The End of Greatness

The End of Greatness
Author: Aaron David Miller
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2014-10-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137464461

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.

Great Presidential Wit

Great Presidential Wit
Author: Robert J. Dole
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2001
Genre: Presidents
ISBN: 0743203925

The former senator and presidential candidate collects bipartisan presidential humor from famous, and not-so-famous, chief executives, from Washington to Clinton.

The Best President the Nation Never Had

The Best President the Nation Never Had
Author: Roland McElroy
Publisher:
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2017
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780881466287

When Georgia's US Senator Richard B. Russell died January 21, 1971, the scramble began immediately to find a worthy successor. A number of political luminaries thought themselves imminently qualified, among them three former governors, a former congressman, and the state's current treasurer. All would be competing against the appointed senator, David Gambrell in the Democratic primary. The winner would face US Representative Fletcher Thompson in the general election. Thompson promised to tie any Democrat to one of the most unpopular political figures in America, George McGovern. The 1972 race definitely was not for the timid or faint hearted. Outside of Houston County, few people knew Sam Nunn's name. His closest friends thought he was crazy to consider mounting a candidacy for the US Senate, and told him so. His revered grand-uncle Carl Vinson, who served fifty years in Congress, was among them. Nunn, after all, was only in his second two-year term as a state representative and had just turned thirty-three years of age. On the day Nunn announced his intention to enter the Senate race, McElroy sat down with him to discuss next steps. Nunn pulled out a small gray file box, and shook it. "These are the people I know in the state of Georgia-all of them." The primary was nineteen weeks away. This book chronicles the journey McElroy took with Sam Nunn as he presented a message of common sense conservatism to the voters of Georgia in 1972. Nunn's principled approach to making government work through cooperation and compromise, and his demonstrated mastery of complex issues, placed him among a rare few considered every four years for the highest office in the land.

Almost President

Almost President
Author: Scott Farris
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2013-05-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0762784210

Veteran political journalist Scott Farris tells the stories of legendary presidential also-rans, from Henry Clay to Stephen Douglas, from William Jennings Bryan to Thomas Dewey, and from Adlai Stevenson to Al Gore. He also includes concise profiles of every major candidate nominated for president who never reached the White House but who helped promote the success of American democracy. Farris explains how Barry Goldwater achieved the party realignment that had eluded FDR, how George McGovern paved the way for Barack Obama, and how Ross Perot changed the way all presidential candidates campaign. There is Al Smith, the first Catholic nominee for president; and Adlai Stevenson, the candidate of the "eggheads" who remains the beau ideal of a liberal statesman. And Farris explores the potential legacies of recent runners-up John Kerry and John McCain. The book also includes compact and evocative portraits of such men as John C. Fremont, the first Republican Party presidential candidate; and General Winfield Scott, whose loss helped guarantee the Union victory in the Civil War. This new edition of Almost President brings the work up-to-date with a section that explores the results and ramifications of the 2012 presidential election.

"MR. PRESIDENT"

Author: Harlow Giles Unger
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2013-10-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 0306822415

Although the framers gave the president little authority, George Washington knew whatever he did would set precedents for generations of future leaders. To ensure their ability to defend the nation, he simply ignored the Constitution when he thought it necessary. In a revealing new look at the birth of American government, “Mr. President” describes Washington's presidency in a time of continual crisis, as rebellion and attacks by foreign enemies threatened to destroy this new nation. Constantly weighing preservation of the Union against preservation of individual liberties and states' rights, Washington assumed more power with each crisis. In a series of brilliant but unconstitutional maneuvers he forced Congress to cede control of the four pillars of executive power: war, finance, foreign affairs, and law enforcement. Drawing on rare documents and letters, Unger shows how Washington combined political cunning and sheer genius to seize ever-widening powers, impose law and order while ensuring individual freedom, and shape the office of President of the United States.

White House Years

White House Years
Author: Henry Kissinger
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 1318
Release: 2011-05-24
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1451636466

One of the most important books to come out of the Nixon Administration, the New York Times bestselling White House Years covers Henry Kissinger’s first four years (1969–1973) as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Among the momentous events recounted in this first volume of Kissinger’s timeless memoirs are his secret negotiations with the North Vietnamese in Paris to end the Vietnam War, the Jordan crisis of 1970, the India-Pakistan war of 1971, his back-channel and face-to-face negotiations with Soviet leaders to limit the nuclear arms race, his secret journey to China, and the historic summit meetings in Moscow and Beijing in 1972. He covers major controversies of the period, including events in Laos and Cambodia, his “peace is at hand” press conference and the breakdown of talks with the North Vietnamese that led to the Christmas bombing in 1972. Throughout, Kissinger presents candid portraits of world leaders, including Richard Nixon, Anwar Sadat, Golda Meir, Jordan’s King Hussein, Leonid Brezhnev, Chairman Mao and Chou En-lai, Willy Brandt, Charles de Gaulle, and many others. White House Years is Henry Kissinger’s invaluable and lasting contribution to the history of this crucial time.

Yo, Millard Fillmore!

Yo, Millard Fillmore!
Author: Will Cleveland
Publisher: Millbrook Press
Total Pages: 122
Release: 1997-01-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780761302537

Presents facts about each president accompanied by cartoon-style illustrations to serve as memory aids and quizzes to reinforce information.

Rise to Greatness

Rise to Greatness
Author: David Von Drehle
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2012-10-30
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 080507970X

"Von Drehle has chosen a critical year ('the most eventful year in American history' and the year Lincoln rose to greatness), done his homework, and written a spirited account."N"Publishers Weekly."

How to Fight Presidents

How to Fight Presidents
Author: Daniel O'Brien
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2014-03-18
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 038534757X

Make no mistake: Our founding fathers were more bandanas-and-muscles than powdered-wigs-and-tea. As a prisoner of war, Andrew Jackson walked several miles barefoot across state lines while suffering from smallpox and a serious head wound received when he refused to polish the boots of the soldiers who had taken him captive. He was thirteen years old. A few decades later, he became the first popularly elected president and served the nation, pausing briefly only to beat a would-be assassin with a cane to within an inch of his life. Theodore Roosevelt had asthma, was blind in one eye, survived multiple gunshot wounds, had only one regret (that there were no wars to fight under his presidency), and was the first U.S. president to win the Medal of Honor, which he did after he died. Faced with the choice, George Washington actually preferred the sound of bullets whizzing by his head in battle over the sound of silence. And now these men—these hallowed leaders of the free world—want to kick your ass. Plenty of historians can tell you which president had the most effective economic strategies, and which president helped shape our current political parties, but can any of them tell you what to do if you encounter Chester A. Arthur in a bare-knuckled boxing fight? This book will teach you how to be better, stronger, faster, and more deadly than the most powerful (and craziest) men in history. You’re welcome.