Presidential Politics
(see also 2000 Elections, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Harry Truman, Political Corruption & Revitalizing Democracy)
Basics
On the Web: Articles
CIA Leak is Big Trouble for Bush. David Corn, Nation (9/29/03).
Slush-Fund Scandal May Push US Off East Asian Stage, Franz Schurmann, Pacific News Service (4/17/02). Contribution to Bush campaign from fund created to buy support for Taiwanese independence increases tensions with China.
New Democratic Idea: Freeze Tax Cuts Just For Richest 2 Percent, Morton M. Kondracke, Roll Call (4/8/02). Voters support freeze in tax cuts, but Democrats too afraid to act on it.
Corporate power is the enemy of our democracy, Robert Jensen, Newsday (3/20/02). Are corporations & democracy compatible?
Hastert Confirms It: Money Rules. E.J. Dionne, Washington Post (2/8/02). Role of money & TV in 2000 election gives lie to most anti-reform arguments
The Right Still Has Religion. Michael Lind, NY Times (12/9/01). Pat Robertson credited for enormous influence of religious right in US politics
The One-Eyed Man. Paul Krugman, NY Times (10/31/01). It's not just GM: Texas-based mining/energy firms make out like bandits in "stimulus package".
Can Democrats Still Play the Game? Jeffrey Toobin, NY Times (10/28/01). Even before 9/11 Dems treated Bush with a deference Clinton never got from GOP; since then, complete accomodation. What does it get them?
Congressional Flag Stomping. Jonathan Alter, MSNBC.com (10/25/01). GOP using Sept. 11th to give even more handouts to corporations & wealthy
A Tear in the Country's Safety Net. Thomas Oliphant, Boston Globe (10/9/01). Another casualty of 9/11. We need to stop bombing and spend money where it's needed.
The Long March of Newt Gingrich: Interview with Eddie Mahe. PBS Frontline (1998). Political jargon more than a cultural peculiarity: it's an industry, very top-down and organized.
On the Web: Specialized Sites
In the Library: Articles
Greenfield, Jeff. “The Nixon Rorschach,” Washington Monthly (9/03):55-58.
Greider, William. "Stupefied democracy," Nation (12/4/00):11-13.
_________. “Still Clinton’s show?” Nation (2/17/03):11-15.
Hersh, Seymour. "Nixon's last cover-up: the tapes he wants the National Archives to suppress," New Yorker (12/14/92):76-94.
Koh, Harold Hongju. "Why the President (almost) always wins in foreign affairs: lessons of the Iran-Contra affair," Yale Law Journal 97,7 (6/88).
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Alterman, Eric. When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception & Its Consequences (NY: Viking, 2004). Case studies of Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson & Reagan.
Ambrosius, Lloyd E. Wilsonianism: Woodrow Wilson & His Legacy in American Foreign Relations (NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).
Boggs, Carl. The End of Politics. Corporate Power & the Decline of the Public Sphere (NY, 2000).
Brands, H.W. Woodrow Wilson (NY: Times Books, 2003).
Byrd, Robert C. Losing America: Confronting a Reckless & Arrogant Presidency (NY: Norton, 2004).
Cockburn, Alexander & Ken Silverstein. Washington Babylon (NY, 1996).
Crapanzano, Vincent. Serving the Word. Literalism in America from the Pulpit to the Bench (NY: New Press, 2000).
Dallek, Robert. Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson & His Times, 1961-1975 (NY: Oxford, 1998).
Donaldson, Gary. Liberalism’s Last Hurrah: The Presidential Campaign of 1964 (Armonk NY: ME Sharpe, 2003).
Friedenberg, Daniel M. Sold to the Highest Bidder. The Presidency from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush (NY: Prometheus, 2002).
Greenberg, David. Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image (NY: W.W. Norton, 2003)
Mackenzie, Calvin G (ed.) Innocent Until Nominated: The Breakdown of the Presidential Appointments Process (NY: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).
Mills, Nicolaus. The Triumph of Meanness. America’s War Against its Better Self (NY, 1997).
Morris, Dick. Behind the Oval Office: Winning the Presidency in the Nineties (NY, 1997). On the science of politics as scam.
Olson, Keith W. Watergate: the Presidential Scandal that Shook America (Lawrence: U. of Kansas, 2003).
Savage, Sean J. JFK, LBJ, & the Democratic Party (Albany: SUNY, 2005).
Vidal, Gore. The American Presidency (Monroe ME: Odonian, 1998).
Williams, William Appleman. Some Presidents: Wilson to Nixon (NY: Vintage, 1972).
Zepezauer, Mark. The Nixon Saga: A Pathography in Twelve Parts (Santa Cruz: Press of Time, 1989).