Sports and the American Presidency

Adam Burns is Head of Politics at Brighton College, UK. He is the author of American Imperialism: The Territorial Expansion of the United States, 1783–2013 (Edinburgh University Press, 2017), The United States: Reuniting a Nation, 1865–1920 (Routledge, 2020) and William Howard Taft and the Philippines: A Blueprint for Empire (University of Tennessee Press, 2020). He has also authored several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century US, including for the journal Sport History Review. Rivers Gambrell is a research fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford. She is currently writing a book entitled Pigskin Politics: How Richard Nixon Reinvented the Presidency. She holds a doctorate in History from the University of Oxford, a Masters in Liberal Studies and Certificate in International Development Policy from Duke University, and a BA from Flagler College.

[This] book ticks all the boxes and delivers what its subtitle promises. It persuasively shows that sports and the American presidency are very much intertwined, and that sports can provide a useful lens to study politics.

• ContributorsIntroduction: The Sporting Presidency - Rivers Gambrell and Adam Burns Part I: Presidents and Their Sports1. Theodore Roosevelt: Father of a Sporting Nation - Ryan Swanson 2. Profile in Vigor: John F. Kennedy and the Quest for Athletic Excellence - Hendrik W. Ohnesorge 3. ‘My Second Vocation’: How Richard Nixon Talked Football - Jesse Berrett 4. ‘He’d Like to Be Savior of the National Pastime’: Bill Clinton and the 1994–95 Baseball Strike - Christopher Birkett Part II: Sports and Their Presidents5. Fit to Govern? The Presidency, Running and Perceptions of Strength - Elizabeth Rees 6. The Presidential Golf Paradox - Aaron J. Moore 7. From Wilson to Dubya: The Curious Case of Presidents and Rugby - Adam Burns 8. The Sport of Presidents? Horse Racing, Politics and Perception - Michael Hinds and Jonathan Silverman 9. Emissaries of Toughness: How Coaches Teamed with US Presidents to Politicize College Football during the Cold War - Andrew McGregor Part III: Athletes and the Presidency10. Brown Derby Bambino: Babe Ruth’s Celebrity Endorsement and the 1928 Presidential Campaign -Robert Chiles 11. Jackie Robinson and His Presidents: Political Endorsements and Civil Rights Advocacy - Dean J. Kotlowski 12. Sport, Merit, and Respectability Politics in the Election of Barack Obama - Michael L. Butterworth and Shawn N. Smith 13. Donald Trump versus "Woke" Athletes: Presidential Sport in the Age of Twitter - Russ Crawford 14. Afterword: The State of Presidential Sport - Heather L. Dichter