The Presidential Difference: Leadership Style from FDR to George W. Bush - Second Edition - Softcover

Greenstein, Fred I.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691119090 ISBN 13: 9780691119090

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2004

Synopsis

For a quarter-century, Fred I. Greenstein has been one of our keenest observers of the modern presidency. Here, he provides a fascinating and instructive account of the qualities that have served well and poorly in the Oval Office, beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt's first hundred days. Newly expanded, this second edition now covers the momentous events of George W. Bush's administration--from his handling of the events of September 11 to the war with Iraq.

Throughout, Greenstein offers a series of bottom-line judgments on each of his twelve subjects and a bold new explanation of why presidents succeed or fail. He surveys each president's record in public communication, organizational capacity, political skill, vision, cognitive style, and emotional intelligence--and argues that the last is the most important in predicting presidential success.

About this title

Review:

Princeton University's Fred I. Greenstein caps off an illustrious career as a presidential scholar with The Presidential Difference. This book won't fundamentally change the way anybody looks at the last 11 chief executives--Greenstein's earlier work The Hidden-Hand Presidency revolutionized the academy's view of Eisenhower--but it does provide a worthwhile series of minibiographies and analytical summations. Greenstein rates his subjects in several categories: communication, organization, political skill, vision, cognitive style, and emotional intelligence. His assessments can be quite frank: Roosevelt is the source of "endless positive lessons"; Truman "illustrates the cost of a defective communication style and a situation-determined approach to presidential leadership"; Ford is "underappreciated"; and so on. Who is Greenstein's favorite? It's clearly FDR, even though he confronts the question with an amusing anecdote about LBJ. Walking on a tarmac in Vietnam, an airman says, "This is your helicopter, Mr. President." Johnson replies, "They are all my helicopters." Writes Greenstein: "Each of the modern presidents is a source of insight, as much for his weaknesses as his strengths. The variation among them provides intellectual leverage, permitting comparisons and expanding our sense of the possible." And so, he writes, "They are all my presidents." --John J. Miller

From the Back Cover:

"An excellent book. I support it wholeheartedly."--Dick Cheney, May 3, 2000

"A wonderful book. . . . For journalists, it is a great checklist as to what we ought to be--but probably are not likely to be--looking for in a presidential candidate."--David Broder

"Among the many excellent books on the American presidency, Greenstein's The Presidential Difference will occupy a unique position. Greenstein not only provides succinct descriptions of the person and presidency of every incumbent in the office from FDR to Clinton, but he also presents the reader with highly informed, judicious, shrewd, and entirely nonpartisan judgments about the qualities that have made for success and failure in that demanding office. His descriptions and evaluations make it a book that can be read with profit by everyone who cares about American political life, and, as appears to be the author's intent, particularly by future incoming presidents."--Robert A. Dahl, author ofOn Democracy

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0691119090
• ISBN 13: 9780691119090
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 328