Command Of Office: How War, Secrecy and Deception Transformed the Presidency, from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush [Hardcover]

Stephen Graubard (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0465027571 | ISBN-13: 978-0465027576 | Publication Date: October 12, 2004 | Edition: 1St Edition

The modern presidency really begins on September 14, 1901, argues Stephen Graubard, with the assassination of William McKinley and the succession of Teddy Roosevelt. TR's vigorous presidency foretold the expansion of wartime authority under Wilson; the growth of federal government under FDR; and the national security issues that dominated much of the foreign policy concerns during the Cold War.In his provocative new account of the enormous shift of power to the office of the American presidency, Graubard draws upon his intimate knowledge of every president since FDR to reveal the dangerous transformation of the executive branch in the last hundred years. Graubard sees three different "presidencies" over the course of the century, marked by increasing accumulation of authority: the presidency created by TR, Wilson, and FDR, continued under Truman and Eisenhower, in which foreign policy issues played a far greater role in presidential politics; the period of America's time of troubles from Kennedy to Carter, in which the disastrous Vietnam War spurred a further tendency to secrecy; and the third presidency, defined by Reagan and marked by spin. Learning the lessons of Reagan and Clinton, George W. Bush has inherited a far more powerful office than the one originally envisioned by the Founding Fathers. With access to former members of both Republican and Democratic administrations, Graubard has written a masterful history of presidential power--one that anyone concerned with American politics will need to read.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The 20th-century presidency can be defined by its growing accretion of power, argues Graubard, longtime Daedalus editor and Brown University historian emeritus. America's then controversial, presidentially led interventions in WWI and WWII required new extensions of the office's powers; the Cold War era of "permanent" Soviet threat and Vietnam-related secrecy amplified them; and Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, he says, added spin and deception to the mix. George W. Bush thus assumed an office whose powers are exponentially greater than anything envisioned by the Founding Fathers, subject to correspondingly limited checks and balances. The result, according to Graubard, is a White House increasingly sealed off from the public its occupant ostensibly serves. In acerbic, elegantly written critiques of successive administrations, he depicts presidencies that are increasingly responsive primarily to their particular internal dynamic. The chapter on Clinton (titled "The Rake's Progress") is a particularly effective analysis of a chief executive who "looked for new maps but never found them." George W. Bush is characterized as a poseur whose combination of hubris and ignorance may have done lasting damage to the U.S. at home and abroad. While readers may challenge his interpretations, Graubard's America, transformed by the "kings, courtiers, and warriors" of its 20th-century executive branch, merits wide and careful attention.
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Review

"You've kept us busy this week and given us a great deal of enjoyment with your nominations of the one book you would like the next president to read... Here, for what it's worth, is one more suggestion-- mine: Command of Office: How War, Secrecy and Deception Transformed the Presidency from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush." the author is Stephen Graubard. As a much younger man he was invited by Eleanor Roosevelt to F.D.R.'s wartime inauguration in 1945. Ever since, he has watched the presidency evolve with greater and greater authority and less and less regard for the checks and balances that sustain democracy. The next occupant of the White House can't read this without weighing how much more war, secrecy, and taste for empire America can tolerate." -- Bill Moyers

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 744 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1St Edition edition (October 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465027571
• ISBN-13: 978-0465027576
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,912,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Epic Scale, Powerful Tale, December 28, 2004

By 

Jeremy D. Mayer (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Command Of Office: How War, Secrecy and Deception Transformed the Presidency, from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush (Hardcover)

Graubard has much to teach us that even the most careful observer of the American presidency may have missed. His analysis is always original, and while on first read some of his interpretations of specific presidents or events may strike some readers as odd,further into a chapter, you usually find yourself nodding your head.
I found particular value in his discussion of the lesser known 20th Century presidents, such as Taft, Harding, and Coolidge.

Highly recommended for students of history, the presidency, or American politics.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Too much Machiavelli, March 13, 2005

By 

John C. Landon "nemonemini" (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Command Of Office: How War, Secrecy and Deception Transformed the Presidency, from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush (Hardcover)

This is a unique history of the twentieth century presidency. The author plays no favorites, and the rogue's gallery in the lineup is comprehensive. Although the effect of the world wars on the presidency is decisive, the story really begins with the assassination of McKinley and the subsequent era of T. Roosevelt, the beginnings of empire and globalization. Thence to Clinton and George W. Bush the acerbic account continues, and it is the very considerable increments of telling detail that makes the book work, and the altered perspective on standard accounts refreshingly bleached. We get so much hagiographic flak that we lose sight of the mediocrities, failures, and lost opportunities of the White House occupants, who are too often ill-prepared to do the job right. Too much of the history here is passed over. This book throws out a lot of hype, and might seem too much were it not good reading, and profitable at that. One's view of American presidents won't be same ever again.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Epic Presidential History, January 7, 2006

By 

D. Andrews "Tampa Dave" (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Command Of Office: How War, Secrecy and Deception Transformed the Presidency, from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush (Hardcover)

Though an avid reader, it is not often that I find a thick historical tome a "can't put down." This marvelous work, dense and thought-provoking, gives the reader a view into the presidencies of the 20th century. Even just the trivia you may pick up from this book is an enormous asset: (what 2 presidents died of natural causes and what two were assassinated in each of the last 2 centuries?) During what periods of American history did presidents tend to serve only one term? How many fingers does it take to count all the "honest" presidents in the 20th century?)

This is a must-read for anyone wanting a grasp of how we got to where we are today.