The Presidency: Facing Constitutional Crossroads

by Michael Nelson (Editor), Barbara A. Perry (Editor)

Overview

Following the election of Donald Trump, the office of the U.S. president has come under scrutiny like never before. Featuring penetrating insights from high-profile presidential scholars, The Presidency provides the deep historical and constitutional context needed to put the Trump era into its proper perspective.Identifying key points at which the constitutional presidency could have evolved in different ways from the nation’s founding days to the present, these scholars examine presidential decisions that determined the direction of the nation and the world.

ContributorsBradley R. DeWees, U.S. Air Force * Richard J. Ellis, Willamette University * Stefanie Georgakis Abbott, University of Virginia * Joel K. Goldstein, Saint Louis University * Jennifer Lawless, University of Virginia * Sidney M. Milkis, University of Virginia * Sairkrishna Bangalore Prakash, University of Virginia * Russell L. Riley, University of Virginia * Andrew Rudalevige, Bowdoin College * Sean Theriault, University of Texas at Austin

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813946054
Publisher:	University of Virginia Press
Publication date:	04/29/2021
Series:	Miller Center Studies on the Presidency
Pages:	258
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.25(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Michael Nelson is Fulmer Professor of Political Science at Rhodes College, a Senior Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, and author of Clinton’s Elections: 1992, 1996, and the Borth of a New Era of Governance. Barbara A. Perry is Gerald L. Baliles Professor and Director of Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center and author of Edward Kennedy: An Oral History.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1. Presidential Crossroads
2. The Living Presidency: Always at a Crossroads
3. Crossroads of the (c)onstitutional Presidency: How Ten Extraconstitutional Landmarks Shaped the Office
4. On Being Unpresidential: The Trumpian Moment in Historical Perspective
5. The People, the President, and the Congress at a Crossroads: Can We Turn Back from Gridlock?
6. The Crossroads of Impeachment: The Threat of Removal and the Separation of Powers
7. American Regicide: Postwar Presidents and the Bitter Politics of Returning to Normalcy
8. The Personal Presidency at a Constitutional Crossroads
9. Civil-Military Relations: Crossroads and Cross-Currents
10. Crossroads in Vice-Presidential History
11. Presidents, Refoundings, and the "Living Constitution"
Notes on Contributors
Index

What People are Saying About This

Nancy Kassop

The key premise underlying "constitutional crossroads" is that all presidents, and the Constitution's Framers, too, faced choices that prompted them to make consequential decisions. These decisions profoundly shaped the governmental institutions and political arrangements that comprise our system today. Nelson and Perry have assembled a volume that includes contributions from the very best presidential scholars offering thoughtful, historical analysis as well as incisive, contemporary insights. This one is a keeper.

Ann Compton

When you come to a crossroads, choose wisely. This rich collection can help our nation do just that, arriving at our moment of anxiety over the way forward. Each scholarly treatise reminds that the presidency has faced and survived constitutional chasms. The history and careful political scholarship offered here should enlighten and inspire us all.

Robert A. Strong

Uniformly well written and researched, the essays in this volume offer a serious examination of the institutional context of the Trump presidency, helping readers understand our peculiar presidential times.

Editorial Reviews

When you come to a crossroads, choose wisely. This rich collection can help our nation do just that, arriving at our moment of anxiety over the way forward. Each scholarly treatise reminds that the presidency has faced and survived constitutional chasms. The history and careful political scholarship offered here should enlighten and inspire us all.

Ann Compton

The key premise underlying "constitutional crossroads" is that all presidents, and the Constitution's Framers, too, faced choices that prompted them to make consequential decisions. These decisions profoundly shaped the governmental institutions and political arrangements that comprise our system today. Nelson and Perry have assembled a volume that includes contributions from the very best presidential scholars offering thoughtful, historical analysis as well as incisive, contemporary insights. This one is a keeper.

Nancy Kassop

Uniformly well written and researched, the essays in this volume offer a serious examination of the institutional context of the Trump presidency, helping readers understand our peculiar presidential times.

Robert A. Strong

"When you come to a crossroads, choose wisely. This rich collection can help our nation do just that, arriving at our moment of anxiety over the way forward. Each scholarly treatise reminds that the presidency has faced and survived constitutional chasms. The history and careful political scholarship offered here should enlighten and inspire us all. "—Ann Compton, former ABC News White House correspondent

"Uniformly well written and researched, the essays in this volume offer a serious examination of the institutional context of the Trump presidency, helping readers understand our peculiar presidential times. "—Robert A. Strong, Washington and Lee University, author of Character and Consequence: Foreign Policy Decisions of George H. W. Bush

"The key premise underlying "constitutional crossroads" is that all presidents, and the Constitution's Framers, too, faced choices that prompted them to make consequential decisions. These decisions profoundly shaped the governmental institutions and political arrangements that comprise our system today. Nelson and Perry have assembled a volume that includes contributions from the very best presidential scholars offering thoughtful, historical analysis as well as incisive, contemporary insights. This one is a keeper. "—Nancy Kassop, SUNY New Paltz

From the Publisher