Bad presidents
Subtitle: failure in the White House
By: Philip Abbott
Series: The evolving American presidency
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2013
Place of publication: New York, New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 260
ISBN-13: 9781137306586
Subjects: Politics and government; Presidents; Case studies; Political leadership; History
Description: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt are always at the top of presidential rankings. But what about those presidents who consistently appear at or near the bottom of these lists? Based on the insights found in Shakespeare's treatment of two bad kings, Abbott identifies two kinds of bad presidents and examines the case for including eleven in this category. In each case study, from John Tyler to Richard Nixon (and possibly George W. Bush), he finds a tipping point that places them in this unenviable category. Abbott concludes by discussing why we elected these bad presidents in the first place and how we might avoid adding future bad presidents to the list.
Table of contents: title: Classifications, presidents and kings; title: The first bad president: John Tyler; title: The compromise: Millard Fillmore; title: The byronic president: Franklin Pierce; title: Building the house?: James Buchanan; title: Lincoln in reverse: Andrew Johnson; title: The first hidden hand bad president: Ulysses S. Grant; title: The booster: Warren G. Harding; title: The minimalist: Calvin Coolidge; title: Weathering the storm: Herbert Hoover; title: Ex parte exercitii: Richard Nixon; title: The latest bad president?: George W. Bush; title: Conclusion.