Quest for the Presidency 1992 reveals for the first time the full story ofwhat really happened in the tumultuous 1992 presidential election. With unparalleled access to the inner workings of the various campaigns, Newsweek's award-winning team of reporters gathered the in-depth stories of the candidates; their handlers, pollsters, and supporters; and their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. The tumultuous presidential election of 1992 was a moment of historic change in America, and a special team of top Newsweek correspondents witnessed it all from the inside and won a National Magazine Award for the coverage. Here for the first time is the full story, augmented with authentic documents and on-the-scene photographs.
Discusses eleven Mormons who ran for president--including Joseph Smith, George Romney, Morris "Mo" Udall, Orrin Hatch, and Mitt Romney, and Jon Huntsman Jr.
In the first full biography of the former president, award-winning historian and biographer Herbert S. Parmet draws from George Bush's personal papers to look at the man who led America through the end of the Cold War. Enriched by access to Bush's private diaries, the book provides an intimate portrait of the forty-first president, and corrects many long-held misconceptions about him. Parmet shows George Bush within the context of a half century of American life and politics, at a time when great changes swept the nation. Parmet traces Bush's life from his New England youth, through World War II; from his leadership of the CIA, through his vice presidency and presidency, through his loss of the 1992 presidential election to Bill Clinton. This book will be of interest to readers of politics and political biographies. Herbert S. Parmet is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at The City University of New York. He is author of several books including Eisenhower and the American Crusades, also published by Transaction.
Hailed by the New Yorker as "a superlative study of a president and his presidency," Lou Cannon's President Reagan remains the definitive account of our most significant presidency in the last fifty years. Ronald Wilson Reagan, the first actor to be elected president, turned in the performance of a lifetime. But that performance concealed the complexities of the man, baffling most who came in contact with him. Who was the man behind the makeup? Only Lou Cannon, who covered Reagan through his political career, can tell us. The keenest Reagan-watcher of them all, he has been the only author to reveal the nature of a man both shrewd and oblivious. Based on hundreds of interviews with the president, the First Lady, and hundreds of the administration's major figures, President Reagan takes us behind the scenes of the Oval Office. Cannon leads us through all of Reagan's roles, from the affable cowboy to the self-styled family man; from the politician who denounced big government to the president who created the largest peace-time deficit; from the statesman who reviled the Soviet government to the Great Communicator who helped end the cold war.
As the fortieth anniversary of the Nixon resignation approaches, it is time to take a fresh look at Watergate's impact on the American political system and to consider its significance for the historical reputation of the president indelibly associated with it.
Most observers would point to the 1969 Apollo moon landing as the single greatest accomplishment of NASA, yet prominent scientists, engineers, and public officials were questioning the purpose of the U.S. space program, even at the height of its national popularity. Defining NASA looks at the turbulent history of the space agency and the political controversies behind its funding. W. D. Kay examines the agency's activities and behavior by taking into account not only the political climate, but also the changes in how public officials conceptualize space policy. He explores what policymakers envisioned when they created the agency in 1958, why support for the Apollo program was so strong in the 1960s only to fade away in such a relatively short period of time, what caused NASA and the space program to languish throughout most of the 1970s only to reemerge in the 1980s, and, finally, what role the agency plays today.
The first Madam President will be sworn in sooner than most people think. But the gender gap in politics is still shockingly broad, say two of America's most readable political commentators in this timely look at the nation's sputtering efforts to envision a woman in America's top job.(The Boston Globe ). Charting the transformation of women's power in American politics from the first female presidential candidate (Victoria Woodhull in 1872) to the shattered presidential hopes of Shirley Chisholm and Elizabeth Dole, Madam President presents tales of passion, determination, set-backs, and triumph from nearly all national women politicians and most leading state politicians in the pipeline. With insight garnered from years on the Washington political scene and candid interviews with leading politicians like Christine Todd Whitman and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Clift and Brazaitis explain why the barriers to women are still formidable: There are only 3 female governors (one of the best routes to the White House) and at the current rate it will take 250 years before there are as many women Senators and Representatives as men. A forward-looking, savvy analysis of women in politics, Madam President gives the first inside look at how America's female politicians got there, stayed there, and what it will take for them to make it to the presidency.
As the country wades into the hotly contested 2008 presidential election season, we look to the candidates' public pronouncements to gain an understanding of their platforms and to get a sense of the political direction our country might take over the course of the next four years. Presidential campaign oratory has always inspired and incited voters. In this collection of 27 pivotal campaign speeches, Michael Cohen helps bring to life the speeches that defined and dramatized American politics over the last century. From FDR's pledge for a "New Deal" to Nixon's legendary "Checkers" speech, from Dan Quayle's attack on Murphy Brown to select speeches from this year's presidential race, the "stump" speech has been the primary vehicle for candidates to share their political ambitions and ideals with the American people. With supporting essays that set the scene and provide the appropriate context for understanding what was said, how it was said, and why, Live from the Campaign Trail illustrates how campaign speeches have fundamentally shaped the way we think about American politics.
Ronald Reagan started it, back in 1977. George Bush perfected the art in 1988. In the 1980s and 1990s, Democrats as well as Republicans running for president (or thinking of doing so), have followed Reagan's lead in establishing precandidacy PACs as a way of raising more money faster, without the regulatory rigors laid down by Congress and the Federal Election Commission. Marshalling years of experience on the campaign trail, Anthony Corrado has documented for the first time the fundraising and spending patterns of presidential candidates who feel forced to circumvent the system in order to amass enough funds to mount a contemporary presidential campaign. He shows how a variety of factors—contribution limits, the delegate selection process, expenditure ceilings, and costly campaign strategies—have combined to push candidates to establish PACs to raise and spend money on campaign activities well in advance of an official declaration to run. These lofty-sounding organizations—such as Bush's "Fund for America's Future" and Gephardt's "Effective Government Committee"—operate as "shadow campaigns" throughout the nomination process and often live on beyond the candidate's formal bid for office. The year 1992 is a special case in presidential election year history because of the strong Bush incumbency, a reluctant Democratic challenge, and a series of foreign policy crises. Corrado explains why precandidacy PACs persist and how they are likely to grow (in number and clout) if an array of bold new reform measures is not implemented prior to the next open presidential election in 1996. After showing how the Federal Election Campaign Act not only permits but in fact inspires presidential candidates to break the laws governing campaign finance, Corrado points out how, ironically, less regulation may yield greater compliance and a more effective nomination process in the 1990s and beyond.
