The books in the Presidential Briefings series provide concise and readable introductions to topics of general interest to students of the presidency. By approaching their subjects from the vantage point of what a president most needs to know, and what we as citizens most need to know about the presidency, these books provide a highly practical and accessible overview of an important subject related to the presidency. This series provides a wonderful opportunity for scholars, whether new or established, to publish concise and authoritative books on a wide range of presidency topics.
By Graham Dodds
August 26, 2019
The theory of the unitary executive is one of the most controversial and significant constitutional doctrines of the past several decades. It holds that the U.S. president alone embodies all executive power and therefore has unlimited ability to direct the many people and institutions within the ...
By Andrew L. Stigler
July 03, 2018
A military is the most significant tool of a nation’s foreign policy, and (hopefully) the tool of last resort. Yet the control a civilian leader has over the military is, in many respects, an encumbered and fractured control. The military’s organizational culture, role in society, size, and ...
By Richard S. Conley
December 30, 2016
The presidential-congressional relationship is the most important and vivid of all the inter-branch relationships. It defines presidential activities, priorities, and successes. No president, from Eisenhower to Nixon to Reagan, has been able to ignore or denigrate that relationship. ...
By Nancy Maveety
February 28, 2016
What defines a president? Is it policymaking? A good relationship with the American people? Or is it legacy? Most would argue that legacy imprints a president in the American consciousness. A president's federal judicial appointees may be his or her most lasting political legacy. Because federal ...
By Michael Genovese
October 30, 2015
The American public hungers for a heroic leader. From John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush, every American president has left office either under a cloud or as a failed leader. Michael A. Genovese argues that presidents are set up for failure; it is not specific presidents but the presidency itself ...
By Christopher J. Fettweis
August 30, 2015
It is often said that voters hold presidents responsible for two things: the economy and foreign policy. Economic performance is generally beyond presidential control, but foreign policy is defined by the president. The White House is justifiably blamed or credited for how it manages relations with...
By Mary E. Stuckey
August 30, 2015
Rhetoric is among the most important and least understood elements of presidential leadership. Presidents have always wielded rhetoric as one tool of governance—and that rhetoric was always intended to facilitate political ends, such as image building, persuasion of the mass public, and ...