Nine political scientists and historians evaluate the leadership qualities of presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan.

This book seeks to analyze the leadership of three presidents: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, as well as to examine the impact of the presidents’ leadership had on the leadership of the advisers they worked with during their presidencies. Transformational leadership, a term first introduced by James MacGregor Burns, describes a process in which “leaders and followers help each other to advance to a higher level of morale and motivation.” In order to measure transformational leadership, Bernard M. Bass’s model - which includes four elements: an idealized influence, inspiring motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual treatment - is applied throughout. It is crucial to conduct an analysis of the relationships between the examined three presidents and their advisers in order to demonstrate if the subordinates excelled in leadership because of the presidents’ leadership skill.

The idea that a radical transformation of the Presidency took place during the FDR administration has become one of the most widely accepted tenets of contemporary scholarship. According to this view, the Constitutional Presidency was a product of the Founders' fear of arbitrary power. Only with the development of a popular extra-Constitutional Presidency did the powerful "modern Presidency" emerge. David K. Nichols argues to the contrary that the "modern Presidency" was not created by FDR. What happened during FDR's administration was a transformation in the size and scope of the national government, rather than a transformation of the Presidency in its relations to the Constitution or the other branches of government. Nichols demonstrates that the essential elements of the modern Presidency have been found throughout our history, although often less obvious in an era where the functions of the national government as a whole were restricted. Claiming that we have failed to fully appreciate the character of the Constitutional Presidency, Nichols shows that the potential for the modern Presidency was created in the Constitution itself. He analyzes three essential aspects of the modern Presidency--the President's role in the budgetary process, the President's role as chief executive, and the War Powers Act--that are logical outgrowths of the decisions made at the Constitutional Convention. Nichols concludes that it is the authors of the American Constitution, not the English or European philosophers, who provide the most satisfactory reconciliation of executive power and limited popular government. It is the authors of the Constitution who created the modern Presidency.

In this volume Rozell and Peterson bring together a collection of new essays exploring the unparalleled impact of Franklin D. Roosevelt on the modern presidency. Of all the modern presidents, FDR looms largest. Indeed, most scholars date the origins of the modern presidency to FDR, and many assert that no one since has achieved his level of greatness in office. The essays are organized into two broad sections: The first examines FDR's impact on the creation and development of the administrative presidency and the legacy of the New Deal; the second looks at FDR's legacy to presidential leadership and the exercise of presidential powers. An important volume for scholars and other researchers of the FDR era and the modern American presidency.

Applying the lessons of presidential history, this anthology of case studies—written by leading political scientists, historians, and subject matter experts—delves into the many facets of the presidency and promotes a greater understanding of the presidency for policymakers, academics, students, and general readers alike. Abraham Lincoln once said, "Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history." One hundred and fifty years later, this statement remains true: the lessons of history are increasingly important at a time of political deadlock and growing skepticism of leadership among the American public. An established classic in its field, Triumphs and Tragedies of the Modern Presidency underscores the importance of looking back to set an intelligent course for the future and promotes a better understanding of the U.S. presidency. This updated and revised second edition offers rare insights on presidential leadership since 2001 and adds considerable new information related to inter-term transitions. The case studies in this single-volume work cover an unparalleled scope of "modern presidential history" and related topics, beginning with the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt and continuing to the presidency of Barack Obama. Examples of the events and subject matter of the case studies include the interstate transport system, the building of the social safety net, the civil rights movement, the space program, environmental protection, education reform, the IT revolution, energy policy, the budget, economic policy, foreign policy, national security, defense policy, and presidential scandals. Each case study highlights a historical lesson and is authored by a different political scientist, historian, or subject matter expert, offering readers a multidisciplinary examination of the presidency.

Successful presidential leadership depends upon words as well as deeds. In this multifaceted look at rhetorical leadership, twelve leading scholars in three different disciplines provide in-depth studies of how words have served or disserved American presidents. At the heart of rhetorical leadership lies the classical concept of prudence, practical wisdom that combines good sense with good character. From their disparate treatments of a range of presidencies, an underlying agreement emerges among the historians, political scientists, and communication scholars included in the volume. To be effective, they find, presidents must be able to articulate the common good in a particular situation and they must be credible on the basis of their own character. Who they are and what they can do are thus twin pillars of successful rhetorical leadership. Leroy G. Dorsey introduces these themes, and David Zarefsky picks them up in looking at the historical development of rhetorical leadership within the office of the presidency. Each succeeding chapter then examines the rhetorical leadership of a particular president, often within the context of a specific incident or challenge that marked his term in office. Chapters dealing with George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton offer the specifics for a clearer understanding of how rhetoric serves leadership in the American presidency. This book provides an indispensable addition to the literature on the presidency and in leadership studies.

Providing a unique resource for readers seeking to understand the relationship between presidents, parties, and Congress, this book offers a new explanation of the motivations, strategies, and impacts of presidential midterm campaigns. Congress has been shaped by an unlikely force—presidential involvement in midterm campaigning. This book argues that midterm campaigning is a presidential Trojan horse and that in undertaking it, presidents have brought their parties to heel; indebted individual representatives and senators to them; and broken the ability of Congress to effectively check the executive office. Midterm Campaigning and the Modern Presidency looks at why presidential midterm campaigning emerged during the post-war period and why it did not emerge sooner; it then describes how presidents have shrewdly coordinated their midterm actions to not only shore up their immediate needs but also to remake in their own image both their party and Congress as a whole. Not merely about any particular election or candidate, the book shows that presidential midterm campaigning has a lasting impact on the behavior of Congress and on the future course of American political affairs.

Fred Greenstein has been a paragon of scholarship and practical advice in his many years of work on the presidency. Here, some of the leading scholars of the presidency and leadership studies come together to pay tribute to Greenstein and his work. Original essays reflect the broad sweep of Greenstein's scholarship from the systematic study of personality and politics to the analysis of chief executives from Woodrow Wilson on. The essayists pay special attention to the political styles, advisory systems, and decision-making processes of presidents from the 1920s to today. In his studies of the American presidency, Greenstein pioneered the use of archival documents to test hypotheses and illuminate issues that bear on the performance of the modern executive office. The distinguished list of contributors to this volume include John Burke, Robert A. Dahl, Alexander and Juliette George, Betty Glad, Alonzo Hamby, Erwin Hargrove, John Kessel, Anthony King, Kenneth Kitts, J. Donald Moon, and Fred Greenstein's first and last graduate students at Princeton--Larry Berman and Meena Bose. Greenstein himself generously writes a new essay on 'Plumbing the Presidential Psyche, ' adding to his substantial contributions to political psychology.

The Guide to the Presidency is an extensive study of the most important office of the U.S. political system. Its two volumes describe the history, workings and people involved in this office from Washington to Clinton. The thirty-seven chapters of the Guide, arranged into seven distinct subject areas (ranging from the origins of the office to the powers of the presidency to selection and removal) cover every aspect of the presidency. Initially dealing with the constitutional evolution of the presidency and its development, the book goes on to expand on the history of the office, how the presidency operates alongside the numerous departments and agents of the federal bureaucracy, and how the selection procedure works in ordinary and special cicumstances. Of special interest to the reader will be the illustrated biographies of every president from Washington to the present day, and the detailed overview of the vice-presidents and first ladies of each particular office. Also included are two special appendices, one of which gathers together important addresses and speeches from the Declaration of Independence to Clinton's Inaugural Address, and another which provides results from elections and polls and statistics from each office.

Contributors address aspects of presidential leadership in essays on how presidential values are determined or constructed, how they are condoned and criticized, how they are packaged and conveyed, and how they are interpreted and acted upon. Includes scholars from communication, history, law, philosophy, political science, and psychology