The American President: From Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton

by William E. Leuchtenburg

Overview

The American President is an enthralling account of American presidential actions from the assassination of William McKinley in 1901 to Bill Clinton's last night in office in January 2001. William Leuchtenburg, one of the great presidential historians of the century, portrays each of the presidents in a chronicle sparkling with anecdote and wit.

Leuchtenburg offers a nuanced assessment of their conduct in office, preoccupations, and temperament. His book presents countless moments of high drama: FDR hurling defiance at the "economic royalists" who exploited the poor; ratcheting tension for JFK as Soviet vessels approach an American naval blockade; a grievously wounded Reagan joking with nurses while fighting for his life.

This book charts the enormous growth of presidential power from its lowly state in the late nineteenth century to the imperial presidency of the twentieth. That striking change was manifested both at home in periods of progressive reform and abroad, notably in two world wars, Vietnam, and the war on terror.

Leuchtenburg sheds light on presidents battling with contradictory forces. Caught between maintaining their reputation and executing their goals, many practiced deceits that shape their image today. But he also reveals how the country's leaders pulled off magnificent achievements worthy of the nation's pride. Now with a preface new to the paperback edition, The American President provides a timely reflection on the office that has shaped and continues to shape the destiny of the United States and its people.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190907020
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	912
Sales rank:	703,795
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 2.00(d)

About the Author

William E. Leuchtenburg is the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Over the course of six decades, he taught at Columbia University, UNC-Chapel Hill, and, as a visiting professor, at Harvard, Cornell, Duke, William and Mary and other American universities, as well as at Oxford where he held the Harmsworth chair. He served as presidential elections analyst for NBC and as presidential inauguration consultant for CBS, PBS, and C-SPAN. Elected president of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the Society of American Historians, he is the first recipient of the Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Award for Distinguished Writing in American History of Enduring Public Significance. He is the author of fifteen books, including The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-32, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940, In the Shadow of FDR: From Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan, The White House Looks
South: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and His Legacy, and Herbert Hoover.

Table of Contents

Preface to the New Edition

Prologue

Chapter 1: Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft
Chapter 2: Woodrow Wilson
Chapter 3: Intermezzo: Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover
Chapter 4: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Chapter 5: Harry Truman
Chapter 6: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Chapter 7: John F. Kennedy
Chapter 8: Lyndon B. Johnson
Chapter 9: Richard Nixon
Chapter 10: The President at Bay: Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter
Chapter 11: Ronald Reagan
Chapter 12: George H. W. Bush
Chapter 13: Bill Clinton

Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"[T]he author presents a highly readable and informative history of the twentieth century....Leuchtenburg has written a wonderful book."—Daryl A. Carter, The Journal of Southern History

"A top-notch historian brings together recondite research with felicitous prose. An excellent choice for students of 20th-century American history."—Kirkus Review

"Wow! What an achievement by this 93-year-old historian...At 70, I am in awe of what William Leuchtenburg has accomplished in this doorstopper of a book. He is perhaps today's greatest presidential historian, and not of the presidency as some insular realm, but as it intersected with national life, which makes this book also a history of the nation in the 20th century."—Michael Sherry, American Scholar

"Mr. Leuchtenburg's books are known for original research, effective writing and persuasive analysis. For the "capstone" of a lifetime of publishing important works Mr. Leuchtenburg has assembled a compelling study. This is not a book to be devoured at one sitting. But surely Mr. Leuchtenburg has earned the right to deal with the presidents as seems best to him, given his rich research, abundant insights and distinguished career. Mr. Leuchtenburg hits his stride in 20 artful essays that capture what each president did and how their tenure impacted the office. As current presidential candidates woo Iowa caucus-goers, tramp through the snows of New Hampshire, and eventually turn south for Super Tuesday, they each could benefit from reading Mr. Leuchtenburg's informed and wise treatments of men who once held the office they now seek with such ardor."—Lewis Gould, Wall Street Journal

"This is a riveting narrative, written by someone with a deep knowledge of the Presidents and our complicated country. It seems an almost effortless work, but, of course, it's not. William Leuchtenburg has spent the better part of a century studying the mechanics of this Republic and the men (so far) charged with leading it. The result here is a fast-paced, dramatic literary achievement that will be around and used for centuries."—Ken Burns, filmmaker

"A rare gift, The American President is the unique product of more than seven decades of research and close observation of one of the twentieth century's most important political developments: the growth of the American presidency. This is a magisterial work, the perfect match of subject and author. Few historians today can write with authority on even two or three presidencies; Leuchtenburg alone can expound fluently on the institution across an entire century. This is narrative history at its finest."—Russell L. Riley, Co-chair, Presidential Oral History Program, The Miller Center, University of Virginia

"Based on decades of study in countess archival collections and a wide array of published volumes, William Leuchtenburg's The American President brilliantly captures the central role of America's twentieth-century presidents in shaping the nation's domestic and foreign affairs. His book will join a very short list of essential studies of the modern presidency, the men who shaped the office, and American life in the more than the hundred years since Teddy Roosevelt entered the White House. The book is a compelling refutation of the argument that the 'imperial presidency' has become an 'imperiled' institution. It is above all a lucid portrayal of the seventeen men from Teddy Roosevelt to Clinton who occupied the country's highest office and led the country through its many challenges."—Robert Dallek, author of presidential studies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan

From the Publisher

★ 2015-09-15
An acclaimed historian examines the American presidency from 1901 to 2001. Even though he was uninspiring, William McKinley, assassinated in 1901, was the "creator of the 20th-century presidency," writes Leuchtenburg (Emeritus, History/Univ. of North Carolina; Herbert Hoover, 2006, etc.), who chronicles the entire presidential gallery across the 20th century. So what made McKinley so modern? Not only was he the first to ride in an automobile, appear in motion pictures, and use the telephone, but he set up a table for reporters to brief them daily and pursued a more imperial executive style in deploying American troops on his own authority. This greatly increased power of the presidency was new, as the country at that point was expanding hugely in terms of industry and population. With the accession of Theodore Roosevelt, the office became the famous "bully pulpit" of a muscular, progressive leader, not afraid to take on big business—e.g., J.P. Morgan's Northern Securities Company, trustbusted by the Supreme Court in 1904. Woodrow Wilson, with his "stern demeanor and his kinetic energy," was both revered for his idealism and vilified for the scarring of the World War I years. After the "Wilsonian usurpation," writes Leuchtenburg, Congress was "in no mood to indulge a strong executive." The country was content with Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover yet welcomed the activism during the Great Depression of Franklin Roosevelt, a transformative president when he had to become commander in chief of the armed forces, then engaged in "a global struggle against fascism." What the author conveys so marvelously is the sense of how such seemingly ordinary Americans—e.g., Harry Truman, "a man so transparently unqualified"; Dwight Eisenhower, son of a storekeeper in Abilene, Kansas; the polarizing, paranoid Richard Nixon; good-natured Gerald Ford; peanut farmer Jimmy Carter—could bring majesty to the office. A top-notch historian brings together recondite research with felicitous prose. An excellent choice for students of 20th-century American history.

Kirkus Reviews