Thomas E. Cronin is the McHugh Professor of American Institutions and Leadership at Colorado College. He is author, coauthor, or editor of ten books on politics and government, and has been a moderator since 1973 of more than a dozen Aspen Institute Executive Seminars.

"For the past forty years, Tom Cronin has been one of the most creative students of the presidency and a president in his own right, a keen observer of national politics, a candidate for national office, and a White House staffer. In this book, he brings his unique vantage points, insights, and knowledge to describe the paradoxes and puzzles of the contemporary presidency and offers clues to resolving these paradoxes and solving the puzzles." —Stephen J. Wayne, Georgetown University "Thank you for letting me read Tom Cronin’s On the Presidency. It is the most realistic and probing study of the presidency I have encountered. From his lifelong study of political leaders, Tom Cronin has delivered a timely and readable account of the accomplishments and failings of the presidency. This is a sophisticated primer on the essence of the presidency in the past and today." —the late James MacGregor Burns, author of Readership and Running Alone

• Chapter 1 Searching for the Perfect President; Chapter 2 The Symbolic and Shamanistic Functions of the American Presidency; Chapter 3 Overcoming Groupthink, the Separation of Brain and State, and Machiavelli’s Flattery Conundrum; Chapter 4 President John F. Kennedy: Act III Politician; Chapter 5 Problematic Presidential Power in Our Post-9/11 World;

Thomas E. Cronin is the McHugh Professor of American Institutions and Leadership at Colorado College. He is author, coauthor, or editor of ten books on politics and government, and has been a moderator since 1973 of more than a dozen Aspen Institute Executive Seminars.

"For the past forty years, Tom Cronin has been one of the most creative students of the presidency and a president in his own right, a keen observer of national politics, a candidate for national office, and a White House staffer. In this book, he brings his unique vantage points, insights, and knowledge to describe the paradoxes and puzzles of the contemporary presidency and offers clues to resolving these paradoxes and solving the puzzles." —Stephen J. Wayne, Georgetown University "Thank you for letting me read Tom Cronin’s On the Presidency. It is the most realistic and probing study of the presidency I have encountered. From his lifelong study of political leaders, Tom Cronin has delivered a timely and readable account of the accomplishments and failings of the presidency. This is a sophisticated primer on the essence of the presidency in the past and today." —the late James MacGregor Burns, author of Readership and Running Alone

• Chapter 1 Searching for the Perfect President; Chapter 2 The Symbolic and Shamanistic Functions of the American Presidency; Chapter 3 Overcoming Groupthink, the Separation of Brain and State, and Machiavelli’s Flattery Conundrum; Chapter 4 President John F. Kennedy: Act III Politician; Chapter 5 Problematic Presidential Power in Our Post-9/11 World;