Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> American Government - Executive Branch

Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in March of 1933 as America touched bottom. Banks were closing everywhere. Millions of people lost everything. The Great Depression had caused a national breakdown. With the craft of a master storyteller, Jonathan Alter brings us closer than ever before to the Roosevelt magic. Facing the gravest crisis since the Civil War, FDR used his cagey political instincts and ebullient temperament in the storied first Hundred Days of his presidency to pull off an astonishing conjuring...

With surprising new sources and a dazzling command of history and human character, Beschloss brings to life those flawed, complex men -- and their wives, families, friends and foes. Never have we had a more intimate, behind-the-scenes view of Presidents coping with the supreme dilemmas of their lives. For...

Based on a completely new nationwide survey prepared exclusively for this edition of Presidential Leadership, two of America's most prominent institutions, The Wall Street Journal and the Federalist Society, explore just what it is that makes a president great and then rank each from best to worst. Now with updated chapters on Bush and "Leadership in the Midst of Controversy," a wide range of eminent scholars, journalists, and political leaders evaluate the competence of our nation's chief executives, including that of George...

What place do first ministers, along with the cabinets they select, have in democratic life in Canada? Has cabinet really become just a focus group for the Prime Minister? Do political staff and central agency bureaucrats enhance or diminish democracy? Do private members have any say in the cabinet process?

In an accessible, thorough, and balanced fashion, this volume of the Canadian Democratic Audit examines the concentration of power in cabinet and the prime minister's office. Taking the view that to explain our Westminster-style government as a benign dictatorship is an...

The complex man at the center of America's most self-destructive presidency

In this provocative and revelatory assessment of the only president ever forced out of office, the legendary Washington journalist Elizabeth Drew explains how Richard M. Nixon's troubled inner life offers the key to understanding his presidency. She shows how Nixon was surprisingly indecisive on domestic issues and often wasn't interested in them. Turning to international affairs, she reveals the inner workings of Nixon's complex relationship with Henry Kissinger, and their mutual rivalry and distrust....

The 2004 presidential election was closely watched from all corners of the world and dominated the media for nearly a year. From the opening announcements of campaigns through the primaries and debates to the first Tuesday in November, the presidential election was ubiquitous, filling our email inboxes and directing our dinner conversation, turning us all into amateur political analysts. Electing the President, 2004 offers the views of the professional political operatives who ran the campaigns.

In this volume, the consultants who brought the country the Bush-Cheney and...

Since its creation by the National Security Act of 1947 the office of secretary of defense has grown rapidly in power and influence, surpassing at times that of the secretary of state to become second only to the presidency in the government of the United States. The pivotal secretaries, according to Kinnard, are James Forrestal, Charles Wilson, Robert McNamara, Melvin Laird, and James Schlesinger.

Kinnard analyzes the administration of each of these secretaries not only within the domestic and international contexts of his time but also within the bureaucratic world in which the...

History has not been kind to Gerald Ford. His name evokes an image of either America's only unelected president, who abruptly pardoned his corrupt predecessor, or an accident-prone man who failed to provide skilled leadership to a country in domestic turmoil. In Gerald Ford and the Challenges of the 1970s, historian Yanek Mieczkowski reexamines Ford's two and a half years in office, showing that his presidency successfully confronted the most vexing crises of the postwar era.

Surveying the state of America in the 1970s, Mieczkowski focuses on the economic challenges facing...

A frank and refreshing evaluation of several Chief Executives, their Directors of Central Intelligence, and even some lower in the hierarchy, Executive Secrets shines light on the development and execution of foreign policy through the understanding of the tools available, of which covert action may be least known and understood. This book is a great tool for the press, the public, and many political appointees in the National Security System. A History Book Club Selection with a foreword by Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down.

American voters say they want to hear more about the issues and less about partisan politics. An unusually wide-open presidential race presents a unique opening for frank discussion and innovative solutions to pressing policy challenges. Opportunity 08 takes advantage of this political space to help presidential candidates, political observers, and the informed public focus on critical issues facing the nation. Opportunity 08 tackles a broad range of issues, organized under three categories: Our World, Our Society, and Our Prosperity. On the latter, for example, Brookings scholar Isabel...