Book Description
In early 2000, the Center for the Study of the Presidency organized a group of eminent scholars to examine key cases of Presidential success and failure and the lessons learned. Leading presidential researchers and writers provided 76 case studies organized in nine broad subject areas. After surveying the broad sweep of presidential concerns, the scholars examine the "First One Hundred Days" of an Administration from FDR onward. They then review Executive-Legislative Relations, Domestic Policy, Fiscal Policy and International Economics, National Security Institutions and Decision Making, Foreign Interventions and Interactions, Managing the Executive Branch, Presidential Continuity: The Use of Individuals Across Administrations; and Presidential Crises: Watergate, Iran-Contra, and Impeachment. Must reading for executive branch figures and scholars, researchers, and the interested public concerned with presidential issues and American political history.
Customer Reviews:
Sweeping array of anecdotes and analyses.......2001-06-27
Short, well-categorized case studies from serious analysts are presented in this extensive book as a sort of beginner's manual for a new president. Any student of executive politics, or american politics in general, will find this book useful for its lessons and as a catalyst for further study. The assessments are presented seriously and soberly, but do not belabor points and weigh the reader down with pedantry.
Developing a coherent first "Hundred Days," managing Congressional relations, approaching foreign policy and foreign relations, developing economic policies, forming political consensus, and not enmiring the presidency in disputes to the detriment of core goals, are all topics addressed by categories. Different presidencies from FDR on are used in the case studies to ascertain success and/or failure.
Customer Reviews:
The buck stops here.......2007-07-06
This was required reading for a graduate course in American history. In this engaging biography, Robert H. Ferrell, who has authored and edited eight previous books on Truman, does an admirable job of presenting the life and presidency of Harry S. Truman. Although one can detect Ferrell's admiration for Truman, one senses from the extensive notes, bibliography, and research conducted at the Truman Library as well as his willingness to criticize Truman for his mistakes, that Ferrell has written a very balanced biography of Truman. Ferrell's book is a good introductory biography of Truman's whole life; the first eight chapters are devoted to his life prior to his ascendancy to the presidency in 1945 after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. One gets the sense that Truman was the last president of an earlier and simpler time in America. He was the last president who was not a college graduate nor was he well--off financially. Ferrell's biography captures the essence of what type of a man Truman was and what history and his fellow citizens perceived him as.
"A plain-speaking, straight-talking, ordinary fellow (people thought) who did what he saw as his duty without turning his obligation into opportunity for personal gain" (179). Ferrell also exposed Truman's flaws such as being overprotective and too loyal to friends that had done wrong. Often he took it as a personal affront when anyone differed with him.
Ferrell presents a few experiences from Truman's early years that formed his character. From farming, Truman gained a work ethic that served him well throughout his life. His experience as an artillery captain and battery commander during WWI was instrumental in proving to himself and others that he was a very capable and caring leader of men. This experience was instrumental in putting him on the path of a political life. His experience as a failed haberdasher and bank speculator in the 1920's caused Truman to be a fiscal conservative the rest of his life and a good steward of the government's money. In addition, he learned about and came to understand and respect ethnic minorities, such as Catholics and Jews, from his Army and haberdashery experiences. Thus, Ferrell astutely proved that understanding Truman's early life experiences are instrumental if one wants to properly analyze Truman's decision-making process in the domestic and foreign policy arena.
"The Buck Stops Here" placard on Truman's desk has become legendary in presidential history. One of his secretaries of state, Dean Acheson, admired Truman for capably understanding the complexities of a situation and his willingness to make a hard decision without vacillating. Truman was adept at gathering all of the facts in a timely manner, listening to people's opinions and turning the options over in his mind, and then when he arrived at what he thought was the correct decision, he made it and stuck to his guns. Truman wound up making many important decisions that have affected America to this day such as, using nuclear weapons against Japan to end WWII, integrating the military in 1948, recognizing the state of Israel, creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and involving American military forces in the Korean war.
One of the first, most momentous, and most often debated decisions that Truman had to make as President was whether to use two atomic bombs against Japan to hasten the end of WWII. Ferrell and other historians have made a very convincing argument to support Truman's decision-making process to use nuclear weapons to end the war. The Japanese military, who effectively controlled their government, were fanatics in their prosecution of the war. The Japanese people had suffered through numerous fire bombings of their cities in the months leading up to the end of the war, in which hundreds of thousands of their citizens were killed. In addition, the military had lost many battles and virtually all of its island holdings in the Pacific, and yet the government was strengthening its homeland forces and preparing for invasion instead of seriously considering surrender. Ferrell, relying on information gathered by Edward J. Drea, who wrote about the American military intelligence estimate gathered in July of 1945 mainly through the deciphering of Japanese radio traffic, showed that up to 600,000 Japanese were being prepared to fight in the event of an American invasion. Even this estimate turned out to be too low, since after the war American intelligence learned that the Japanese actually had some 900,000 prepared to fight against the invasion. American military estimates of the cost of life in the event of an invasion of the Japanese home islands were at best sketchy, and many historians who have written against the use of atomic weapons have used the unreliability of the estimates as one of their examples why Truman was wrong to use the nuclear option. However, Thomas B. Allen and Norman Polmar in their book, Codename Downfall, which detailed the plan to invade Japan, wrote that Truman was presented with an estimate that showed that there could be 238,000 American casualties and possibly the same number of Japanese casualties. This information coupled with the very real evidence of how tenaciously the Japanese people had fought was no myth, and convinced Truman that dropping the bombs on Japan to end the war was the right decision. One only had to look at the horrific casualty figures for American battles on Iwo Jima and Okinawa to name a few in order to understand just how fiercely the Japanese were capable of fighting. Ferrell aptly showed that Truman's decision has come under criticism throughout the years partly because of how he had stridently defended it and was so dismissive of the critics of his decision. "The president's critics, one suspects, were ready to accuse him because they did not admire other things he did or approved. They were critical because of his well-known decisiveness, which sometimes seemed offhanded" (214).
Truman, almost by necessity and circumstance, was forced to alter America's foreign policy of isolationism to one of internationalism. Truman realized the Korean War left him in a predicament. If he did not defend South Korea in the wake of North Korea's attack, he then would acquiescence to the Communist North Koreans, and ultimately the Russians. By not defending South Korea, American prestige in Asia and the world would undoubtedly would be tarnished. Yet, if he did attack, he risked a world war with the Chinese and the Russians, and ultimately a nuclear war. In light of the Truman doctrine, and America's stance on communism, Truman decided to defend South Korea. It was a widely unpopular war, which ended in a stalemate. Yet, Ferrell entertains a notion that America did not become the world superpower after WW II, but rather during the Korean War because America intervened to defend a non-communist nation, in essence, America became the police and protection force for weaker non-communist countries in the face of communist aggression. Many historians would agree that the year 1945 and the history after irreversibly changed the world. The cold war, America's role in world affairs, and the question of nuclear weapons all contributed.
Truman initially set about reorganizing the bureaucracy, conducting a complete overhaul of cabinet and staff. In addition to creating the Budget Bureau and the National Security Council, he created the Council of Economic Advisers, which he staffed it with both conservatives and liberals and regarded it as an advisory committee. Ferrell positively describes Truman's intellect, honesty, and integrity throughout the book but one of the places where it shines most brightly is in his civil rights efforts, which is rarely given the credit it deserves in historical accounts. Ferrell examines possible reasons behind Truman's change of heart on civil rights and concludes that much of his perspective came from his principled sense of fairness and his belief that the duty of the office of the President was to represent all Americans. The Truman-appointed Civil Rights Commission presented a frank report, entitled To Secure These Rights, with a ten-point agenda of civil rights reforms. Lacking congressional support, he turned to the power of executive orders to start the desegregation of the armed forces.
His second administration was marred by scandals, including the Hoey Investigation, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue illegal activity, for which the president was criticized for failing to take appropriate action. Another one of Truman's domestic challenges, which cost him politically, was labor strikes. To avoid a steelworker strike, Truman invoked what he believed to be the inherent powers of the president to seize control of the mills and was rebuffed by the Supreme Court. As the 1952 election loomed, Truman bristled that the emerging Democratic candidate, Adlai Stevenson, was distancing himself from Truman's administration. Although they reconciled and Truman even assisted with campaign speeches, it was to little avail. Eisenhower won 55 percent of the popular vote and Truman finished out his lame duck presidency.
In his post-presidency years, Truman returned to Independence and his quiet life. He solicited donations to build a presidential library, which he donated to the federal government, a convention which later presidents have followed. Likewise, he refused endorsements and placement in corporate payrolls because he believed that accepting financial opportunities would diminish the integrity of the office of President. As a result, Harry and Bess Truman lived out the remainder of their lives without the safety of financial savings. He established a precise daily routine at his library, which included writing copious amount of letters and receiving many visitors. Ever the politician, he remained connected with Washington life and accepted invitations to the White House in both the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. In his final years, bothered with health problems, he took refuge in music and books. He died the day after Christmas, 1972 and was buried at his presidential library in Independence, with all the pomp and circumstance fitting a former President.
Thus, Ferrell does a very convincing job of making one believe just how important and interesting it is to study Truman, especially since he was so very different from the presidents who had come before and after him.
Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, foreign policy, Cold War history.
terrible.......2004-02-14
Dull, trite and absolutely riddled with errors. Don't let students read this. Get McCullough's and make them plow through it.
just ok.......2003-06-29
I read this book for a history class, it was ok.
Average customer rating:
- solid starting point
- Excellent overview of Presidency from McKinley to GW Bush
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The Modern American Presidency
Lewis L. Gould
Manufacturer: University Press of Kansas
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ASIN: 0700612521 |
Book Description
Their idiosyncrasies and failures were as diverse as their accomplishments. William McKinley tracked press opinion before Richard Nixon was even born. Calvin Coolidge utilized radio and press conferences long before today's spin doctors. And John F. Kennedy brought the culture of celebrity to the White House.
The president of the United States may be the most powerful man in the world. But even though all of our modern presidents have acted in what they believed to be the country's best interests, Lewis Gould suggests that most of them fell short of the challenges of an impossible job. To treat the modern presidency as a success story, he claims, is to falsify the historical record.
The Modern American Presidency is a lively, interpretive synthesis of our twentieth-century leaders, filled with intriguing insights into how the presidency has evolved as America rose to prominence on the world stage. Gould traces the decline of the party system and the increasing importance of the media, resulting in the rise of the president as celebrity. He traces the growth of the White House staff and executive bureaucracy. And he shows us a succession of men who have increasingly known less and less about the presidency, observing that most would have had a better historical reputation if they had contented themselves with a single term.
Engagingly written for general readers while firmly grounded in scholarship for classroom use, this book takes a no-holds-barred approach to occupants of the Oval Office. Gould marks the accomplishments of lesser-known presidents--Taft's anticipation of the budget office, Harding's plans for a Defense Department--and casts higher-profile personalities in a fresh light, whether revisiting Nixon's preoccupation with reelection, exploring why the effort to remove Bill Clinton weakened the impeachment power, or contemplating George W. Bush's efforts to wage war against terrorism.
As Gould observes, today's presidency is so bogged down in media manipulation, fund-raising, and self indulgence that it is no more capable of grappling with difficulties than it was a century ago. The Modern American Presidency advocates the radical rethinking of what the nation needs from its chief executive and gives us the understanding we need to go about it.
Customer Reviews:
solid starting point.......2004-08-17
This is a briskly paced overview of one hundred years' worth of presidents, from McKinley to Clinton (with a very brief mention of George W. Bush). That Gould starts with McKinley is notable, for historians have tended to place the origins of the modern presidency with his successor, Theodore Roosevelt. In tracing the development of the presidency as an institution, Gould follows a handful of key themes: (1) the rise of mass media and its effects on the presidency; (2) the rise of continual campaigning; (3) problem-ridden second terms; and (4) the decline of parties and its consequences. Only the fourth receives unsatisfactory treatment: Gould mentions it as a theme and never really follows up on it, and while parties as nominating and institutional forces may have declined with the spread of primaries, they surely play a larger role in today's polarized political atmosphere.
Each president is assessed, and except for the somewhat unique argument for McKinley, the analyses are not surprising. Gould, for the most part, agrees with other historians' assessments. Not enough time has lapsed since Clinton, and the chapter he gets is weak; Gould opted to focus on the scandals and controversies. Most interesting of all, perhaps, is Gould's conclusion that the modern presidency is ill-equipped to deal with the problems of this century.
Overall, a solid overview of the presidency.
Excellent overview of Presidency from McKinley to GW Bush.......2004-03-18
This book is both erudite and accessible, and it's an excellent survey of the modern Presidency, which Gould, a respected University of Texas historian, points out has been transformed in roughly the past hundred years from an intimate, folksy, at times nearly one-man operation into an unwieldy, unworkable, and dangerously out-of-touch apparatus that has far less to do with running the country than it does with raising cash, making meaningless appearances and feeding the media, and getting re-elected to a Constitutionally-allowed (and historically-mandated) second term that in most cases is a failure compared with the first term. (Can you think of a President since Franklin Roosevelt whose second term was more successful than the first?)
Other reviewers of this book have pointed out that Gould's position on the evolution of the presidency is a paradox, since in order to be effective, the modern president must be a master of the perpetual campaign, and yet the perpetual campaign is what Gould believes is the bane of the presidency, transforming it into a position of celebrity and spectacle rather than one of leadership and policy. However, that is a paradox that needs to be examined more deeply in a philosophical context; this book is a survey, not a political science text, and Gould gets points for raising the paradox, which is a provocative one, in the first place.
The book is full of anecdotes and lucid detail about the modern presidents, along with Gould's snappy and precise evaluations of the strengths and weaknesses of each, and the factors in the broader political culture of each man's term in office that changed the presidency forever. He is not particularly partisan in his political stance; he has good and bad to say about each president. There are many surprises in this short but rewarding book, and there are excellent suggestions for further reading at the back.
Book Description
While presidents have always kept a watchful eye on the military, our generals have been equally vigilant in assessing the commander-in-chief. Their views, however, have been relatively neglected in the literature on civil-military relations. By taking us inside the military's mind in this matter, Dale Herspring's new book provides a path-breaking, utterly candid, and much-needed reassessment of a key relationship in American government and foreign policymaking.
As Herspring reminds us, that relationship has often been a very tense, even extremely antagonistic one, partly because the military has become a highly organized and very effective bureaucratic interest group. Reevaluating twelve presidents--from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush--Herspring shows how the intensity of that conflict depends largely on the military's perception of the president's leadership style. Quite simply, presidents who show genuine respect for military culture are much more likely to develop effective relations with the military than those who don't.
Each chapter focuses on one president and his key administrators-such as Robert McNamara, Henry Kissinger, and Donald Rumsfeld--and contains case studies showing how the military reacted to the president's leadership. In the final chapter, Herspring ranks the presidents according to their degree of conflict with the military: Lyndon Johnson received exceedingly low marks for being overbearing and dismissive of the armed forces. George H. W. Bush inspired respect for not micromanaging military affairs. And Bill Clinton was savaged by military leaders for having been a "draft dodger," cutting Pentagon spending, and giving the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" tag an unnecessarily high profile.
From World War II to Operation Iraqi Freedom, Herspring clearly shows how the nature of civilian control has changed during the past half century. He also reveals how the military has become a powerful bureaucratic interest group very much like others in Washington--increasingly politicized, media-savvy, and as much accountable to Congress as to the commander-in-chief.
This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.
Customer Reviews:
Apples and Oranges.......2006-05-04
This is a workman like book containing good information, but its style is somewhat pedestrian. Its author is quite fair in his treatment of U.S. Presidents from Roosevelt through G.W. Bush and their relationships to the military, but he should have exercised better judgment in the book's organization. In his efforts to be fair and impartial for all administrations, he essentially followed a pretty rigid format and devoted longer chapters to those administrations that lasted eight years and shorter chapters to those that lasted four years or less. This is fine in some ways, but unfortunate in others. For example, this reviewer would have preferred him to provide a much more detailed discussion of the Truman Presidency during which a unified Department of Defense was created by merging the War and Navy Departments over the strong objections of the Navy and at the same time the first efforts were made to create a unified military command structure creating the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the same vain, a more extensive treatment of the varying roles of the Secretaries of Defense (SECDEF) over these years would have been welcome. Certainly, the author provides enough material on this subject to tantalize the reader into wanting to read more about the subject. His premise that the relations between the Joint Chiefs and the various U.S. Presidents can be examined without also examining the role played by the SECDEFis just plain wrong. All in all this is a good book that could have been a lot better.
Deep, probing analysis of modern american military history.......2005-04-15
I had the pleasure of reviewing this book while still in its manuscript form. If you have ever wondered what went on behind the scenes of the American Military, the interactions of a President and the key players of a military this book will not disappoint you.
Dr. Herspring's well researched book analyzes how the leadership of the Presidents conflicted or meshed with his top Military Advisors as well as the Joint Chiefs of Staff and how ultimately this affected the history and the military actions of our country.
A must read for any Civil-Military Relations or Political Science student.
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Politics and Bureaucracy in the Modern Presidency: Careerists and Appointees in the Reagan Administration (Contributions in Political Science)
Robert Maranto
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
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ASIN: 031328332X |
Book Description
This is the first large-scale aggregate data study of career-noncareer relations in U.S. administrations. This research is put into the perspective of a succinct history of relations between careerists and political appointees. Interviews and comments from more than 50 surveys add further color and provide interesting impressions about relations during the Reagan administration. Findings lead to new, important conclusions and suggestions for reform. Political scientists, policymakers, public administrators, and historians will find this work valuable considering bureaucratic and political problems. Using a data base including 118 political appointees and 513 high-level career bureaucrats from 15 federal organizations in the Reagan administration, Maranto tests numerous propositions from political science and public administration concerning career-noncareer relations in the U.S. executive branch of government. The study starts with a history of the civil service, describes career-noncareer relations in the modern presidency, and then examines the Reagan administration. Maranto's findings indicate that the Reagan administration used ideological criteria in personnel policy but on a more modest scale than many have believed. A number of reforms are proposed for improving executive relationships.
Book Description
For history fans, political junkies and aviation buffs. Foreword by CBSs Bob Schieffer. Air Force One: The Aircraft that Shaped the Modern Presidency is the story of the planes, the Presidents, their staff and, their many trips across the nation and around the globe. But it's also more than thatit is a vehicle for better understanding the activities and dealings of each presidential administration in the second half of the twentieth century. Through vibrant photography, this book communicates the story of a unique set of planes and the presidents who made them a vital national asset. Now all of these planes and their famous passengers have been captured. Written by Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum curator Von Hardesty and featuring over 200 photographs, including new photos of the airplanes' interiors, this book takes you on a memorable flight through history. Through insider accounts and from a unique vantage point on well-known political events, Hardesty shows how the presidency was transformed by the remarkable advances in aviation technology.
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant Coffee Table Reading.......2005-07-09
I originally ordered this book after searching for titles on my son's 6th grade summer reading list. Air Force One is not what I would consider "summer reading" for a 6th grader, but it is a great coffee table quality book, with brilliant color and black and white photos interspersed through very well-written and interesting history of the president's aircraft. It gives insight into the world events during each U. S. presidency as well as some highlights of each presidents' use and views of Air Force One. Also included is a section on presidential pre-aircraft travel and Marine One, the president's helicopter. My son, who loves any information about aircraft, spent hours looking through it, although he did not read it word for word. Great to have as reference or historical enjoyment.
But where is Harrison Ford?.......2004-02-15
No symbol of American strength and progress says super power more vividly than Air Force One, the flying center of democratic government when our president travels. This informative and interesting book traces the history of chief executive flying from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush. Each president brought his own personality to the plane: John Kennedy was often hoisted in a steel cage to the entrance to avoid climbing the stairs with his ailing back; Richard Nixon preferred to remain isolated once aboard and seldom moved about the plane; Jimmy Carter used flights on Air Force One as a reward or inducement for congressional members' votes; Bill Clinton liked to pack the plane with political luminaries; in November Bush flew Air Force One into the heart of a hostile Baghdad to have Thanksgiving with our military in Iraq. There are numerous photographs and anecdotes about the plane and its place in history. There's also a foreword by broadcast journalist Bob Schiefer who was on board many flights in the Gerald Ford and Carter administrations.
Wonderful book!.......2004-01-31
This book would be of great interest to "presidential" buffs! There are wonderful, never before seen photos (at least to me)! I especially love the photo of President & Mrs. Reagan greeting their dog! However, I beleive the Reagans' dog was named "Rex" not Millie..as the caption states!
A reader engaging, informed and informative presentation.......2003-12-13
Van Hardesty brings a special expertise to this specialized aviation history by being the curator of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Air Force One: The Aircraft That Shaped The Modern Presidency is a reader engaging, informed and informative presentation on those advances in air travel which have affected the American Presidency and enabled America's leaders to make more and farther-ranging visits around the world. More than 260 color and archival photographs illustrate this absorbing story of the air vehicles that have served the American President in the twentieth century. Air Force One is a strongly recommended contribution to both Aviation History reference collections and American Political Science supplemental reading lists.
Well worth having.......2003-11-24
This is an interesting book both textually and visually. It shows how aviation made the Presidency a world office. Aviation buffs will enjoy the lineage of Presidential Aircraft and the inside and outside views. Much history occured on Air Force One and newsman Bob Schieffer presents some of the more historic moments for us. There is a table inside which shows how many assets and resources are necessary just to move the President of the United States which is an eye-opener. A fascinating book and a great gift idea for the holidays. It's one of those books that you'll look at again and again over the years.
Book Description
Where were you when President Kennedy was shot? Nearly everyone who was alive and aware in 1963 can answer that question. No single event stands out so sharply in our memories or shocked us so deeply. But Kennedy's tragic death colored our view of his life, creating a national blind spot that has hindered fair assessment of his administration.
Only now, nearly three decades after his death, have we begun to look objectively at Kennedy, both as a man and as a president. In The Presidency of John F. Kennedy, historian James Giglio provides a succinct, comprehensive, and highly readable assessment of the Kennedy years.
As a man, Giglio contends, Kennedy was indeed charming, witty, intelligent, and handsome, but he was also ambitious and vulnerable-a man who often failed to measure up to his romantic image.
As president, Kennedy did deal effectively with many domestic economic and social issues, but he provided only sporadic and belated leadership in civil rights. He made little effort to combat poverty. He was more adept at managing foreign crises than preventing them, and by 1963, Giglio writes, Kennedy was on a collision course in Vietnam.
Giglio utilizes the latest scholarship and newly opened material from the Kennedy Library to provide up-to-date analysis of a variety of issues (including agriculture, space, organized crime, and the Kennedy assassination) and personalities (Jacqueline Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson, Dean Rusk, Chester Bowles, and members of the White House staff and press). His portrait of the Kennedy years is clear, finely tuned, and long awaited.
This book is part of the American Presidency Series.
Customer Reviews:
Honest appraisal of a complex man.......2002-06-05
While it was shorter than most, that did not prevent the Kennedy presidency from being eventful, even without including the tragic end. The closest the world ever came to thermonuclear war was during the Cuban missile crisis, which is still a model for the management of a crisis between great powers. And the greatest public failure of a CIA sponsored action was the disastrous invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
While necessarily short, the description of the Cuban missile crisis was still amazing to read, as the hawkish position of the U. S. military commanders was clearly a harbinger of the same policy of ratcheting up the force that failed so badly in Vietnam. Some, although not all, of the commanders were for massive force, thinking that it would so intimidate the Cubans that it would be all over quickly. This event is one of the strongest arguments in favor of political control over the military and Kennedy showed himself to be strong-willed in doing all he could to find a political solution that allowed the Soviets a face-saving way to retreat.
Given all that has happened since then, it is amazing to be reminded that in the early years of the Kennedy administration the country in Southeast Asia that was considered most likely to fall under communist control was Laos. Here again, Kennedy showed himself willing to do whatever it took to find a political settlement. He was most reluctant to commit American combat forces in Southeast Asia, considering it dangerous and fraught will all kinds of unknown consequences.
This backdrop brings up the natural question as to whether Kennedy would have followed the path in Vietnam that Lyndon Johnson did. Giglio avoids spending a great deal of time on that continuous point of contention. However, he does bring up several very important points.
1) The disaster at the Bay of Pigs made him very skeptical of CIA and military "rosy scenarios."
2) His dealing with hawkish elements during the Cuban missile crisis made him skeptical of military statements about the effect of overwhelming military power. It also showed that he was willing to restrict the military in its' desire to blow things up.
3) Kennedy would most certainly have been re-elected in 1964 and as a President who would not face another election, he could have made unpopular, but correct decisions.
4) Kennedy and Khrushchev were beginning the process that was later known as détente, and that could have led to more of a political settlement in Vietnam along the model that was a modest success in Laos.
Together, these elements make one believe that Kennedy would not have made the same mistakes that Johnson did in Vietnam.
Kennedy's record on civil rights is far more mixed and it is clear that brother Bobby, who was also Attorney General, did a great deal to push John towards more involvement. Once more, John Kennedy was politically cautious in trying to avoid alienating southern Democrats. And yet, he did press the issue, showing that he did understand how important it was. Giglio rightly takes Kennedy to task on this battle that needed to be fought.
Finally, the descriptions of Kennedy's health problems and sexual exploits remind us of an earlier day when the press did have some standards in pressing into a public official's private life. Kennedy was a very sick man who took drugs to cope, and there is some reason to believe that he would have been an invalid by the time he completed his second term. The much celebrated sexual escapades of Bill Clinton are trivial in comparison, as Kennedy seemingly would sleep with any woman willing to do so. As ironic as it sounds so many years later, most people felt that the greatest danger to his person was a consequence of his sexual adventures, where he often had sex with women where the only screening done was the verification that they were female.
The Kennedy presidency was successful in many ways, most notably in foreign affairs, as he managed to reach political accords that were reasonable and certainly better than all possible alternatives. He was a strange combination of strong will and weak flesh, both in the literal and figurative sense. Giglio captures all of this, describing a man and an era named after him that was the precursor of the turbulence of the late sixties, where the world seemed to be tearing itself apart.
revealing.......2000-07-26
This book is neither an uncritical appraisal of Kennedy nor a damning account. Rather, the author has managed to give a critical but not biased view of Kennedy's presidency. Naturally, this involves disproving a couple of myths about "Camelot". I had to read this book for a university course about Kenndey's presidency and can recommend it to anyone interested in a fair account.
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Modern Presidency & Civil Rights: Rhetoric on Race from Roosevelt to Nixon (Presidential Rhetoric Series, No. 3)
Garth E. Pauley
Manufacturer: Texas A&M University Press
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ASIN: 1585441074 |
Average customer rating:
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The Modern American Vice Presidency: The Transformation of a Political Institution
Joel K. Goldstein
Manufacturer: Princeton Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0691022089 |
Book Description
The American Revolution was won not on the battlefields, but in the mind of George Washington. A compulsively readable narrative and extensive new history, George Washington's War illuminates how during the war's winter months the young general created a new model of leadership that would become the foundation of the new nation and the model for the American presidency.
Based on more than 1,500 original sources and written in the tradition of David McCullough's John Adams, historian Bruce Chadwick, Ph.D., dramatizes how the greatest threat to the American Revolution was not the British Army, but the infancy of the United States. During those terrible times, Washington had to create a military with soldiers who most often quit after a brief enlistment; deal with a backbiting and often uncaring Congress and the emerging states; overcome starvation, mutinies and a smallpox epidemic; and face winters so bitter that some of his men, without blankets or shoes, would freeze to death. By holding together an often despairing army and a disparate nation through creative, ingenious and often shocking methods, and by supporting democratic institutions to do so, Washington sired the republic that we know today.
Authoritative and dramatically rendered, George Washington's War is a spellbinding account of the hardships and real-life events that forged a great leader and a nation.
Customer Reviews:
Absorbing reading.......2007-02-17
One of the better histories of Washington's role in the Revolutionary War. Convincingly argues that without Washington, we would very likely still be an English colony today. Absorbing read!
Disappointed............2007-02-03
The title is misleading, I assumed a book titled George Washington's War, would be a book about the his military exploits,tactics, and descriptions of the battles fought.....right? Wrong.
I should have realized that this wasn't a military/warfare book by the fact it didn't have any battle maps, actually there are no maps at all. By the 4th chapter I realized what I bought. An extremely comprehensive and detailed account on the struggles of the incredibly hard task Washington faced with everything from logistics, inflation, small pox, half naked soldiers, famines, lack of ammunition, Loyalist, greedy merchants, etc, etc....
It does start off with promise. The detailed information was fascinating about life in the military camp and showcasing Washington's incredible genius to be an administrator and his perserverance in dealing with extreme adversity. Then it falls flat.
At times I thought I was reading the same exact page word-for-word from a previous chapter. I expected him at some point to go back and describe in any detail at all, the battles of Lexington and Concord, Battle of Bunker's Hill, his retreat throughout New York, Battle Of Brandywine creek, etc,etc. But instead it is the same scenario over and over on the difficulties the soldiers faced, logistic nightmares, his numerous problems with Congress, lack of money, etc., chapter after chapter.
The author is well informed and has a great depth of knowledge, but he loses the audience with the incredible amount of repetitive details and too many people who are irrelevant to the story. This book is not for those who want any type of military narrative or details on the battles that were actually fought. They are only talked about as a passing thought. There is no build up to anything, the detailed information becomes so repetitive it is hard to finish reading.
The Fight for America's Freedom and Democracy.......2006-01-18
Every kid in high school should be REQUIRED to read this book, Our founding father went through pure hell to fight for our country, establish democracy, freedom, and break from the British tyrants. The soldiers went through starvation. Eating the bark off trees, eating their dogs-anything to stay alive. Many times the Continential Army were at the breaking point, but the steady determination of George Washington, Nathaniel Greene, and countless leaders were determine to have victory at any cost. I could not lay this book down. It is very well-written, and you feel drawn into the book as if you were a part of the action. The winter's at Valley Forge & Morristown were harsh, and the epidemic of small pox would have destroyed the army if not for General Washington's orders of quarantine.
War is Hell, but the price of freedom is not cheap!
Wasting Washington's War.......2005-06-14
There are great overviews of the American Revolution: Angel in the Whirlwind, there are great analyses of critical moments: Washington's Crossing and there are many great biographies: John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, The First American. This tries to be all three fails miserably across the board. No insights, no new news and poor editing make this a real slog.
"Serving at the pleasure of the President".......2005-05-28
This book was excellent, if for no other reason, because it showed the true bravery and heroism of not only General George Washington, but those who followed him faithfully into the very jaws of oblivion! Such men as Knox (Washington's artillery commander -- whom the famous fort is named after) and Greene followed Washington through the war and faced a terrible and bloody end if they were captured by the British. What drove these men to follow one man on a quest for such an unheard-of dream?
"George Washington's War" chronicles the reasons why George Washington was so victorious not only in winning the American Revolution, but also in getting the men around him and those in the Continental Congress to put enough faith in him and grant him enough power to get the job done! As well, it shows how these very achievements were brought, by the glorified commander-in-chief, to the position of President of the United states several years later.
If you are a fan of the Revolution, you will find this book entertaining. However, if you are interested in how our nation's most celebrated office formed, and what that office trully stands for and is intended for, this book will be both entertaining and enlightening. Indeed, it made me yearn for politicians who thought the way this brilliant man did!
Books:
- Ulysses S. Grant : Memoirs and Selected Letters : Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant / Selected Letters, 1839-1865 (Library of America)
- Unwise Passions : A True Story of a Remarkable Woman and the First Great Scandal of 18th Century America
- Visions of Politics
- W. E. Gladstone III: Autobiographical Memoranda, 1845-1866 (Prime Ministers' Papers)
- Who's Running America? The Bush Restoration (7th Edition)
- 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life
- A Border Passage: From Cairo to America--A Woman's Journey
- Al Gore: A User's Manual
- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
- America's Wilderness: The Photographs of Ansel Adams
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