Defining the Chief Executive via flash powder and selfie sticks Lincoln’s somber portraits. Lyndon Johnson’s swearing in. George W. Bush’s reaction to learning about the 9/11 attacks. Photography plays an indelible role in how we remember and define American presidents. Throughout history, presidents have actively participated in all aspects of photography, not only by sitting for photos but by taking and consuming them. Cara A. Finnegan ventures from a newly-discovered daguerreotype of John Quincy Adams to Barack Obama’s selfies to tell the stories of how presidents have participated in the medium’s transformative moments. As she shows, technological developments not only changed photography, but introduced new visual values that influence how we judge an image. At the same time, presidential photographs—as representations of leaders who symbolized the nation—sparked public debate on these values and their implications. An original journey through political history, Photographic Presidents reveals the intertwined evolution of an American institution and a medium that continues to define it.

Throughout their time in office, American presidents are often forced to choose between leading the nation and leading their party. In an earlier time when the major parties were less polarized, this leadership dilemma, while challenging, was not nearly as vexing as it is today. American presidents now find themselves with little room to maneuver, compelled to serve the Constitution on the one hand and yet caught within bitter partisan disputes and large numbers of unaffiliated voters on the other. The contributors to this volume investigate how recent presidents have navigated these increasingly rocky political waters. Focusing on campaign strategy, presidential rhetoric, relations with Congress, domestic and foreign policy, The Presidential Leadership Dilemma presents a wide-ranging, detailed, and fascinating study of how contemporary presidents face the challenge at the heart of every presidency.

This book systematically examines the first terms of every president from FDR to Barack Obama and assesses the leadership style and policy agenda of each. Success in bringing about policy change is shown to hinge on the leadership style and skill in managing a variety of institutional and public relationships. The second edition of this timely book adds chapters on George W. Bush and Obama and focuses on the significant domestic policy challenges of their respective times. The authors have reconfigured the analytical framework of the book to take into account the 'dynamic opportunity structure' that emerged during the George W. Bush administration. The Presidency and Domestic Policy provides unique insights into contemporary presidential leadership in a highly partisan age.

The cornerstone of the public presidency is the ability of the White House to influence, shape, and even manipulate public opinion. Ultimately, although much has been written about presidential leadership of opinion, we are still left with many questions pertaining to the success of presidential opinion leadership efforts throughout the modern presidency. What is still missing is a systematic, sequential approach to describe empirical trends in presidential leadership of public opinion in order to expand on important scholarly queries, to resolve empirical disputes in the literature, and to check the accuracy of conventional political wisdom on how, when, and under what conditions presidents lead public opinion. In The Provisional Pulpit, Brandon Rottinghaus develops a simple theory of presidential leadership, arguing that presidential messages are more likely to be received if there are fewer countervailing agents or messages to contradict the president’s message. He concludes, based upon the findings presented in this book, that the “bully pulpit” is largely provisional for modern presidents. The more the president can avoid the political echo chamber associated with partisan battles or communications, the better the chance the president has to lead public opinion. The Provisional Pulpit adds an important layer of understanding to the issue of how and under what conditions presidents lead public opinion. All modern presidents clearly attempt to lead public opinion; often, due to factors outside their control, they fail. This book is an exploration into how and when they succeed.

Quest for the Presidency gathers in a single volume the compelling stories behind every presidential campaign in American history, from 1789 through 2020. Bob Riel takes us inside the 1800 clash between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the 1860 election that launched the Civil War, the 1948 whistle-stop comeback of Harry Truman, the Kennedy-Nixon drama of 1960, the 1980 Reagan Revolution, the historic 2008 election of Barack Obama, the turbulent 2020 battle between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and everything in between. This engaging and insightful book includes a trove of entertaining stories about campaigns and candidates, and it goes beyond the campaign tales to also consider the threads that link elections across time. It sheds light on the continually evolving story of American democracy in a way that helps us to better understand present-day politics.

This book systematically examines the first terms of every president from FDR to Joe Biden and assesses the leadership style and policy agenda of each. Success in bringing about policy change is shown to hinge on the leadership style and skill in managing a variety of institutional and public relationships. Presidents are evaluated based on the level of opportunity they faced. The third edition of this timely book adds chapters on Donald Trump and Joe Biden and focuses on the significant domestic policy challenges of their respective times. For students of presidential history, leadership, and public policy, The Presidency and Domestic Policy provides unique insights into contemporary presidential leadership in a highly partisan age. New to the Third Edition Two new chapters focusing on Trump and Biden, showing its policy similarities as well as differences from earlier administrations A reassessment of the domestic policy legacies of Bill Clinton (especially in regard to crime and the financial services industries) A sharper focus on racial politics resulting from both the Clinton and Obama eras An exploration of administrative approaches to governing domestically and unilateral decision making—normally reserved for the foreign policy arena but now applied on the domestic side as well (e.g., executive orders) The increasing linkage between domestic and foreign policy issue arenas, particularly in the areas of immigration, trade, and environmental policy An assessment of judicial politics in the framework of the four leadership dimensions presidents bring to office, and also in terms of the impact on domestic policy outputs