The Limits of Power: The Nixon and Ford Administrations

by John Robert Greene

Overview

This book argues the thesis that during the Nixon and Ford administrations America discovered the limits of its power, and that both presidents had, therefore, to adjust to new realities in both their domestic and their international activities. It was also the period when the American people first insisted on certain limits to presidential activity, and even forced a powerful president from office for that reason. Like the distinguished preceding volumes in this series by Charles Alexander on Eisenhower and Jim Heath on the Kennedy-Johnson years, John Greene's book provides a balanced historical assessment of the Nixon and Ford administrations. The volume forcuses on both domestic and foreign policy and presents one of the first true historical judgments about these administrations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253326379
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	09/22/1992
Series:	America Since World Series
Pages:	316
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Editorial Reviews

This perceptive analysis of eight years of Republican leadership (1969-1977) seeks to explain why the ``Myth of the Omnipotent President,'' as Greene dubs it, came to an end. An associate professor of history and communications at Cazenovia College in upstate New York, Greene recounts the familiar Watergate story, then shows how Richard Nixon left the office of President ``infinitely more limited'' than it had been when he was sworn in. He goes on to describe the populace's brief romance with Gerald Ford, which ended abruptly when Ford pardoned Nixon. Greene takes a close and revealing look at the dynamics of this decision, arguing that Ford's mistake was not so much in granting the pardon as in granting it on Nixon's terms. Unable to chart a coherent course for his administration--due partly to a recalcitrant Congress and partly to feuding among members of his staff--Ford lost a close election to Jimmy Carter in 1976, after two years of wielding power and influence that were ``more limited,'' in Greene's view, than those of any other President. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly