Publications Spotlight

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    Power Shifts: Congress and Presidential Representation

    John Dearborn, contributor That the president uniquely represents the national interest is a political truism, yet this idea has been transformational, shaping the efforts of Congress to remake the presidency and testing the adaptability of American constitutional government. The emergence of the modern presidency in the first half of the… Read More

    Aug. 28, 2023

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    Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s

    Nicole Hemmer, contributor Ronald Reagan has long been lionized for building a conservative coalition sustained by an optimistic vision of American exceptionalism, small government, and free markets. But as historian Nicole Hemmer reveals, the Reagan coalition was short-lived; it fell apart as soon as its charismatic leader left office. In the 1990s — a decade that has yet to be recognized as the breeding ground for today’s polarizing politics — changing demographics and the emergence of… Read More

    Aug. 30, 2022

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    Remade in His Image: How Trump Transformed Right-Wing Media

    Nicole Hemmer, contributor Leading historians provide perspective on Trump’s four turbulent years in the White House The Presidency of Donald J. Trump presents a first draft of history by offering needed perspective on one of the nation’s most divisive presidencies. Acclaimed political historian Julian Zelizer brings together many of today’s top scholars… Read More

    Apr. 12, 2022

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    Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic: The Deep State and the Unitary Executive

    John Dearborn, contributor As the nation’s chief executive, Donald Trump pitted himself repeatedly against the institutions and personnel of the executive branch. In the process, two once-obscure concepts came center stage in an eerie face-off. On one side was the specter of a “Deep State” conspiracy – administrators threatening to… Read More

    Feb. 18, 2021

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    The “Two Mr. Wilsons”: Party Government, Personal Leadership, and Woodrow Wilson’s Political Thought

    John Dearborn, contributor Woodrow Wilson’s political thought on statesmanship and governance reveals a consistent tension between party and personal leadership. I trace three phases of Wilson’s political thought, analyzing this tension under a framework of Edmund Burke’s idea of party government and Henry Bolingbroke’s conception of the “Patriot King.” First,… Read More

    Sep. 12, 2019

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    The Historical Presidency: The Foundations of the Modern Presidency: Presidential Representation, the Unitary Executive Theory, and the Reorganization Act of 1939

    John Dearborn, contributor Two claims of presidential authority—presidential representation and the unitary executive theory—were contested during the legislative battle over the reorganization of the executive branch in the late 1930s. A unitary executive theory envisioned top-down control of the executive branch, while a theory of presidential representation tied the president’s… Read More

    Apr. 26, 2018

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    Nicole Hemmer, Messengers of Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics

    Nicole Hemmer, contributor From Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity to Glenn Beck and Matt Drudge, Americans are accustomed to thinking of right-wing media as integral to contemporary conservatism. But today’s well-known personalities make up the second generation of broadcasting and publishing activists. Messengers of the Right tells the story of the little-known… Read More

    Aug. 1, 2016

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    Barry Goldwater and the Remaking of the American Political Landscape

    Nicole Hemmer, contributor Nearly four million Americans worked on Barry Goldwater’s behalf in the presidential election of 1964. These citizens were as dedicated to their cause as those who fought for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. Arguably, the conservative agenda that began with Goldwater has had effects on… Read More

    Feb. 1, 2013