The Presidents: The Transformation of the American Presidency from Theodore Roosevelt to Barack

by Stephen R. Graubard

In this magisterial examination of the Presidency over the course of the 20th Century, the author explores the history of the world's greatest elective office and the role each incumbent has played in changing the scope of its powers. Using individual presidential portraits of each of the presidents of the past century Graubard asks, and answers, a wide variety of crucial questions about each President. What intellectual, social and political assets did they bring to the White House, and how quickly did they deplete or mortgage that capital? How well did they cope with crises, foreign and domestic? How much attention did they pay to their election pledges after they were elected? How did they use the media, old and new? Above all, how did they conduct themselves in office and what legacy did they leave to their successors? Graubard provides original analysis in each case, and reaches many surprising conclusions.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Biography, American History, American

944 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

STEPHEN R. GRAUBARD was former editor of Daedalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and professor of history at Brown University.

Reviews

[Paul Peros · Rating 3 out of 5]

The overriding message of this book is that Stephen R Graubard was good enough to be president, whereas most of the men who actually managed to become president were clearly inferior in intellect, judgement and moral standing than Stephen R Graubard. Nevertheless, the book is scholarly without being dry, comprehensive without being tedious, and it makes reasonably light and interesting work of each US presidency since Theodore Roosevelt. Well worth a read, but be prepared for Graubard's scorn for virtually all his subjects, which rather bleeds into his narrative.

[Leon Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good read for anyone interested in the American Presidency. Thoroughly convinced that if Stephen Graubard ran for President he would win!

It’s most interesting as it predates the arrival of Trump but predicts the changes in American society.

[Gordan Karlic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Graubard's stlye of writing, you are just going though pages, he is really good storyteller. Still, have some minor and some major problems with this book. For this short review only worth mentioning minor problems is that Graubard didnt use anything but other books for his quotes, by itself that isnt that much problem, but Graubard so many times gives his opinions without strong evidence, or I should better say he chooses what source he will present as reliable. Major problem of this book is "history is writen by victors". Book is filled with notion that USA presidents really wants peace, but somehow they end up in war because somebody else is fault or they had to react and sent troops, even that by itself isnt that much of the problem. Problem is that Graubard casually goes over massive killings, or that killings are done cause of honest mistakes. (bombing of Tokyo, bombing of North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, to name a few). In book with 700+ pages he is barely touching those subjects, notions that presidents did war crimes, or that they are war criminals is almost non existing. Second major problem I had is whole chapter about Eisenhower. If I could rate only that chapter I would give it one star. Chapter was just abomination, in it Eisenhower is presented as some drooling idiot that just happed to become Supreme Commander by the grace of general Marshall and president Roosevelt. Then because of that he was president for 8 years, where he went from one failure to another because his view of the world was outdated and he himself was not much of the schoolar.

[Gavin Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Presidents... clips through the presidencies of the twentieth century (more or less) with a precise eye and a concise style that highlights the main strengths and weaknesses of each president. This, in itself, is something of a political history of modern US politics, of course. However, wider historical analysis is not really the purview of this book. Rather, Graubard is more interested in the personal proclivities of each particular president and the effect each man had on the office itself. Some of those men, such as Lyndon B. Johnson and Harry Truman, are described as better than they are traditionally acknowledged to have been. Others, like John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton, are shown to be somewhat beneath their reputations. This may be surprising or not, depending on your personal political stripes. Unsurprisingly, I found the Richard Nixon chapter to be the most interesting. Placed in this context, Nixon seems like a fulcrum around which the century pivots. Before him, policy and expertise seem to be the key ingredients to a successful (or unsuccessful) presidency. After him, image and information management dominate. Of course, there was shine and spin long before anyone even thought to found the States, let alone unite them, but the shift in the importance of these factors is unmistakeable. This is my one (very slight) complaint about The Presidents..., Graubard's title signifies a gradual change in the presidency through the century, and while I can see the bones of that argument here, and even mostly agree with it, I don't think he quite sticks the landing. A more natural argument, it seems, is that there are Before Nixon presidents and After Nixon presidents and that the 'transformation' is actually a rebalancing of a constantly swinging see-saw. All in all though, a great read. The kind of book that leaves me mystified when people say that they are simply not interested in politics.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine piece of historical analysis. It charts the way in which the presidency of the USA has developed from the time of Teddy Roosevelt, with clear, succinct and penetrating studies of each of the presidents and presidencies up to the election of Barack Obama. The studies are preceded by three background and contextual chapters which look at the structure of the presidency and, importantly, the role of the vice-presidents.

The strengths and weaknesses of each of the presidents are well articulated and the judgments are sound and reasonable.

Reading this over ten years from publication is a rather sobering experience, given what is now happening with the current incumbent. So Professor Graubard's rather optimistic view on how the presidency should evolve from Obama's election, makes for poignant reading in the current climate. Nonetheless, the book is an excellent introduction to a study of the presidents up to 2008 and is well worth reading.

[Damir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Autor ukratko daje pregled povijesti vladanja američkih predsjednika 20. stoljeća. Svakom od njih dano je od 10 do 50 stranica. Osvrće se na njihov uspon u politici, stranačku i predsjedničku izbornu kampanju, vanjsku i unutarnju politiku. S obzirom na veliki broj predsjednika i ograničen broj stranica autor nije ulazio u dublje analize no sažeo je ono najbitnije što je obilježilo mandat svakog od predsjednika. U analizi je prilično odmjeren osim u slučaju Eisenhowera i donekle Reagana. Neznam što ima protiv Eisenhowera ali prikazao ga je kao lijenčinu, neznalicu i neiskrenog čovjeka. Čini mi se da je za pisanje tog poglavlja koristio uglavnom Eisenhoweru nesklone izvore. Poglavlje o Reaganu je također površno. Autor je sav "uspjeh" njegova mandata sveo na njegovu sposobnost da zavara birače svojim šarmom i glumom nečega što nije. Osim o predsjednicima knjiga sadrži tri poglavlja o razvoju predsjedničke i potredsjedničke uloge, promjeni načina izbora kandidata za predsjednika u strankama i financiranja kampanja. Hrvatsko izdanje na kraju sadrži i poglavlje o odnosu SAD-a i Hrvatske kroz povijest iz pera Tvrtka Jakovine. Za one upučenije knjiga vjerojatno neće donijeti ništa novo ali meni je promijenila percepciju o nekim predsjednicima. Neke autorove tvrdnje treba uzeti sa zrnom soli ali sve u svemu knjiga je ok. Jednostavna je i brzo se čita.

[James Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

To review this book I'm going to compare it with it's main rival American Caesars, both are about American Presidents of the 20th/21st century and both are a brisk read.
I would say that A C, is much more positive account and gives the Leaders of the free world a...... more understanding time of it, where as this book is far more cynical, Dwight Eisenhower gets a particularly rough ride of it as does Jimmy Carter, of course his Presidency deserves all the scorn in gets but to be bitter about his post Presidential achievements comes across as mean spirited.
The books big plus is that it starts from Teddy R and covers the.... less good Presidents to FDR. I can't quite understand AC's decision to start with FDR as to me the 'BIG' Presidency started with Teddy.
Of the two books, it's The Presidents that's harder to read, as AC splits his subjects into three sections and has a nice round off. I'm a huge fan of a good summing up, what they did well, what they didn't do well, will they be remembered fondly, that sort of thing.
I'm not sure Mr Graubard likes a any of the people who have lived in the White House, BUT, it's still a fascinating read. If your interested in American Politics a bit or a lot, read both.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Very acclomplised overveiw of the 20th centuary presidency, offers an excellent introduction to the presidents before embarking on individual biographies.

[Sveučilišna Knjižnica Rijeka]

Predsjednici država - Sjedinjene Američke Države - Biografije

[Amr Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thorough piece of work, which gathered a lot of history in one place. Very well written. Too many opinions, not impartial. But overall I would recommend it.