This book argues the thesis that during the Nixon and Ford administrations America discovered the limits of its power, and that both presidents had, therefore, to adjust to new realities in both their domestic and their international activities. It was also the period when the American people first insisted on certain limits to presidential activity, and even forced a powerful president from office for that reason. Like the distinguished preceding volumes in this series by Charles Alexander on Eisenhower and Jim Heath on the Kennedy-Johnson years, John Greene's book provides a balanced historical assessment of the Nixon and Ford administrations. The volume forcuses on both domestic and foreign policy and presents one of the first true historical judgments about these administrations.
John Robert Greene is the Paul J. Schupf Professor of History and Humanities at Cazenovia College, Cazenovia, NY, where he has taught for the past thirty-two years. He is the director of the Social Science program, and serves as the College Archivist.
Dr. Greene's teaching and writing specialty lies in American Political History, particularly the American presidency. He has written or edited seventeen books. His latest book--entitled America in the Sixties and released in October 2010--is rich in both anecdotes, stories, and thoughtful analysis, as it utilizes the author's three decades of teaching and publishing on that fascinating and volatile period.
Greene's other books include one on the election of Dwight Eisenhower, one on the Nixon presidency, three on the Ford presidency, and a critically acclaimed book on The Presidency of George Bush. This book, based on over one hundred interviews--including one with former President Bush--was recently praised in the leading journal in the field as "the best book to date on the Bush administration." His biography of Betty Ford--the first biography published of that first lady, has also earned for him strong reviews. Of his four books on the history of higher education, his Generations of Excellence: A History of Cazenovia College continues to raise funds for scholarships at Cazenovia College. His next two book, due out in December 2010, will be an encyclopedia of the George W. Bush administration. Greene is presently working on a study of America in the 1930s.
Both his students and his colleagues have honored Dr. Greene. At Cazenovia College, he was awarded the school's first endowed chair. He has been chosen to speak to the graduating class on several occasions, and in 1993 the faculty voted him the honor of Distinguished Faculty Member.
Dr. Greene is also a regular political commentator on several radio call-in shows around the country, and has recently offered commentary on C-SPAN, MSNBC, and National Public Radio. His most recent foray into the national media was in March 2009, when he was a featured analyst for the PBS special, "Betty Ford: The Real Deal."
Born and raised in Syracuse, N.Y., Dr. Greene received his undergraduate degrees from St. Bonaventure University, and his Ph.D. in Modern American History from Syracuse University. In other lives, he was a radio disc jockey, played in a very bad small rock band, and taught the visually handicapped.
