American Presidency Series – serie

Benjamin Harrison was an early proponent of American expansion in the Pacific, a key figure in such landmark legislation as the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the McKinley Tariff, and one of the Gilded Age's most eloquent speakers. Yet he remains one of our most neglected and least understood presidents. In this first interpretive study of the Harrison administration, the authors illuminate our twenty-third president's character and policies and rescue him from the long shadow of his charismatic secretary of state, James G. Blaine.An Ohio native and Indiana lawyer, Harrison opened the second century of the American presidency in a rapidly industrializing and expanding nation. His inaugural address reflected the nation's optimism: "The masses of our people are better fed, clothed, and housed than their fathers were. The facilities for popular education have been vastly enlarged and more generally diffused. The virtues of courage and patriotism have given proof of their continued presence and increasing power in the hearts and over the lives of our people."But the burdens and realities of his office soon imposed themselves upon Harrison. The biggest blow came at midterm with the Republicans' devastating losses in the 1890 congressional elections. In an era of congressional dominance, those losses eroded Harrison's position as a legislative advocate—at least, for domestic issues.His impact in foreign affairs was more lasting. One of the highlights of this study is its revealing look at Harrison's visionary foreign policy, especially toward the Pacific. Socolofsky and Spetter convincingly demonstrate that although Harrison's ambition to acquire the Hawaiian Islands was not realized during his presidency, his foreign policy was a major step toward American control of Hawaii and American expansion in the Far East.

The focus of this work is not whether Eisenhower was an active or passive president, but how his decisions shaped American life in the 1950s and beyond. This updated edition reaches beyond the issues the revisionists raised: Was Eisenhower in command of his own administration? Did he play a significant role in shaping foreign and domestic policy? Drawing on a wide range of works published within the past decade, the author expands the original 1979 edition of this study. In addition to new material on national security policy, he deepens the analysis of Eisenhower's leadership and managerial style and explores the significance of the decisions Eisenhower made on a range of critical issues, from civil rights to atomic testing. The author breaks with the dominant school of Eisenhower historiography. He concludes, for example, that Eisenhower's commitment to support South Vietnam in 1954, with its attendant responsibilities and consequences, was far more important - and ultimately disastrous - than his refusal to intervene with military force in support of the French in 1954. Eisenhower's unleashing of the CIA (in Iran, Guatemala and elsewhere) also draws sharp criticism, as does his timid and ineffective handling of McCarthy. Yet the author also praises Eisenhower's principled efforts to restrain defence spending and to expand developmental aid to Third World nations.

Henry Adams portrayed James Madison as a president who lacked decisiveness and administrative skills. This study describes Madison as a practical statesman who decreased conflicts in his Cabinet and in Congress and strengthened the Union.

Clements analyzes the reasons for Wilson's successes and failures in both domestic and foreign arenas and investigates representative administrative departments to find out how the Wilson administration actually worked. Clements also re-examines the impact of Wilson's illness on his leadership.

Clements analyzes the reasons for Wilson's successes and failures in both domestic and foreign arenas and investigates representative administrative departments to find out how the Wilson administration actually worked. Clements also re-examines the impact of Wilson's illness on his leadership.

In 1829 Andrew Jackson arrived in Washington in a carriage. Eight years and two turbulent presidential terms later, he left on a train. Those years, among the most prosperous in American history, saw America transformed not only by growth in transportation but by the expansion of the market economy and the formation of the mass political party. Jackson's ambivalence - and that of his followers - toward the new politics and the new economy is the story of this book. Historians have often depicted the Old Hero (or Old Hickory) as bigger than life - so prominent that his name was wed to an era. Donald Cole presents a different Jackson, one not always sure of himself and more controlled by, than in control of, the political and economic forces of his age. He portrays Jackson as a leader who yearned for the agrarian past but was also entranced by the future of a growing market economy. The dominant theme of Jackson's presidency, Cole argues, was his inconsistent and unsuccessful battle to resist the market revolution. Elected by a broad coalition of interest groups, Jackson battled constantly not only with his opponents but also his supporters. He spent most of his time rearranging his administration and contending with Congress. His accomplishments were mostly negative - relocating Indians, vetoing road bills and the Bank bill, and opposing nullification. The greatest achievement of his administration, the rise of the mass political party, was more the work of advisers than of Jackson himself. He did, however, make a lasting imprint, Cole contends. Through his strength, passions, and especially his anxiety, Jackson symbolised the ambivalence of his fellow Americans at a decisive moment - a time when the country was struggling with the conflict between the ideals of the Revolution and the realities of 19th century capitalism.

This is a study of one of the most popular yet most misunderstood presidents. Reaching beyond the image of Ford as ""healer"" of a war-torn and scandal-ridden nation, the author aims to extend and revise our understanding of Ford's struggles to restore credibility to the presidency in the wake of Watergate and Vietnam.Few presidents have ever be en asked to achieve so much in so little time against such great adversity. Greene shows that Ford's efforts to lead the nation were severely hampered by Nixon's misdeeds, by America's ignominious disengagement from an unpopular war, and by a watchdog Congress eager to put a brake on presidential power. Working from recently declassified documents, Greene reveals evidence on Ford's roles in Watergate and challenges the prevailing view of the infamous ""Mayaguez"" incident. He argues that Ford made no ""deal"" with Nixon, but that his pardon of Nixon was costly nevertheless, for it shadowed his entire presidency thereafter. Greene also shows that the ""Mayaguez"" catastrophe was less a simple ""rescue mission"" than it was an attempt to revive sagging political fortunes by attacking Cambodia. In addition, Greene details Ford's rise to prominence within the Republican Party; chronicles the president's problematic relations with his staff, the new Democratic Congress, and Ronald Reagan; sheds light on the selection and performance of Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller; offers insights into the election of 1976; and provides a look at Ford's Amnesty Programme for Vietnam era draft evaders. Based on interviews with Ford and more than 60 individuals who figured prominently in his presidency and on extensive use of the Ford Library, Greene's study covers Ford's valiant efforts during some of the presidency's most troubled years.

This is a study of one of the most popular yet most misunderstood presidents. Reaching beyond the image of Ford as ""healer"" of a war-torn and scandal-ridden nation, the author aims to extend and revise our understanding of Ford's struggles to restore credibility to the presidency in the wake of Watergate and Vietnam.Few presidents have ever be en asked to achieve so much in so little time against such great adversity. Greene shows that Ford's efforts to lead the nation were severely hampered by Nixon's misdeeds, by America's ignominious disengagement from an unpopular war, and by a watchdog Congress eager to put a brake on presidential power. Working from recently declassified documents, Greene reveals evidence on Ford's roles in Watergate and challenges the prevailing view of the infamous ""Mayaguez"" incident. He argues that Ford made no ""deal"" with Nixon, but that his pardon of Nixon was costly nevertheless, for it shadowed his entire presidency thereafter. Greene also shows that the ""Mayaguez"" catastrophe was less a simple ""rescue mission"" than it was an attempt to revive sagging political fortunes by attacking Cambodia. In addition, Greene details Ford's rise to prominence within the Republican Party; chronicles the president's problematic relations with his staff, the new Democratic Congress, and Ronald Reagan; sheds light on the selection and performance of Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller; offers insights into the election of 1976; and provides a look at Ford's Amnesty Programme for Vietnam era draft evaders. Based on interviews with Ford and more than 60 individuals who figured prominently in his presidency and on extensive use of the Ford Library, Greene's study covers Ford's valiant efforts during some of the presidency's most troubled years.

Noble Cunningham's history of the fifth presidency (1817-25) shows a young nation beset by growing pains and led by a cautious politician who had neither the learning nor the intellect of Jefferson or Madison, but whose actions strengthened both the United States and the presidency itself. Cunningham makes clear that the mislabelled ""era of good feelings"" had more than its fair share of crises, including those resulting from revolutions in Latin America, Spanish possession of Florida, the depression of 1819, and the controversy over slavery in Missouri. Monroe, he shows, successfully defused these potentially explosive situations, most notably by negotiating the 1820 Missouri Compromise and announcing in 1823 what became to be known as the Monroe Doctrine, a document that still guides American policy in the western hemisphere. Cunningham effectively places these actions within the context of Monroe's life and times and sheds new light on the inner workings of his cabinet and his relations with Congress. In addition, he features the prominent roles of two future presidents: John Quincy Adams as secretary of state and Andrew Jackson as the controversial general whose actions in the Seminole War created a headache for the administration. Though substantially informed by previous scholarship, Cunningham writes largely from the abundant primary source materials of the era to provide a fresh look at a president and a nation on the brink of greatness.

Elected in hard times and serving throughout a catastrophic global war, Franklin Delano Roosevelt confronted crises of epic proportions during his record 12-year tenure. This volume provides an account of his much-debated presidency, describing the successes and failures of his landmark administration and offering a new perspective on the New Deal. George McJimsey's study portrays Roosevelt as a pluralist leader whose various New Deal programmes empowered the American people to combat America's Great Depression at the grass roots. During the Depression, Roosevelt hoped to create a ""co-operative commonwealth"" that would create a strong America at home, as later during World War II he sought to create an international order based on Allied co-operation and American leadership. McJimsey pays particular attention to the political environment in which Roosevelt's presidency functioned and how it both created opportunities and limited his choices. Roosevelt, he shows, was often unable to avoid pluralism's pitfalls as he found he had to work through corrupt city bosses, patronage-hungry congressmen and profit-driven businessmen. As the author observes, he was repeatedly forced to manoeuvre and manipulate to hold the reins of power. A separate chapter on Eleanor Roosevelt describes her emergence as a public figure and her advocacy of social causes, exploring how she acted on issues that her husband hesitated to address. In addition, the book analyzes important policy issues involving and affecting women and Native Americans, and sheds light on the policy changes of 1935 and 1937, the roles of FDR's close associates, and the ultimate impact of his actions on democracy.

The presidency of John F. Kennedy continues to fascinate, even as it also continues to inspire heated debates between admirers and detractors of Camelot's fallen king. Now, readers can gain a new appreciation of JFK in this thoroughly revised and updated edition of James Giglio's bestselling study, widely acclaimed as the best and most balanced book on JFK's White House years. Giglio incorporates the voluminous archival materials made available in the last fifteen years, including the declassified documents on crucial foreign policy affairs and White House medical records that contradict the image of Kennedy's youth and vigor. He stresses the extent to which domestic and foreign policies were interconnected at a time when the Cold War dominated national life, and reveals his new appreciation for JFK's prudence in his handling of such enormous challenges as the Cuban missile crisis and the emerging war in Vietnam. Giglio shows Kennedy to be ""the most medicated, one of the most courageous, and perhaps the most self-absorbed of our presidents."" He reviews the physical ailments and heavy prescriptions that were kept out of the public eye and catalogs sexual indiscretions ranging from Marilyn Monroe and socialite Florence Pritchett to low-level White House employees and even virtual strangers. Surveying this field of conquest, Giglio suggests that JFK's sexual obsession could easily have affected his presidency even more during a second term. His work also amplifies coverage of key issues like civil rights, the Cuban missile crisis, and Vietnam and reevaluates many of the questions surrounding the assassination - maintaining that, even with the existence of a conspiracy still doubtful, the case is far from closed. Like the first edition, this new edition provides a sharp and thoughtful analysis of both domestic and foreign affairs and underscores that, despite his undeniably brief tenure in office, the state of the nation actually did improve on Kennedy's watch. Featuring an expanded bibliographical essay and twenty-two photos from the JFK library, ""The Presidency of John F. Kennedy"" remains the definitive appraisal of Camelot's kingdom.

The only president to later serve as chief justice of the United States, William Howard Taft remarked in the 1920s that 'I don't remember that I ever was President'. Historians have agreed, and Taft is usually portrayed, when written about at all, as nothing more than a failed chief executive. In this provocative new study, the first treatment of the Taft presidency in four decades, Lewis L. Gould presents a compelling assessment of Taft's accomplishments and setbacks in office. Rich in human interest and fresh analysis of the events of Taft's four years in Washington, Gould's book shows why Taft's presidency is very much worth remembering on its own terms. Gould argues that Taft wanted to be president and had an ambitious agenda when he took power in March 1909. Approaching his duties more as a judge than as a charismatic executive in the mold of Theodore Roosevelt, Taft soon found himself out of step with public opinion. Gould shows how the Payne-Aldrich Tariff and the Ballinger-Pinchot controversy squandered Taft's political capital and prepared the ground for Democratic victories in the elections of 1910 and 1912. His seamless narrative provides innovative treatments of these crucial episodes to make Taft's presidency more understandable than in any previous account. On Canadian Reciprocity, Dollar Diplomacy, and international arbitration, Gould's well-researched work goes beyond earlier stale cliches about Taft's administration to link his tenure to the evolution of the modern presidency. Taft emerges as a hard-working but flawed executive who lacked the excitement of Theodore Roosevelt or the inspiration of Woodrow Wilson. The break with Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 doomed the Taft presidency, and Gould supplies an evenhanded analysis of the erosion of their once warm friendship. At bottom, the two men clashed about the nature of presidential power, and Gould traces with insight how this personal and ideological rupture influenced the future of the Republican party and the course of American politics. In Gould's skilled hands, this neglected presidency again comes alive. Leaving the White House in 1913, Taft wrote that 'the people of the United States did not owe me another election'. What his presidency deserved is the lively and wise appraisal of his record in office contained in this superb book.

The presidential election of 1896 is widely acknowledged as one of only a few that brought about fundamental realignments in American politics. New voting patterns replaced old, a new majority party came to power, and national policies shifted to reflect new realities. R. Hal Williams now presents the first study of that campaign in nearly fifty years, offering fresh interpretations on the victory of Republican William McKinley over Democrat William Jennings Bryan. In tracing the triumph of gold over silver in this fabled 'battle of the standards', R. Hal Williams also tells how the Republicans - the party of central government, national authority, sound money, and activism - pulled off a stunning win over the Democrats - the party of state's rights, decentralization, inflation, and limited government. Meanwhile the People's Party, one of the most prominent third parties in the country's history, which also nominated Bryan, went down to a defeat from which it would never recover. Williams plunges readers into a contest that set new standards in financing, organization, and accountability, and he analyzes the transition from the long-dominant 'military style' of campaign to the 'educational style' that appealed to a savvier electorate. He also presents key players in new light: he views Bryan not simply as a gifted speaker whose 'Cross of Gold' speech took the Democratic convention by storm, but as a more calculating politician with his eye squarely on the nomination; he depicts McKinley's campaign manager Mark Hanna not as the one-dimensional fundraising machine painted by history but rather as a shrewd, insightful politician who understood what was required to get his man elected; and, he presents retiring president Cleveland as an increasingly out-of-touch, irrelevant chief executive whom the Democrats repudiated in a way no other party ever had a sitting president. With the Republicans' star on the rise and the Democrats banished to the South and the cities, the 1896 election was more than a victory of one party over another, it marked the emergence of new ways of politicking that makes this campaign especially relevant for twenty-first-century readers.

First published in 1991, The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt has won acclaim as a lucid and thorough narrative of Roosevelt's two terms in the White House. Reviewers praised the depth of Lewis L. Gould's research, his comprehensive coverage of major aspects of Roosevelt's tenure, and the persuasiveness of his conclusions about his subject's personalized presidency. Writing in Reviews in American History, Willard Gatewood called the book "essential reading for all who wish to understand the complex, charismatic, and perennially fascinating political figure that was Theodore Roosevelt."Long considered the standard work on its subject, Gould's book is a trusted source that newcomers to Roosevelt's years in the White House and experts in the field could consult with confidence in its research and historical judgments. It has also become an essential adoption for courses on the era, effectively engaging undergraduates and graduate students who have praised the author for his clarity and evenhandedness. Responding to frequent suggestions that the book be brought up-to-date to incorporate the excellent studies of Roosevelt's presidency that have appeared since 1991, Gould has provided a new edition that he believes "will reintroduce a new generation of readers to the fun and importance of an ebullient, lively chief executive."In this revised and expanded edition, Gould has built on the sterling qualities of the first edition and added new information and analysis based on continuing research and a command of the literature on Theodore Roosevelt's presidency published during the last two decades. He has tightened the prose and added numerous references to the latest scholarship on this most engaging of presidents. Interested readers will find new discussions of the origins of Roosevelt's creation of the Tongass Forest in Alaska, his treatment of a dissenting federal employee named Rebecca Taylor who took her grievance to the Supreme Court, the recent controversy over Roosevelt's relationship with Japan, the dispute over whether the president issued a warning to Germany about Venezuela in 1902-1903, and the important role of a little-known conservative senator named Winthrop Murray Crane.With these and other changes, the updated version of Gould's text provides an even more compelling narrative that broadens the already fascinating story of Roosevelt in power with new insights and perceptive conclusions.