Wounded Titans: American Presidents and the Perils of Power
“Readers who miss the magisterial pronunciamentos of the late Max Lerner . . . will relish this collection of Lerner’s writings on a subject that preoccupied him.” —Booklist

Max Lerner taught generations of Americans about their government. For almost half a century, the office of the presidency preoccupied his prodigious energies and unparalleled expertise. Lerner not only wrote about the men who inhabited the Oval Office during that time, he knew them personally, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Bill Clinton—and he knew what made them tick. Here are Lerner’s complete writings on the presidency and American presidents.

Lerner believed that the nature of the office transforms presidents into titans, but wounded titans, bowed and sometimes broken by forces, fate, destiny, or history, that lie beyond their control. Roosevelt’s attempt to pack the Supreme Court; Truman’s efforts to manhandle the steel industry; Eisenhower’s belief that he could control the military-industrial complex; Kennedy’s hyperactive libido and recklessness; Nixon’s conviction he could manipulate political process: every president has had immortal yearnings, and the office that inflated his pride also enlarged his flaws.

With a new foreword, Wounded Titans contains Lerner’s classic essays on the presidency and its development as well as his most famous presidential portraits and the best of his campaign journalism. Learned, wise, illuminating, entertaining, both timely and timeless, Wounded Titans is as large in spirit and scope as the American presidency itself.
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Wounded Titans: American Presidents and the Perils of Power
“Readers who miss the magisterial pronunciamentos of the late Max Lerner . . . will relish this collection of Lerner’s writings on a subject that preoccupied him.” —Booklist

Max Lerner taught generations of Americans about their government. For almost half a century, the office of the presidency preoccupied his prodigious energies and unparalleled expertise. Lerner not only wrote about the men who inhabited the Oval Office during that time, he knew them personally, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Bill Clinton—and he knew what made them tick. Here are Lerner’s complete writings on the presidency and American presidents.

Lerner believed that the nature of the office transforms presidents into titans, but wounded titans, bowed and sometimes broken by forces, fate, destiny, or history, that lie beyond their control. Roosevelt’s attempt to pack the Supreme Court; Truman’s efforts to manhandle the steel industry; Eisenhower’s belief that he could control the military-industrial complex; Kennedy’s hyperactive libido and recklessness; Nixon’s conviction he could manipulate political process: every president has had immortal yearnings, and the office that inflated his pride also enlarged his flaws.

With a new foreword, Wounded Titans contains Lerner’s classic essays on the presidency and its development as well as his most famous presidential portraits and the best of his campaign journalism. Learned, wise, illuminating, entertaining, both timely and timeless, Wounded Titans is as large in spirit and scope as the American presidency itself.
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Wounded Titans: American Presidents and the Perils of Power

Wounded Titans: American Presidents and the Perils of Power

Wounded Titans: American Presidents and the Perils of Power

Wounded Titans: American Presidents and the Perils of Power

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Overview

“Readers who miss the magisterial pronunciamentos of the late Max Lerner . . . will relish this collection of Lerner’s writings on a subject that preoccupied him.” —Booklist

Max Lerner taught generations of Americans about their government. For almost half a century, the office of the presidency preoccupied his prodigious energies and unparalleled expertise. Lerner not only wrote about the men who inhabited the Oval Office during that time, he knew them personally, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Bill Clinton—and he knew what made them tick. Here are Lerner’s complete writings on the presidency and American presidents.

Lerner believed that the nature of the office transforms presidents into titans, but wounded titans, bowed and sometimes broken by forces, fate, destiny, or history, that lie beyond their control. Roosevelt’s attempt to pack the Supreme Court; Truman’s efforts to manhandle the steel industry; Eisenhower’s belief that he could control the military-industrial complex; Kennedy’s hyperactive libido and recklessness; Nixon’s conviction he could manipulate political process: every president has had immortal yearnings, and the office that inflated his pride also enlarged his flaws.

With a new foreword, Wounded Titans contains Lerner’s classic essays on the presidency and its development as well as his most famous presidential portraits and the best of his campaign journalism. Learned, wise, illuminating, entertaining, both timely and timeless, Wounded Titans is as large in spirit and scope as the American presidency itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781628727678
Publisher: Arcade
Publication date: 06/06/2017
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 464
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Max Lerner is the author of, among many other works, America as a Civilization, The Unfinished Country, and Wrestling with the Angel. For the last twenty years of his life, he wrote a highly respected, widely syndicated newspaper column. He died on June 5, 1992.

Robert Schmuhl is chairman of the Department of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame and author of Ireland’s Exiled Children: America and the Easter Rising and Thomas Jefferson: America’s Philosopher-King.

David Greenberg is a professor of history at Rutgers University and the author of several books about American history and politics, including the prizewinning Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image and Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the 2017 Edition vii

Acknowledgments xi

Editor's Introduction xiii

Author's Prologue xxi

Part I Aspects of the Presidency and Some Assessments

Foreword 3

The Style and Genius of American Politics 5

Presidency and Demos 13

Presidential Leadership in the New America 24

Wounded Titans 31

The Shaping of American Presidents 46

Eros and Power 62

Desire and Power in the White House 86

The Ardors and Tribulations of the Journey of Liberalism 103

Part II A Gallery of Presidents

Foreword 125

America's Philosopher-King Thomas Jefferson 127

From the People, For the People Abraham Lincoln 139

The Flawed Paradigm Franklin D. Roosevelt 152

The Plutarchian President Harry S Truman 186

The Torturous Descent from Olympus Richard Nixon 218

Commander of a Counterrevolution Ronald Reagan 252

Part III Electing a President

Foreword 267

1940: Roosevelt vs. Willkie 269

1944: Roosevelt vs. Dewey 276

1948: Truman vs. Dewey 290

1952: Eisenhower vs. Stevenson 299

1956: Eisenhower vs. Stevenson 310

1960: Kennedy vs. Nixon 327

1964: Johnson vs. Goldwater 344

1968: Nixon vs. Humphrey 353

1972: Nixon vs. McGovern 371

1976: Carter vs. Ford 382

1980: Reagan vs. Carter 396

1984: Reagan vs. Mondale 405

1988: Bush vs. Dukakis 415

1992: Clinton vs. Bush 425

President Hunting in an Electronic Wonderland 431

Coda: The Last Column 436

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