The Shifting Fortunes of Presidential Reputations Part I: “The Press and the Presidency”
- Part I: "The Press and the Presidency"
- Part II: "Moral Character and the Presidency"
- Part III: "The President and His Enemies"
A symposium marking the 30th anniversary of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities gathers noted journalists and scholars—nearly all of whom have written books about American presidents—for three panel discussions on the shifting fortunes of presidential reputations.
The first discussion, “The Press and the Presidency,” includes Jack Beatty, a senior editor at the Atlantic Monthly; Kathleen Dalton, an associate fellow at the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University; and presidential biographer and prize-winning journalist Tom Wicker. The panel is moderated by Ellen Hume, a former White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal, who now directs the Center on Media and Society at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
Introductions to the program and various panels were given by University President William P. Leahy, SJ; David Tebaldi, executive director of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities; John Dacey, board member of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities; David Harris, executive director of the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston; Cullen Murphy, managing editor of the Atlantic Monthly; and Nancy Netzer, director of the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College.
Presenter(s): Jack Beatty, Kathleen Dalton, Tom Wicker, Ellen Hume
Date: November 20, 2004
Location: Robsham Theater, Boston College
Sponsor(s): Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities; hosted by Boston College
URL: http://frontrow.bc.edu/program/presidents1/
The information on this page is accurate as of November 2004
Program Notes
By Michelle Baildon
Scholarly Communications Reference Librarian
O'Neill Library, Boston College
table of contents
Websites
The American President
http://www.americanpresident.org/
The University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs sponsors this site, offering "two perspectives on the presidency: the Presidency in History, and the Presidency in Action." The former provides information about the 43 historical presidents, and the latter provides "information on the function, responsibilities, and organization of the modern presidency."
Presidential Libraries
http://www.archives.gov/presidential_libraries/addresses/addresses.html
This page from the National Archives and Records Administration links to the websites of the eleven presidential libraries.
The Presidents
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/archives_th_presidents_01.html
From the website for PBS's program The American Experience, this page links to sites created for episodes about several U.S. presidents.
The American President
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amerpres/
This site accompanied a ten-part series about the first 41 presidents, broadcast by PBS in 2000. It includes multi-media profiles of presidents, archives of online discussions, and links to other resources.
Mr. President: Profiles of Our Nation's Leaders
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/students/idealabs/mr_president.html
Five galleries offer brief biographies of American presidents through Clinton on this site from the Smithsonian Institution.
Character Above All: An Exploration of Presidential Leadership
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/character/
The companion site to a book edited by Robert A. Wilson and a PBS broadcast hosted by Jim Lehrer, this website offers essays excerpted from the book, a transcript of the television episode, a Q&A with historian Michael Beschloss, and links to related sites.
Finding Precedent: The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
http://www.impeach-andrewjohnson.com/default.htm
Rancor between Congress and Andrew Johnson over the shape of Reconstruction led to the president's 1868 impeachment. This HarpWeek website provides explanations of issues relevant to the impeachment debate, biographical information, and 19th-century articles, illustrations, editorials, and cartoons from Harper's Weekly magazine.
table of contentsOnline Articles
"American Sphinx: The Contradictions of Thomas Jefferson"
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/mtjessay1.html
Celebrated Jefferson historian Joseph J. Ellis of Mt. Holyoke College discusses the surge in popular interest in Jefferson and the complexities of his character. The essay was originally published in 1994 in Civilization: The Magazine of the Library of Congress.
"Richard M. Nixon"
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/character/essays/nixon.html
Excerpted from an essay by "U.S. Presidents in Perspective" panelist Tom Wicker, a former political reporter and columnist, this piece reflects on Nixon's character and its effects on his political career.
"Nearly Impossible to Repeal"
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/cp/vol-02/no-04/roundtable/banner.shtml
James M. Banner, Jr., discusses the complicated and ever-controversial Electoral College in the July 2002 Common-place.
table of contentsOnline Texts
American Memory: Presidents
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/ListSome.php?category=Presidents
Part of the Library of Congress's American Memory site, this page includes links to twelve online collections relating to U.S. presidents, including the George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln papers.
Avalon Project: Papers of the Presidents of the United States
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/presiden.htm
Papers of thirteen presidential administrations are offered on this site, sponsored by Yale Law School. It includes transcripts of inaugural and other addresses, executive orders, proclamations, messages to Congress, and other documents.
America Votes: Presidential Campaign Memorabilia
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/americavotes/
This online exhibition from the Duke University Special Collections Library includes letters, sheet music, leaflets, buttons, and bumper stickers dating from Adams's 1796 run to the 2000 presidential elections.
FDR Library Digital Archives
http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/online14.html
Material includes 6,500 pages of documents, 1,000 photographs, a few audio and video clips, and transcripts of the Fireside Chats, all from the holdings of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.
Theodore Roosevelt Electronic Texts
http://www.bartleby.com/people/RsvltT.html
An extensive set of texts by and about Teddy Roosevelt are available on this page from Bartleby.com.
table of contentsBook Picks
The Modern American Presidency
Covering the evolution of the U.S. presidency beginning at the turn of the 20th century, this introductory text by Lewis L. Gould makes the argument that the presidency "has outlived its usefulness and has become a liability to the person who holds the post and to the nation that the president of the United States is supposed to serve." Karl Rove-watchers will be interested to learn that William McKinley (a figure of fascination for George W. Bush's political architect) was the first modern American president, according to Gould.
The Evolving Presidency: Addresses, Cases, Essays, Letters, Reports, Resolutions, Transcripts, and Other Landmark Documents, 1787-2004
Michael Nelson's reader offers 50 excerpts from documents illustrating changes to the American presidency, from provisions in the Constitution designing the office of the presidency to the 2002 announcement outlining the "Bush Doctrine."
The Imperial Presidency
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.'s, classic study—written in the context of Watergate—examines the growth of presidential power in the United States. This revised volume brings the analysis forward to the George W. Bush administration.
The Presidents
Sponsored by American Heritage magazine and edited by Michael R. Beschloss, this book gathers profiles of every president from George Washington to George W. Bush.
Feeding the Beast: The White House Versus the Press
Kenneth T. Walsh, a Washington reporter for U.S. News and World Report, criticizes the relationship between the media and the White House. Political spin and press negativism work to the detriment of the electorate, he argues.
table of contentsSelected Books by the Panelists
Thomas Jefferson
By Joyce Oldham Appleby
Pols: Great Writers on American Politicians from Bryan to Reagan
By Jack Beatty
Transforming Leadership: A New Pursuit of Happiness
By James MacGregor Burns
Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life
By Kathleen Dalton
Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush
By John W. Dean
Jefferson's Second Revolution: The Election Crisis of 1800 and the Triumph of Republicanism
By Susan Dunn
Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton
By David Gergen
War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton, and the Generals
By David Halberstam
Tabloids, Talk Radio, and the Future of News: Technology's Impacts on Journalism
By Ellen Hume
Black Presidential Politics in America: A Strategic Approach
By Ronald W. W. Walters
JFK and LBJ: The Influence of Personality upon Politics
By Tom Wicker
Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln
By Douglas L. Wilson