by Terry Eastland (1992)
Every four years the race for the presidency absorbs the nation's attention. But what does it take for a President to actually govern - especially to govern well? Terry Eastland, the noted political writer who studied the presidency up close during his service in President Reagan's administration, challenges the widely held view of the presidency as an office where canny personal skills take precedence over the knowledgeable and proper use of constitutional power. In this deeply informed, unconventional, and persuasive interpretation of the nation's highest office, Eastland makes a timely case for the strong presidency, not one based on charisma or the "bully pulpit," but instead on the proper exercise of the constitutional expectations of the office, thus recovering and restating for our time the wisdom of the American founders - that "energy in the executive" is essential to good government. Eastland examines the presidency in its work with Congress, through the executive brand, and in the courts. Analyzing a wide variety of governing episodes from the Reagan and Bush years - tax reform, Iran-Contra, civil rights, Saddam Hussein, the infamous Bush "budget summit," the Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas - Eastland shows just what a strong presidency is, and what it is not. Focusing on the selective use of presidential rhetoric in seeking legislation, the responsibility a President has for pressing policies into the day-to-day administration of the government, and the jurisprudential legacy a President can build through well-considered judicial appointments, Eastland maintains that the strong presidency is possible only when the tools of governance are properly understood and energetically used. Eastland points the way for a new generation of politicians and government officials, arguing that the key to effective government - conservative or liberal - is understanding and carrying out the executive role in accordance with its constitutional design. Energy in the Executive is that rare political book which offers fresh insights into the much-discussed subject of governing - which is, after all, what Presidents are elected to do.
Allen Drury
In this political thriller, Drury describes the chaos that overtakes America and the world with the suspicious death of the President just after his renomination. His death leaves the incumbent party without a candidate or an easy method for selecting one. Book 4 of 6 in *Advise and Consent Series*.
Peri E. Arnold
This revised and expanded edition of the classic Making the Managerial Presidency provides a comprehensive history of presidential reorganization planning for the entire twentieth century, from Theodore Roosevelt through Bill Clinton.
Fidelina G. Llerenas, Jaime Tamayo
"Revisionist view of the traditional interpretation of 1923 revolt as a reaction against Obregón's imposition of Calles. Authors study four different regional revolts between 1923-24, all with different leaders and provoked by different causes: Rómulo Figueroa in Guerrero, Enrique Estrada in Jalisco, Guadalupe Sánchez in Veracruz, and Fortunato Maycotte in Oaxaca. Rebels failed because of a lack of central control or unifying program. Adolfo de la Huerta played only a 'decorative role' in the armed movement against Obregón"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.
Cass R. Sunstein
"Cass Sunstein considers actual and imaginable arguments for a president's removal, explaining why some cases are easy and others hard, why some arguments for impeachment are judicious and others not. In direct and approachable terms, he dispels the fog surrounding impeachment so that all Americans may use their ultimate civic authority wisely"--