The American Presidency: An Intellectual History

Forrest McDonald is widely recognized as one of our most respected and challenging commentators on the Constitution and the American founding. Writing at the height of his powers as an intellectual historian, he now applies his considerable talents to a study of another venerable institution--the American presidency.

McDonald explores how and why the presidency has evolved into such a complex and powerful institution, unlike any other in the world. He chronicles the presidency's creation, implementation, and evolution and explains why it's still working today despite its many perceived afflictions. Along the way, he provides trenchant commentary on the Constitutional Convention, ratification debates, presidencies of Washington and Jefferson, presidential administration and leadership, presidential--congressional conflicts, the president as chief architect of foreign policy, and the president as myth and symbol. He also analyzes the enormous gap between what we've come to expect of presidents and what they can reasonably hope to accomplish.

Ambitious, comprehensive, and engaging, this is the best single-volume study of an institution that has become troubled and somewhat troublesome yet, in McDonald's words, "has been responsible for less harm and more good than perhaps any other secular institution in history." It will make a fine and necessary companion for understanding the presidency as it moves into its third century.