Product Description: When Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, immigration and refugee policy was among the unresolved matters that he inherited from his predecessor, Jimmy Carter. Over three decades later, it remains largely unresolved, due not only to the men who would inhabit the White House, but to interest groups and members of Congress, many of them Catholic, on all sides of the issue...read more

Product Description: Robert Smith and Richard Seltzer offer fresh insights on the decisive, and often surprising, role of presidents and presidential candidates in polarizing US politics. In a rich, multidimensional narrative, the authors show how presidential rhetoric and policies have served to divide voters along lines of class, party, race, and region...read more

Product Description: This is a fresh analysis of the core factors that spell success, mediocrity, or outright failure in the White House. It discusses how some chief executives have managed to avoid pitfalls better than others. It shows us how core presidential errors interact and compound, with significant implications for the performance of the political system as a whole...read more

Product Description: 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...read more

Product Description: Examines how the president balances the competing demands of leading his political party and leading the nation.Throughout their time in office, American presidents are often forced to choose between leading the nation and leading their party...read more

Product Description: This book examines the role and importance of the Presidency in the formulation and conduct of US grand strategy. The text discusses US strategic history, with particular emphasis on the period from the end of the Cold War to the present day...read more

Product Description: In The Presidential Road Show: Public Leadership in an Era of Party Polarization and Media Fragmentation, Diane J. Heith evaluates presidential leadership by critically examining a fundamental tenet of the presidency: the national nature of the office...read more

Product Description: Throughout American history presidents have been accused of being liars, of deceiving others for political gain, of being corrupt, or of violating the Constitution. Such criticism is, to some extent, a facet of our political culture...read more

Product Description: As the most prominent figure of the U.S. government, the president is under constant scrutiny from both his colleagues and the American people. Questions about the proper role of the president have been especially prevalent in the media during the current economic crisis...read more

Product Description: It is hard to imagine a more Orwellian presidency than George W. Bush’s, according to Joseph Russomanno, who demonstrates how a form of Newspeak became thoroughly entrenched in the historical record. Bush and his team, especially Vice President Dick Cheney, neither respected the Constitution nor the separation of powers...read more

Hard Line traces the history of Republican Party foreign policy since World War II by focusing on the conservative leaders who shaped it. Colin Dueck closely examines the political careers and foreign-policy legacies of Robert Taft, Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush. He shows how Republicans shifted away from isolationism in the years leading up to World War II and oscillated between realism and idealism during and after the cold war. Yet despite these changes, Dueck argues, conservative foreign policy has been characterized by a hawkish and intense American nationalism, and presidential leadership has been the driving force behind it. What does the future hold for Republican foreign policy? Hard Line demonstrates that the answer depends on who becomes the next Republican president. Dueck challenges the popular notion that Republican foreign policy today is beholden to economic interests or neoconservative intellectuals. He shows how Republican presidents have been granted remarkably wide leeway to define their party's foreign policy in the past, and how the future of conservative foreign policy will depend on whether the next Republican president exercises the prudence, pragmatism, and care needed to implement hawkish foreign policies skillfully and successfully. Hard Line reveals how most Republican presidents since World War II have done just that, and how their accomplishments can help guide future conservative presidents.