Download or read book President as Leader written by Michael E Siegel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By analyzing the leadership skills of five recent American presidents, this book seeks to de-mystify the elements and dynamics of effective presidential leadership which our democracy has come to depend upon and value. Building on the pioneering work of political scientist Fred Greenstein and others, this book argues that leadership in the White House can be explained and assessed by using a consistent set of criteria to analyze presidential performance. Siegel shows that presidential leadership is exercised by real, flawed human beings, and not by superheroes or philosopher-kings beyond the reach of scrutiny or critique.
Download or read book The End of Greatness written by Aaron David Miller and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Presidency has always been an implausible—some might even say an impossible—job. Part of the problem is that the challenges of the presidency and the expectations Americans have for their presidents have skyrocketed, while the president's capacity and power to deliver on what ails the nations has diminished. Indeed, as citizens we continue to aspire and hope for greatness in our only nationally elected office. The problem of course is that the demand for great presidents has always exceeded the supply. As a result, Americans are adrift in a kind of Presidential Bermuda Triangle suspended between the great presidents we want and the ones we can no longer have. The End of Greatness explores the concept of greatness in the presidency and the ways in which it has become both essential and detrimental to America and the nation's politics. Miller argues that greatness in presidents is a much overrated virtue. Indeed, greatness is too rare to be relevant in our current politics, and driven as it is by nation-encumbering crisis, too dangerous to be desirable. Our preoccupation with greatness in the presidency consistently inflates our expectations, skews the debate over presidential performance, and drives presidents to misjudge their own times and capacity. And our focus on the individual misses the constraints of both the office and the times, distorting how Presidents actually lead. In wanting and expecting our leaders to be great, we have simply made it impossible for them to be good. The End of Greatness takes a journey through presidential history, helping us understand how greatness in the presidency was achieved, why it's gone, and how we can better come to appreciate the presidents we have, rather than being consumed with the ones we want.
Download or read book The Effective President written by John C. Hoy and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Papers and discussion presented at the Symposium on the American Presidency held at the University of California, Irvine, in 1976.
Download or read book A President s Guide to Effective Board Leadership written by William Troutt and published by . This book was released on 2023-06-30 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Why Presidents Fail And How They Can Succeed Again written by Elaine C. Kamarck and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2016-07-26 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Failure should not be an option in the presidency, but for too long it has been the norm. From the botched attempt to rescue the U.S. diplomats held hostage by Iran in 1980 under President Jimmy Carter and the missed intelligence on Al Qaeda before 9-11 under George W. Bush to, most recently, the computer meltdown that marked the arrival of health care reform under Barack Obama, the American presidency has been a profile in failure. In Why Presidents Fail and How They Can Succeed Again, Elaine Kamarck surveys these and other recent presidential failures to understand why Americans have lost faith in their leaders—and how they can get it back. Kamarck argues that presidents today spend too much time talking and not enough time governing, and that they have allowed themselves to become more and more distant from the federal bureaucracy that is supposed to implement policy. After decades of "imperial" and "rhetorical" presidencies, we are in need of a "managerial" president. This White House insider and former Harvard academic explains the difficulties of governing in our modern political landscape, and offers examples and recommendations of how our next president can not only recreate faith in leadership but also run a competent, successful administration.
Download or read book Effective Presidency written by Erwin C. Hargrove and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-11-17 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second edition of this classic work adds a new chapter on Barack Obama and updates coverage of the end of the George W. Bush administration. Presidential scholar Erwin C. Hargrove extends his analytical framework of presidential effectiveness to show how Obama combines eventful leadership with pragmatism to move the nation forward in an intensely polarized partisan environment. Features of the textbook: Uses an analytical framework to assess historical context, personal skills and attributes, and the ability to "make a difference" in each of ten presidencies. Four presidents are judged to be "event-making" leaders: Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, and George W. Bush. Six presidents are assessed as "eventful" leaders: JFK, Ford, Carter, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, and Obama. As much a study of leadership as an analysis of ten presidencies, this book adds to our understanding in political science, history, and public administration and management.
Download or read book War and the American Presidency written by Arthur Meier Schlesinger and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2005-10-17 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Historical reflections that deftly challenge the political and ideological foundations of President Bush's foreign policy."--Charles A. Kupchan, New York Times In a book that brings a magisterial command of history to the most urgent of contemporary questions, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., explores the war in Iraq, the presidency, and the future of democracy. Describing unilateralism as "the oldest doctrine in American history," Schlesinger nevertheless warns of the dangers posed by the fatal turn in U.S. policy from deterrence and containment to preventive war. He writes powerfully about George W. Bush's expansion of presidential power, reminding us nevertheless of our country's distinguished legacy of patriotism through dissent in wartime. And in a new chapter written especially for the paperback edition, he examines the historical role of religion in American politics as a background for an assessment of Bush's faith-based presidency.
Download or read book Why Moderates Make the Best Presidents written by Gil Troy and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2012-09-12 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George Washington, Abraham, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan-most would agree their presidencies were amongst the most successful in American history. But what made these very different men such effective leaders? According to presidential historian Gil Troy, these presidents succeeded not because of their bold political visions, but because of their moderation. Although many presidential candidates claim to be moderates, the word cannot conceal a political climate defined by extreme rhetoric and virulent partisanship. In this book, Troy argues that this is a distinctly un-American state of affairs. The great presidents of American history have always sought a golden mean-from George Washington, who brilliantly mediated between the competing visions of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, to Abraham Lincoln, who rescued the union with his principled pragmatism, to the two Roosevelts, Theodore and Franklin, who united millions of Americans with their powerful, affirmative, nationalist visions. Moderation in politics is difficult to achieve in an age of excess-an anything-goes culture feeds an all-or-nothing politics. In the face of challenges both at home and abroad, Troy calls for a muscular moderation, a powerful affirmation of the values that united us and a commitment to a politics that builds from the center rather than playing to extremes. As America lines up to select its next president, Gil Troy brilliantly reminds us of the finest traditions of presidential leadership from our nation's past. Published in 2008 (by Basic Books) as Leading from the Center. This is first time in paperback.
Download or read book The President as Leader written by Erwin C. Hargrove and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few issues have clung to the presidency in recent years as tenaciously as that of moral leadership. This timely book, based on a lifetime of personal observation by an award-winning author, examines the politics of ideals to propose that, just as moral purpose without political craft is weak, political acumen without moral appeal is futile. Looking back to the timeless political theories of Aristotle and Machiavelli, Erwin C. Hargrove asks how presidents can most effectively combine political arts and skills with intellectual and moral leadership. He draws on his own scholarly research and synthesizes critical thinking about leadership—especially the point-counterpoint perspectives of Richard Neustadt and James MacGregor Burns. With insight and intelligence, he shows how effective leadership demands a judicious balance of commitment to the public good and an ability to discern the possibilities for political action at any moment. Hargrove argues that political leadership must contain a moral element if it is to be fully effective, and that a successful president must provide leadership in accord with the ideals embedded in American culture. To demonstrate this theory, he suggests a model with which to analyze, compare, and evaluate political leaders, and then assesses the presidencies of Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Ronald Reagan according to the model's normative implications. By examining the three presidents in terms of skill, character, cultural leadership, and other qualities, Hargrove extends his analysis beyond individual presidents to generate keen insights about presidential leadership in general. This thoughtful book clearly demonstrates that craft dissolves into cleverness without a clear sense of moral purpose, and that truth-telling, empowerment, and altruism in politics are not only desirable but achievable. The President as Leader is the capstone of a distinguished career, synthesizing years of observation and research about issues that occupy the thoughts of many Americans. In taking Lincoln's evocation of the better angels of our nature as a source of inspiration for his own reflections, Hargrove reminds us that we, as leaders, have the means before us to become better versions of ourselves.
Download or read book Correspondence of Andrew Jackson to April 30 1814 written by Andrew Jackson and published by . This book was released on 1926 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Lessons in Leadership written by Steve Adubato and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2016-09 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this practical guide, Emmy Award-winning public broadcasting anchor Steve Adubato teaches readers to be self-aware, empathetic, and more effective leaders at work and at home. His powerful case studies spotlighting dozens of leaders—from Pope Francis to New Jersey governor Chris Christie—are complemented by concrete tips and tools based in real-life scenarios. With Lessons in Leadership, readers can learn to steer others through difficult economic times, to mentor rising leaders, to provide straight talk to underperforming employees, and even how to lead a company through a significant change.
Download or read book Why Moderates Make the Best Presidents written by Gil Troy and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2012-09-12 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George Washington, Abraham, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan-most would agree their presidencies were amongst the most successful in American history. But what made these very different men such effective leaders? According to presidential historian Gil Troy, these presidents succeeded not because of their bold political visions, but because of their moderation. Although many presidential candidates claim to be moderates, the word cannot conceal a political climate defined by extreme rhetoric and virulent partisanship. In this book, Troy argues that this is a distinctly un-American state of affairs. The great presidents of American history have always sought a golden mean-from George Washington, who brilliantly mediated between the competing visions of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, to Abraham Lincoln, who rescued the union with his principled pragmatism, to the two Roosevelts, Theodore and Franklin, who united millions of Americans with their powerful, affirmative, nationalist visions. Moderation in politics is difficult to achieve in an age of excess-an anything-goes culture feeds an all-or-nothing politics. In the face of challenges both at home and abroad, Troy calls for a muscular moderation, a powerful affirmation of the values that united us and a commitment to a politics that builds from the center rather than playing to extremes. As America lines up to select its next president, Gil Troy brilliantly reminds us of the finest traditions of presidential leadership from our nation's past. Published in 2008 (by Basic Books) as Leading from the Center. This is first time in paperback.
Download or read book Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era written by Joseph S. Nye Jr. and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-08-31 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How presidents forged the American century This book examines the foreign policy decisions of the presidents who presided over the most critical phases of America's rise to world primacy in the twentieth century, and assesses the effectiveness and ethics of their choices. Joseph Nye, who was ranked as one of Foreign Policy magazine’s 100 Top Global Thinkers, reveals how some presidents tried with varying success to forge a new international order while others sought to manage America’s existing position. The book shows how transformational presidents like Wilson and Reagan changed how America sees the world, but argues that transactional presidents like Eisenhower and the elder Bush were sometimes more effective and ethical. It also draws important lessons for today’s uncertain world, in which presidential decision making is more critical than ever.
Download or read book Author in Chief written by Craig Fehrman and published by Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-02-11 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “One of the best books on the American presidency to appear in recent years.” —Thomas Mallon, The Wall Street Journal “Fun and fascinating…It’s witty, charming, and fantastically learned. I loved it.” —Rick Perlstein Based on a decade of research and reporting, Author in Chief tells the story of America’s presidents as authors—and offers a delightful new window into the public and private lives of our highest leaders. Most Americans are familiar with Abraham Lincoln’s famous words in the Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation Proclamation. Yet few can name the work that helped him win the presidency: his published collection of speeches entitled Political Debates between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln labored in secret to get his book ready for the 1860 election, tracking down newspaper transcripts, editing them carefully for fairness, and hunting for a printer who would meet his specifications. Political Debates sold fifty thousand copies—the rough equivalent of half a million books in today’s market—and it reveals something about Lincoln’s presidential ambitions. But it also reveals something about his heart and mind. When voters asked about his beliefs, Lincoln liked to point them to his book. In Craig Fehrman’s groundbreaking work of history, Author in Chief, the story of America’s presidents and their books opens a rich new window into presidential biography. From volumes lost to history—Calvin Coolidge’s Autobiography, which was one of the most widely discussed titles of 1929—to ones we know and love—Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father, which was very nearly never published—Fehrman unearths countless insights about the presidents through their literary works. Presidential books have made an enormous impact on American history, catapulting their authors to the national stage and even turning key elections. Beginning with Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, the first presidential book to influence a campaign, and John Adams’s Autobiography, the first score-settling presidential memoir, Author in Chief draws on newly uncovered information—including never-before-published letters from Andrew Jackson, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan—to cast fresh light on the private drives and self-doubts that fueled our nation’s leaders. We see Teddy Roosevelt as a vulnerable first-time author, struggling to write the book that would become a classic of American history. We see Reagan painstakingly revising Where’s the Rest of Me?, a forgotten memoir in which he sharpened his sunny political image. We see Donald Trump negotiating the deal for The Art of the Deal, the volume that made him synonymous with business savvy. Alongside each of these authors, we also glimpse the everyday Americans who read them. Combining the narrative felicity of a journalist with the rigorous scholarship of a historian, Fehrman delivers a feast for history lovers, book lovers, and everybody curious about a behind-the-scenes look at our presidents.
Download or read book The Worst President in History written by Matt Margolis and published by Bombardier Books. This book was released on 2018-07-24 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Amazon Bestseller! The Most Comprehensive Takedown of the Obama Presidency! “If you want to know why the history books will have a dim view of Barack Obama, this is the book to read.”—John Hawkins, Right Wing News and Townhall.com The presumption of Barack Obama’s presidential greatness began before he even won the presidency. Now that he’s out of office, presidential “experts” and historians are ranking Obama as one of our nation’s greatest presidents, placing him amongst Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Truman. Obama’s presidency was certainly consequential, but it was by no means great. Did Barack Obama really save America from another Great Depression? Did he really unite America or improve America’s global image? Did he really usher in a new era of post-partisanship and government transparency? Did he really expand health coverage while lowering costs and cutting taxes? Did he really make America safer and stronger than it was when he first took office? According to his supporters in the media, Hollywood, and academia, he did. But they are wrong. And they’re working aggressively to ensure their version of Obama’s legacy is written into the history books. How can you discover and protect the truth? Matt Margolis and Mark Noonan have compiled everything you need to know about the presidency of Barack Obama into a single source. First published in 2016, this book has now been updated to include the entirety of Obama’s presidency, and the shocking details that have come to light since he left office. The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama compiles two hundred inconvenient truths about Obama’s presidency—the facts that define his legacy: his real impact on the economy; the disaster that is Obamacare; his shocking abuses of taxpayer dollars; his bitterly divisive style of governing; his shameless usurping of the Constitution; his many scandals and cover-ups; his policy failures at home and abroad; the unprecedented expansion of government power...and more. In his farewell address to supporters on January 11, 2017, Barack Obama declared, “By almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was when we started.” This book destroys that narrative, putting Obama’s presidency into historical context and offering an avalanche of facts that simply cannot be ignored. All of these facts are now at your fingertips in a single source. The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama is your ultimate guide to Obama’s real presidential record—the record he’d like history to forget.
Download or read book Andrew Johnson written by Annette Gordon-Reed and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2011-01-18 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian recounts the tale of the unwanted president who ran afoul of Congress over Reconstruction and was nearly removed from office Andrew Johnson never expected to be president. But just six weeks after becoming Abraham Lincoln's vice president, the events at Ford's Theatre thrust him into the nation's highest office. Johnson faced a nearly impossible task—to succeed America's greatest chief executive, to bind the nation's wounds after the Civil War, and to work with a Congress controlled by the so-called Radical Republicans. Annette Gordon-Reed, one of America's leading historians of slavery, shows how ill-suited Johnson was for this daunting task. His vision of reconciliation abandoned the millions of former slaves (for whom he felt undisguised contempt) and antagonized congressional leaders, who tried to limit his powers and eventually impeached him. The climax of Johnson's presidency was his trial in the Senate and his acquittal by a single vote, which Gordon-Reed recounts with drama and palpable tension. Despite his victory, Johnson's term in office was a crucial missed opportunity; he failed the country at a pivotal moment, leaving America with problems that we are still trying to solve.
Download or read book The Trials of Harry S Truman written by Jeffrey Frank and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-03-14 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jeffrey Frank, author of the bestselling Ike and Dick, returns with the “beguiling” (The New York Times) first full account of the Truman presidency in nearly thirty years, recounting how a seemingly ordinary man met the extraordinary challenge of leading America through the pivotal years of the mid-20th century. The nearly eight years of Harry Truman’s presidency—among the most turbulent in American history—were marked by victory in the wars against Germany and Japan; the first use of an atomic bomb and the development of far deadlier weapons; the start of the Cold War and the creation of the NATO alliance; the Marshall Plan to rebuild the wreckage of postwar Europe; the Red Scare; and the fateful decision to commit troops to fight a costly “limited war” in Korea. Historians have tended to portray Truman as stolid and decisive, with a homespun manner, but the man who emerges in The Trials of Harry S. Truman is complex and surprising. He believed that the point of public service was to improve the lives of one’s fellow citizens and fought for a national health insurance plan. While he was disturbed by the brutal treatment of African Americans and came to support stronger civil rights laws, he never relinquished the deep-rooted outlook of someone with Confederate ancestry reared in rural Missouri. He was often carried along by the rush of events and guided by men who succeeded in refining his fixed and facile view of the postwar world. And while he prided himself on his Midwestern rationality, he could act out of instinct and combativeness, as when he asserted a president’s untested power to seize the nation’s steel mills. The Truman who emerges in these pages is a man with generous impulses, loyal to friends and family, and blessed with keen political instincts, but insecure, quick to anger, and prone to hasty decisions. Archival discoveries, and research that led from Missouri to Washington, Berlin and Korea, have contributed to an indelible and “intimate” (The Washington Post) portrait of a man, born in the 19th century, who set the nation on a course that reverberates in the 21st century, a leader who never lost a schoolboy’s love for his country and its Constitution.
