With Reverence and Contempt: How Americans Think about Their Presidents (Interpreting American Politics) - Hardcover

Langston, Professor Thomas S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801850169 ISBN 13: 9780801850165

Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995

Synopsis

What's wrong with the American presidency? Why is the world's oldest surviving democracy headed by a leader who lives and acts like a king? And why is that same leader so often held in low esteem by those who elected him? In this spirited survey of presidential history, Thomas Langston examines two centuries of unrealistic expectations, false hopes, and willful misunderstandings that lie at the heart of America's "dysfunctional relationship" with its president. Langston argues that each president becomes an icon, a stylized image of Americans' faith in themselves and in their country. Taking us on an investigation of how the game of presidential symbol-making is played, Langston reveals how Americans' wishful thinking is encouraged and how even the best presidents are invited to deceive the public.

With Reverence and Contempt concludes with a series of recommendations, including legislative changes aimed at improving the relationship between the president and the public by cutting the president's symbolic value down to size.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas S. Langston is associate professor of political science at Tulane University. He is the author of Ideologues and Presidents: From the New Deal to the Reagan Revolution.

Reviews

In the enduring debate over how much power the president should possess, this brief cultural critique argues that less is better. Langston's thesis is that the great and near-great presidents have abused their power and created unrealistic standards for subsequent presidents as well as unrealistic public expectations. The relationship between the president and the public, therefore, has become dysfunctional. Presidential power has elevated the president to a "priest-king" who uses the prerogative of power to champion crusades at the expense of turning citizens into children. Eleven case studies?Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, George Bush, Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan?provide examples of the trend away from constitutional restraints on presidential power. Though the text is interesting and readable, the subjective mixing of great presidential performances with imitative ones too easily discredits the best. In the end, Langston is left yearning for the days of Dwight Eisenhower. For academic political science collections.?William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801850169
• ISBN 13: 9780801850165
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 328