The American Presidency

by Harold J. Laski

With its call for new, revitalized presidential leadership, The American Presidency is as relevant and timely today as when it first appeared in 1940 as a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. In addition to providing innovative ideas about the American presidency, Laski's book examines such contemporary, critical issues as the deadlock between the president and Congress, the crucial need for a coherent presidential direction of foreign policy, the relative unimportance of the presidnet's cabinet, and the weaknesses of America's pwer system in dealing with special interest groups.

278 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

Harold Joseph Laski was a British Marxist, political theorist, economist, author, and lecturer, who served as the chairman of the Labour Party during 1945-1946, and was a professor at the LSE from 1926 to 1950.

Reviews

[Ruby Kristan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an interesting perspective. Published in 1940, the New Deal still fresh and WWI is referred to by different names. FDR's 3rd term is in the near future (curious what month this was published) and is briefly hinted as likely, but not mentioned much. The writing style is from another era, with long sentences that require more concentration, but otherwise similar to the last book I read (published 2007). The descriptions of politics and executive vs legislative are relevant and accurate. I like the way he illustrates the swing from weak to strong presidents and back. Throughout he refers to a candidate's "availability," meaning their ability to get votes from different parts of the country. In the last few pages it clicked that we now call it electability. I know that seems obvious, but these lines rang especially true: "Presidential candidates, in other words, must, increasingly, be capable of the kind of leadership the positive state and its problems require. 'Availability,' however charming, does not produce that kind of leadership. It destroys the possibility of thinking government. It makes for acquiescence in the given status quo of any epoch."

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

An in depth study of the american presidency by a British Author written in 1940s.. He compared our system of election to those of Europe . Compared how the different presidents handled their cabinets and powers. Very easy to follow and quite interesting. I liked it as the author did not resort to any unfounded wild stories like so many modern authors of today.