The Effective Presidency: Lessons on Leadership from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama

The second edition of this classic work adds a new chapter on Barack Obama and updates coverage of the end of the George W. Bush administration. Presidential scholar Erwin C. Hargrove extends his analytical framework of presidential effectiveness to show how Obama combines eventful leadership with pragmatism to move the nation forward in an intensely polarized partisan environment.

Features of the textbook:

• Uses an analytical framework to assess historical context, personal skills and attributes, and the ability to "make a difference" in each of ten presidencies.
• Four presidents are judged to be "event-making" leaders: Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, and George W. Bush.
• Six presidents are assessed as "eventful" leaders: JFK, Ford, Carter, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, and Obama.
• As much a study of leadership as an analysis of ten presidencies, this book adds to our understanding in political science, history, and public administration and management.

Erwin C. Hargrove is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Vanderbilt University and winner of the prestigious Richard E. Neustadt Award. Among his books are The President as Leader: Appealing to the Better Angels of Our Nature (University Press of Kansas 1999), Presidential Leadership: Personality and Political Style (Addison-Wesley 1966), The Power of the Modern Presidency (Temple University Press 1974), and Jimmy Carter as President: Leadership and the Politics of the Public Good (Louisiana State University Press 1988).