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    Round Up: Presidents

    by Meghan Kowalski on 2025-01-29T08:00:00-05:00 | 0 Comments

    Researching U.S. presidents offers a window into the history, culture, and politics of America’s past and present. Whether you're exploring the leadership of George Washington, the policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, or the legacy of Barack Obama, uncovering the stories behind these figures requires the right tools and strategies. In this month's round up, we're sharing places where you can start your research on these key figures. 

     

    Books

    Cover ArtFacts about the Presidents by Joseph Nathan Kane (Editor); Janet Podell (Editor)
     
    The authoritative source for information about the lives, backgrounds, and terms of office of every American president, from George Washington onward, Wilson s acclaimed Facts About the Presidents series continues with its much-anticipated Eighth Edition. Written for both general readers and researchers, this volume will be one of the most widely consulted works in your reference collection. The new Eighth Edition of Facts About the Presidents delivers comprehensive data about every American president, from George Washington to Barack Obama, plus facts about the Executive Office itself. What s New in the Eighth Edition In addition to the intensive coverage of past presidents, this volume contains: Extensive and authoritative facts about both terms of President George W. Bush. The inauguration and early White House tenure of President Barack Obama. The most up-to-date knowledge available, relying on the latest scholarship. A complete and compelling portrait of the nation s highest office and the men and women who have held or sought it over the years. A Separate Chapter on Each of the 44 U.S. Presidents Part I presents a chapter for each president in chronological sequence, featuring data on the president s background, life, and administration. Here you ll find uniformly arranged data on birth, family, education, nomination and election, congressional sessions, cabinet and Supreme Court appointments, vice presidents, first ladies, and more plus highlights of both the personal and political. Bibliographies guide readers to additional information on each president. Comparative Data and Facts About the Presidency Part II presents over 160 pages of fascinating statistics in a collective arrangement so that a reader can compare presidents on the basis of such matters as early occupation, previous political career, type of education, military experience, family background, religious affiliation, age at death, literary output, and other factors. Part II also delivers important facts about the office of the presidency, including salaries and pensions, cabinet officers, party alignments of the Congresses, presidential vetoes, electoral and popular votes in every election since 1789, third-party electoral votes, presidential succession, and the many other facets of the job. The volume also features a handy name/subject index to make it easy to pinpoint exactly the information you need.
    Cover ArtWhy Presidents Fail by Richard M. Pious
     
    Presidents are surrounded by political strategists and White House counsel who presumably know enough to avoid making the same mistakes as their predecessors. Why, then, do the same kinds of presidential failures occur over and over again? Why Presidents Fail answers this question by examining presidential fiascos, quagmires, and risky business-the kind of failure that led President Kennedy to groan after the Bay of Pigs invasion, 'How could I have been so stupid?' In this book, Richard M. Pious looks at nine cases that have become defining events in presidencies from Dwight D. Eisenhower and the U-2 Flights to George W. Bush and Iraqi WMDs. He uses these cases to draw generalizations about presidential power, authority, rationality, and legitimacy. And he raises questions about the limits of presidential decision-making, many of which fly in the face of the conventional wisdom about the modern presidency.
    Cover ArtUniversity Presidents As Moral Leaders by David G. Brown
     
    How university presidents lead is an extremely important topic, for both the welfare of universities and for society and for society as a whole. This book is based on papers presented at Wake Forest University, where three forums co-sponsored by the Center for Creative Leadership were held to address the questions of leadership in American universities. This book is structured around nine of the papers that were presented. Each paper was authored by a university president; each discusses a specific issue that the president faced during his or her tenure; each concludes with lessons learned. Three other presidents were asked to reflect on the essays based on their own experiences. In the fall of 2003, the Center for Creative Leadership at Wake Forest University hosted three synopsia where leaders of 36 US universities and colleges reflected and debated about their roles and responsibilities. The 29 essays, many of them responses to others, explore such issues as leadership in time of crisis, the University of Michigan's affirmative action case, promoting high achievement among minority students, leadership and teaching, and the unique character of academe. For those in positions of academic leadership, University Presidents as Moral Leaders is an engaging and thought-provoking read about the role of university presidents. Leaders facing a crisis will find the reflections of these presidents useful. The value of the book is its candid discussion of presidential leadership from a first person point of view. The outstanding contributors to this book share their experiences about the kind of leadership situations senior administrators face and the moral decisions they are called upon to make. 
     
    Cover ArtI Do Solemnly Swear by Arthur M. Schlesinger (Editor)
     
    An Introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. gives the reader an informed overview of how the inaugural address reflects our history and stresses the austerity of the event - Full texts of the speeches the presidents made on their first day of office. Thoughtful commentary provided by Fred L Israel before each transcript puts the text into a historical perspective
     
     
     
    Cover ArtTo the Best of My Ability by James M. McPherson; David Rubel (Editor); Chuck Wills (Editor)
     
    Every generation of historians reviews and revises the work of its predecessors. With this book, the best historical writers of today's generation undertake such a task. Displaying wit and narrative flair, their elegant essays offer a fresh perspective on the most fascinating group of Americans: the American presidents. Who better to write a new assessment of the presidents than the most respected (and best-selling) historians of our time? In To the Best of My Ability: The American Presidents, members of the prestigious Society of American Historians deliver engaging, thoughtful analyses of the forty-one men who have led this country- some, of course, more successfully than others. In this copiously illustrated volume, edited by Pulitzer Prize-winner James M. McPherson, you will learn from Gordon S. Wood how George Washington, an extraordinary man, made it possible for ordinary men to govern; from Allen Weinstein how Theodore Roosevelt tested and extended the limits of the presidency; from Tom Wicker how Richard Nixon's hatreds and insecurities gripped him ever more tightly as he achieved his long-sought goal of power; and from Evan Thomas how much Bill Clinton cares about his place in the new presidential pecking order.
     
    Cover ArtSpinner in Chief by Stephen J. Farnsworth
     
    As the U.S. enters the last lap of the 2008 presidential election season, the media and the candidates are in full gear exploiting each other, often at the expense of public information and awareness. This book looks at how presidents and presidential candidates use television, the Internet, and newspapers to promote their policies and themselves, even as they are sometimes manipulated by the media they so avidly seek. Looking at White House media strategies relating to the Iraq War and occupation, health care reform, tax and budget debates, the debate over Bush's competence, the Clinton-Lewinsky sex scandal, and the early battles of the 2008 presidential election, media scholar and former journalist Stephen Farnsworth examines how presidents shift the direction and limit the amount of public debate over policies to favor themselves-and how reporters and Internet commentators often help them do so. The result short-circuits the public's role in evaluating competing visions for the country's future and the legislative branch's role in policy making. The modern presidential obsession with public relations-and media willingness to be used to advance executive power-undermine the country's long term ability to deal with crucial problems, including foreign and military relations, a growing government debt, and public health care shortcomings.
     
    Cover ArtAmerican Presidents, Third Edition by Robert P. Watson (Editor); Richard Yon (Editor); Tracy Irons-Georges (Editorial Coordinator); Christina J. Moose (Editorial Coordinator); Dawn P. Dawson (Editor-In-Chief); Salem Press Editors
     
    In the two hundred years since its inception, the U.S. presidency has survived controversy, scandal, resignation, civil war, and assassination. Every individual who has assumed the title of president has left a mark, for good or ill, on American history. ""American Presidents"" examines the strengths and weaknesses, the successes and failures of each Chief Executive. Designed as a companion to Salem's ""American First Ladies, Second Edition"" (2006), ""American Presidents, Second Revised Edition"" presents an essay on the life and administration of each U.S. president, in chronological order. In addition, an ""Alphabetical List of Presidents"" at the beginning of volume 1 helps readers find a particular entry. Each essay begins with ready reference information: name; administration number and years (e.g. ""7th President, 1829-1837""); birth and death dates and locations; political party; vice presidents; and cabinet members by department. The text that follows offers a comprehensive portrait of the life and times of the president, from birth through political rise, election, term of office, defeat or retirement, and death. Topical subheadings help guide readers through the material. The legacy of each administration is measured against the yardstick of U.S. history, and the evolution of the office and the country can be traced clearly. Every essay ends with an annotated bibliography and is signed by the author. New to this edition, every entry features at least two boxed sidebars, which are essays-within-essays: ""The First Lady"" and ""The Vice Presidency."" In some cases, more than one First Lady profile appears. Other textual sidebars reproduce primary documents - such as Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, the Monroe Doctrine, or Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation - and many entries offer excerpts from famous presidential speeches and other quotations. More than two hundred photographs complement the text.

    Library Databases

    Archival Research Catalog (ARC) This link opens in a new window
     
    The Archival Research Catalog (ARC) is the online catalog of NARA's nationwide holdings in the Washington, DC area, Regional Archives and Presidential Libraries.
    Bush Presidency and Development and Debate Over Civil Rights Policy and Legislation This link opens in a new window
     
    Contains materials on civil rights, the development of civil rights policy, and the debate over civil rights legislation during the administration of President George H.W. Bush and during his tenure as vice president. Contents include memoranda, talking points, correspondence, legal briefs, transcripts, news summaries, draft legislation, statements of administration policy (SAP’s), case histories, legislative histories and news-clippings covering a broad range of civil rights issues.
    Federal Surveillance of African Americans, 1920-1984 This link opens in a new window
     
    Between the early 1920s and early 1980s, the Justice Department and its Federal Bureau of Investigation engaged in widespread investigation of those deemed politically suspect. Prominent among the targets of this sometimes coordinated, sometimes independent surveillance were aliens, members of various protest groups, Socialists, Communists, pacifists, militant labor unionists, ethnic or racial nationalists, and outspoken opponents of the policies of the incumbent presidents.
    Living Room Candidate This link opens in a new window
    • Video/Multimedia

    The Living Room Candidate presents video advertising for presidential candidates—Democrat, Republican, and significant third party, when applicable—from 1952 to the present. Accompanying descriptive matter places the ads in context. Transcripts of the ads are included, along with full credits and production information. Numerous commercials are available for each election year, plus text overviews of campaign years, information on party nominees, and election results.

    Political Posters, Labadie Collection, University of Michigan This link opens in a new window
    • Images

    This database consists of images of those posters covering social protest movements such as Anarchism, Civil Liberties, Colonialism, Communism, Ecology, Labor, Pacifism, Sexual Freedom, Socialism, Women, and Youth/Student Protest. Some are from the first half of the 20th century, but the majority are from the 1960s and later.

    Political Science Database This link opens in a new window
    • Full Text Available

    Contains hundreds of leading political science, public policy, and international relations journals. It also includes thousands of recent full-text doctoral dissertations on political science topics, together with working papers, conference proceedings, country reports, policy papers, and other sources.

     

    Other Recommended Sources

    • Presidential Libraries - Almost every president has a dedicated library and archive that records their time in office. 
    • National Archives - The National Archives houses the history of the executive branch. Many resources have been digitized but you can also visit in person. That's one of the benefits of going to school in DC!
    • Library of Congress - See the papers of presidents from before, during, and after there time in office. You an also find newspapers, cultural artifacts, photos, and recordings.
    • The American Presidency Project - Hosted by UC Santa Barbara, this archive seeks to be the authoritative, non-partisan on-line source for presidential public documents
    • WhiteHouse.gov - The main page for the current office holder.
    • Congressional Research Service - Look for reports and documents on presidential policies.
    • C-SPAN - Recordings and insights on presidents current and past.
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