The American President: From Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton

The American President is an account of American presidential actions from the assassination of William McKinley in 1901 to Bill Clinton's last night in office. William Leuchtenburg, one of the great presidential historians of the century, portrays each of the presidents in a chronicle sparkling with anecdote and wit. He offers a nuanced assessment of their conduct in office, preoccupations, and temperament. This book charts the enormous growth of presidential power from its lowly state in the late nineteenth century to the imperial presidency of the twentieth. That striking change was manifested both at home in periods of progressive reform and abroad, notably in two world wars, Vietnam, and the war on terror.