industry or technology articles. He also had a deep abiding love for American history.

As a history buff, he had observed that presidential history is often slanted according to partisan lines. He had grown up in a conservative town in Oklahoma, then spent forty years in the technology sector in a liberal bubble just outside of Boston in Framingham, Bolton, and Tyngsborough. Later he moved to Collier County in Florida, which was prosperous and conservative. He thought both Conservatives and Liberals had issues, especially when it came to maintaining objectivity about American history.

In Gruner’s assessment, many of today’s media outlets distort politics and perpetuate misconceptions about American history. Media outlets are catering to specific audiences and are not trying to give a fair and balanced viewpoint. Media outlets tailor their messages to suit their audience. “It’s a marketplace, not a readership,” he said. “That’s the tragedy as I see it.”

Gruner notes that deep political division is being driven by money. “Money is driving too much of our society, in politics, in the media and in business.” If he had to define the greatest danger to America, and boil it down to one word, it would be money.

It isn’t likely that the American media will revert back to the days when anchors like Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley confirmed sources, presented factual news, and were highly respected for their journalistic integrity.

Gruner thought he could contribute to an objective discussion about the United States over the last 100 years. “I’m an engineer,” he said. “Engineering is data-driven in terms of economics.”  Data drives out speculation is a common engineering phrase, one that Gruner is fond of saying—that was his mindset during his entire career and it is what he tries to bring to his books.

He chose to write about presidential history and undertook a book project that was massive in scope. The combined effort of research, interviews and the actual writing took five years. Gruner’s presidential history is devoid of politics, and never weighs-in on Liberal or Conservative, Republican or Democrat, focusing solely on the issues and events shaping every president from Warren Harding to Donald Trump.  

He recalls how his father shaped his thinking about what it means to be an American. His father was an entrepreneur and had a vision and gave his son those skills and perspectives. Other people have had a profound influence on Gruner’s life. Certainly his mother gave him heart and empathy. His mother was a nurse and taught him to do unto others as you want them to do to you.

Gruner also speaks highly of the legendary venture capitalist Tom Perkins, who was the founder of the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins. Perkins was the chairman of the board for Gruner’s company, Alliant Computer Systems. “I tried to mimic his style. He had good people skills and was a great entrepreneur and innovator.”  

Edson de Castro, the CEO and founder of Data General, also had a profound influence on Gruner. “He was a classic engineer and a brilliant manager who had built Data General in just a few years.” Gruner considers Ed de Castro to be the model for an ideal engineer.

According to Gruner, Tom Perkins and Ed de Castro stood up for character and did the right kinds of things. “When choosing a spouse or friends, there is nothing more important than considering their character. And character is the first and foremost quality Americans should consider when seeking a president. Character is standing up, even if it’s unpopular.”

Our most poignant memories often shape who we are. Of all the influencers in Gruner’s life, the most important person was his father. When Gruner visited the Statue of Liberty and took the tour of Ellis Island, he found a reference to his father. A ship’s log showed the elder Gruner had come to the United States on The Columbus in 1924.  Gruner found himself walking through the same halls where his father had walked a hundred years ago. Gruner’s father was adopted by the country he had come to know and love. He believed in America and bestowed that passion onto his son.

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For more writing by Ronald Gruner, please see his substack https://ronaldgruner.substack.com/ His books We The Presidents: How a Century of Presidents from Harding to Trump Forged Today’s, America, the 250^th American Anniversary Edition We The Presidents, and Covid Wars are available in Amazon, in select bookstores near you.