The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents: From Wilson to Obama: Politically Incorrect Guides (Paperback)
Autor Steven F. Haywarden Limba Engleză Paperback – 31 ian 2012
What Makes a President Great?
Academics, journalists, and popular historians agree. Our greatest presidents are the ones who confronted a national crisis and mobilized the entire nation to face it. That’s the conventional wisdom. The chief executives who are celebrated in textbooks and placed in the top echelon of presidents in surveys of experts are the “bold” leaders— the Woodrow Wilsons and Franklin Roosevelts— who reshaped the United States in line with their grand “vision” for America.
Unfortunately, along the way, these “great” presidents inevitably expanded government— and shrunk our liberties.
As the twentieth-century presidency has grown far beyond the bounds the Founders established for the office, the idea that our chief executive is responsible to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States” has become a distant memory.
Historian and celebrated Reagan biographer Steven F. Hayward reminds us that the Founders had an entirely different idea of greatness in the presidential office. The personal ambitions, populist appeals, and bribes paid to the voters with their own money that most modern presidents engage in would strike them as instances of the demagoguery they most feared— one of the great dangers to the people’s liberty that they wrote the Constitution explicitly to guard against. The Founders, in contrast to today’s historians, expected great presidents to be champions of the limited government established by the Constitution.
Working from that almost forgotten standard of presidential greatness, Steven Hayward offers a fascinating off–the–beaten–track tour through the modern presidency, from the Progressive Era’s Woodrow Wilson to Barack Obama. Along the way, he serves up fresh historical insights, recalls forgotten anecdotes, celebrates undervalued presidents who took important stands in defense of the Constitution— and points the way to a revival of truly constitutional government in America.
What you didn’t learn from your history teacher, but will find in The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to the Presidents:
Progressive hero Woodrow Wilson aired a pro–Ku Klux Klan movie at the White House
Calvin Coolidge, much mocked by liberal historians as a bland Babbitt, was the last president to write his own speeches, guided the country through years of prosperity and limited government, and was one of the most cultured men ever to live in the White House
Why Eisenhower’s two biggest mistakes as president were, in his own words “both sitting on the Supreme Court”
How as president JFK took mind–altering drugs, many of them prescribed by a physician he called “Dr. Feelgood,” who later lost his medical license for malpractice
Nixon’s hysterically vilified Christmas bombing of North Vietnam in 1972 caused very few civilian casualties and compelled North Vietnam to negotiate an end to the Vietnam War
The misunderestimated George W. Bush read 186 books during his presidency, mostly non–fiction, biography, and history
Academics, journalists, and popular historians agree. Our greatest presidents are the ones who confronted a national crisis and mobilized the entire nation to face it. That’s the conventional wisdom. The chief executives who are celebrated in textbooks and placed in the top echelon of presidents in surveys of experts are the “bold” leaders— the Woodrow Wilsons and Franklin Roosevelts— who reshaped the United States in line with their grand “vision” for America.
Unfortunately, along the way, these “great” presidents inevitably expanded government— and shrunk our liberties.
As the twentieth-century presidency has grown far beyond the bounds the Founders established for the office, the idea that our chief executive is responsible to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States” has become a distant memory.
Historian and celebrated Reagan biographer Steven F. Hayward reminds us that the Founders had an entirely different idea of greatness in the presidential office. The personal ambitions, populist appeals, and bribes paid to the voters with their own money that most modern presidents engage in would strike them as instances of the demagoguery they most feared— one of the great dangers to the people’s liberty that they wrote the Constitution explicitly to guard against. The Founders, in contrast to today’s historians, expected great presidents to be champions of the limited government established by the Constitution.
Working from that almost forgotten standard of presidential greatness, Steven Hayward offers a fascinating off–the–beaten–track tour through the modern presidency, from the Progressive Era’s Woodrow Wilson to Barack Obama. Along the way, he serves up fresh historical insights, recalls forgotten anecdotes, celebrates undervalued presidents who took important stands in defense of the Constitution— and points the way to a revival of truly constitutional government in America.
What you didn’t learn from your history teacher, but will find in The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to the Presidents:
Progressive hero Woodrow Wilson aired a pro–Ku Klux Klan movie at the White House
Calvin Coolidge, much mocked by liberal historians as a bland Babbitt, was the last president to write his own speeches, guided the country through years of prosperity and limited government, and was one of the most cultured men ever to live in the White House
Why Eisenhower’s two biggest mistakes as president were, in his own words “both sitting on the Supreme Court”
How as president JFK took mind–altering drugs, many of them prescribed by a physician he called “Dr. Feelgood,” who later lost his medical license for malpractice
Nixon’s hysterically vilified Christmas bombing of North Vietnam in 1972 caused very few civilian casualties and compelled North Vietnam to negotiate an end to the Vietnam War
The misunderestimated George W. Bush read 186 books during his presidency, mostly non–fiction, biography, and history
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9781596987760
ISBN-10: 1596987766
Pagini: 307
Dimensiuni: 183 x 226 x 18 mm
Greutate: 0.54 kg
Editura: Regnery Publishing Inc
Seria Politically Incorrect Guides (Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1596987766
Pagini: 307
Dimensiuni: 183 x 226 x 18 mm
Greutate: 0.54 kg
Editura: Regnery Publishing Inc
Seria Politically Incorrect Guides (Paperback)
Recenzii
“Steven Hayward, one of my favorite historians and writers, has some pretty whacky ideas. For example, he thinks presidents should be graded on their loyalty to their oath of office. Why, it’s just crazy enough to work! Read this book not only because it is entertaining, insightful, and informative but also because it’s the perfect antidote to presidential grade inflation.”
—Jonah Goldberg, editor-at-large of National Review Online and author of Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
“One of the keys to restoring the government to its proper limits will be to have our presidents serve in their originally intended role as defenders of the Constitution, rather than undermining it through endless expansions of the administrative state. It is surprising how seldom we evaluate presidents according to whether they live up to their oath of office, and we have Steven Hayward to thank for reminding us of the presidents who understood this, and those who didn’t.”
—Edwin Meese III, Attorney General in the Ronald Reagan administration and Chairman of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation
“Every president takes an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. But how well do they perform this basic duty? Modern historians have mostly ignored this question, but Steven Hayward tackles it head on, grading the presidents of the last hundred years. He’s a tough grader, and his conclusions will surprise—and delight—many readers.”
—Michael Barone, senior political analyst at the Washington Examiner and co-author of The Almanac of American Politics
—Jonah Goldberg, editor-at-large of National Review Online and author of Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
“One of the keys to restoring the government to its proper limits will be to have our presidents serve in their originally intended role as defenders of the Constitution, rather than undermining it through endless expansions of the administrative state. It is surprising how seldom we evaluate presidents according to whether they live up to their oath of office, and we have Steven Hayward to thank for reminding us of the presidents who understood this, and those who didn’t.”
—Edwin Meese III, Attorney General in the Ronald Reagan administration and Chairman of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation
“Every president takes an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. But how well do they perform this basic duty? Modern historians have mostly ignored this question, but Steven Hayward tackles it head on, grading the presidents of the last hundred years. He’s a tough grader, and his conclusions will surprise—and delight—many readers.”
—Michael Barone, senior political analyst at the Washington Examiner and co-author of The Almanac of American Politics
Notă biografică
Steven F. Hayward is the F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow in Law and Economics at the American Enterprise Institute, a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco, and the Thomas Smith Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ashland University. He holds a Ph.D. in American Studies and an M.A. in Government from Claremont Graduate School. Hayward has written for many scholarly and popular publications, including National Review, Reason, the Weekly Standard, the American Spectator, the Claremont Review of Books, Policy Review, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of The Real Jimmy Carter; Greatness: Reagan, Churchill, and the Making of Modern Statesmen; The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964–1980; and The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution, 1980–1989.
Textul de pe ultima copertă
Grading the presidents—by the Constitution
For a century after the founding, presidents routinely vetoed bills they believed unconstitutional and regularly spoke to the American people on the subject of constitutional government. But beginning with Woodrow Wilson in the Progressive Era, some chief executives have actively sought to undermine the Constitution, and in recent years many presidents have been negligent or simply ignorant about their constitutional responsibilities.
In The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to the Presidents, presidential historian Steven Hayward revives the original standard for judging our presidents. You’ll not only discover which presidents get an F on their efforts to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, but also learn about some of the underappreciated constitutional heroes who have been elected to the White House.
Along the way, you’ll also learn:
How the much ridiculed Calvin Coolidge was actually one of our most intellectual presidents, reading classics in the original Greek and Latin for relaxation at night in the White House
How Herbert Hoover, a strong anti-Communist, may have assured the success of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia
Why Eisenhower deliberately stumbled his way through his rare press conferences
How Barack Obama wanted to include Hiroshima and Nagasaki on his world apology tour, but the Japanese government said no thanks
For a century after the founding, presidents routinely vetoed bills they believed unconstitutional and regularly spoke to the American people on the subject of constitutional government. But beginning with Woodrow Wilson in the Progressive Era, some chief executives have actively sought to undermine the Constitution, and in recent years many presidents have been negligent or simply ignorant about their constitutional responsibilities.
In The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to the Presidents, presidential historian Steven Hayward revives the original standard for judging our presidents. You’ll not only discover which presidents get an F on their efforts to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, but also learn about some of the underappreciated constitutional heroes who have been elected to the White House.
Along the way, you’ll also learn:
How the much ridiculed Calvin Coolidge was actually one of our most intellectual presidents, reading classics in the original Greek and Latin for relaxation at night in the White House
How Herbert Hoover, a strong anti-Communist, may have assured the success of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia
Why Eisenhower deliberately stumbled his way through his rare press conferences
How Barack Obama wanted to include Hiroshima and Nagasaki on his world apology tour, but the Japanese government said no thanks
Descriere
"The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents" takes a politically incorrect look at the Commanders-in-Chief over the last century, examining their raw political records through a constitutional lens and uncovering the little-known truths that "PC" pundits and historians either gloss over or distort.