Winner, 2008 Richard E. Neustadt Award, Presidency Research Group organized section of the American Political Science Association Political scientists are rarely able to study presidents from inside the White House while presidents are governing, campaigning, and delivering thousands of speeches. It’s even rarer to find one who manages to get officials such as political adviser Karl Rove or presidential counselor Dan Bartlett to discuss their strategies while those strategies are under construction. But that is exactly what Martha Joynt Kumar pulls off in her fascinating new book, which draws on her first-hand reporting, interviewing, and original scholarship to produce analyses of the media and communications operations of the past four administrations, including chapters on George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Kumar describes how today’s White House communications and media operations can be at once in flux and remarkably stable over time. She describes how the presidential Press Office that was once manned by a single presidential advisor evolved into a multilayered communications machine that employs hundreds of people, what modern presidents seek to accomplish through their operations, and how presidents measure what they get for their considerable efforts. Laced throughout with in-depth statistics, historical insights, and you-are-there interviews with key White House staffers and journalists, this indispensable and comprehensive dissection of presidential communications operations will be key reading for scholars of the White House researching the presidency, political communications, journalism, and any other discipline where how and when one speaks is at least as important as what one says.

This book traces the evolution of White House news management during America’s changing media environment over the past two decades. Comparing and contrasting the communication strategies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, it demonstrates the difficulty that all presidents have in controlling their messages despite a seemingly endless array of new media outlets and the great advantages of the office. That difficulty is compounded by new media’s amplification of presidential character traits for good or ill. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube notwithstanding, presidential power still resides in the "power to persuade," and that task remains a steep challenge. More than ever, presidential character matters, and the media presidents now employ report on the messenger as much as the message. The book also looks at the media strategies of candidates during the 2016 presidential campaign, puts presidential media use in global context, and covers the early phase of the Trump administration, the first true Twitter presidency.

Especially coming out of the landmark presidential elections of 2008 and 2016, the study of the American presidency--both as a political institution and of those who have held the office--is one of the most fascinating and dynamic fields of study within American government. New Directions in the American Presidency takes a current look at the various issues facing the contemporary presidency and provides a "state of the art" overview of current trends in the field of presidency research. This volume of original chapters by leading presidential scholars is designed to include all the essential topics covered in an undergraduate-level presidency course or a graduate-level seminar while also bringing together key disciplinary debates and treatment of important current real-world developments. Each chapter is written with students in mind so that it remains accessible, interesting, and engaging. New to the Second Edition New key chapters on presidents and political parties and presidential leadership (essential following the 2016 presidential election). A fresh approach to the President and the Constitution, and the President and domestic policymaking, are provided by new authors for these foundational chapters. All chapters have been revised with updates coming out the 2016 election, especially in relation to presidential campaign politics, media, and the Supreme Court.

President Ronald Reagan taught James Rosebush to be an impactful speaker. Now he's going to teach you. Public speaking isn't easy. Just ask anyone who's ever blown a sales pitch, failed a class, or fumbled their way through a presentation because they froze up or couldn't find the right words. No wonder more than 75 percent of people in the United States suffer from Glossophobia, the fear of speaking in front of crowds. Luckily, public speaking isn't some innate ability. It's a skill. And given the right amount of time, energy, and perseverance, anyone can learn how it's done. In Winning Your Audience, James Rosebush draws on several decades of experience working with presidents, politicians, and business leaders to write his own manual for delivering a message with confidence. He looks back on the lessons he learned travelling the world with President Ronald Reagan, whom he served under for five years in the White House, and lays out the keys to "the Reagan speech template": Question, Inform, Inspire, Ask. Rosebush also studies some of the great political orators of our time. Vital lessons from the likes of Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and President Donald Trump are distilled down to a few simple rules. Among them are:· Be authentic· Know yourself· Practice and rehearse...and then do it again · Don't care what your mother thinks of you No matter what kind of speeches, toasts, or presentations you have to give, this book can help. Use it like a textbook. Write in the margins. Tear out pages. Winning Your Audience can make even the most timid speakers among us into a genuine leaders. Read it now and learn how to win your audience.

The media have become principal actors on the American political scene. Politicians and their press secretaries release news items with one eye on the event and the other on the millions of voters who depend on the White House press corps to keep them informed about the workings of their government. Portraying the President explores the inner workings of the relationship between the White House and the press. Rather than emphasize the well-publicized sparring between inquisitive reporters and evasive administrative spokesmen intent on enhancing the President's public image, the authors stress the vast amount of cooperation between journalists and their sources. They point out the similarities of the White House-media relationship in recent administrations and suggest what shape it is likely to take in the future. The authors also address the key issues of information management and manipulation by both the administration and the press. Grossman and Kumar demonstrate that, whether a lower level staff member leaks a news item to elevate his own status or an official spokesman mentions a new policy proposal in order to gather support, the release of information to the White House press corps involves complicated strategies among a number of administrative personnel. Washington reporters, aware of some of these tactics, compensate by cultivating personal sources and trading information with officials. Nevertheless, the routine nature of White House reporting and the competitiveness of modern news organizations often trap the reporter into what has been called "pack journalism." Interviews with current and former White House reporters, including Bob Schieffer, Tom Brokaw, James Naughton, James Reston, and John Osborne, give Portraying the President an authentic, firsthand sound and feel. Comments from Ron Nessen, Gerald Rafshoon, Jody Powell, and other presidential spokesmen and advisors, give insight into White House operations during the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations. Portraying the President provides information vital to an appreciation of the modern American political system. Its thought-provoking conclusions will be of interest political scientists, media specialists, and anyone interested in current affairs.

“A Washington insider draws on decades of experience to deliver a blistering critique of the state of American government” (Kirkus Reviews) in an authoritative scrutiny of the forces that run our society and a call to fix our democracy before it’s too late. If you’ve been watching the news and worrying that our democracy no longer works, this book, “a cri de coeur from one of our wisest Americans” (Michael Beschloss, Presidential Historian), will help you understand why you’re right. There is colossal concentration of power in the Presidency. Congress is crippled by partisanship and hostage to special interest money. The Supreme Court and many lower federal courts are riven by politics. Add politically fractured and fragile media, feckless campaign finance laws, rampant income and education inequality, and multicultural divisions, and it’s no wonder our leaders can’t agree on anything or muster a solid majority of Americans behind them. With decades at the top in government, law, and business, Joseph A. Califano, Jr. has the capacity to be party-neutral in his evaluation and the perspective to see the big picture of our democracy. Using revealing anecdotes featuring every modern president and actions of both parties, he makes the urgent case that while we do not need to agree on all aspects of politics, we do need to trust each other and be worthy of that trust. He shows how, as engaged citizens, we can bring back systems of government that promote fairness and protect our freedom. “It’s hard to argue with [Califano’s] analysis” (The New York Times Book Review) that the longer we wait to fix these problems, the more dangerous our situation will become.