Guide to the Presidency

by Michael Nelson

The Guide to the Presidency is an extensive study of the most important office of the U.S. political system. Its two volumes describe the history, workings and people involved in this office from Washington to Clinton.
The thirty-seven chapters of the Guide , arranged into seven distinct subject areas (ranging from the origins of the office to the powers of the presidency to selection and removal) cover every aspect of the presidency. Initially dealing with the constitutional evolution of the presidency and its development, the book goes on to expand on the history of the office, how the presidency operates alongside the numerous departments and agents of the federal bureaucracy, and how the selection procedure works in ordinary and special cicumstances.
Of special interest to the reader will be the illustrated biographies of every president from Washington to the present day, and the detailed overview of the vice-presidents and first ladies of each particular office. Also included are two special appendices, one of which gathers together important addresses and speeches from the Declaration of Independence to Clinton's Inaugural Address, and another which provides results from elections and polls and statistics from each office.

1800 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Michael Nelson is the Fulmer Professor of Political Science at Rhodes College. He has published multiple books, the most recent of which is Resilient America: Electing Nixon, Channeling Dissent, and Dividing Government (2014). Other recent books are The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776–2014, with Sidney Milkis (2015); The Presidency and the Political System, 10th ed. (2014); and The Elections of 2012 (2013). He has published numerous articles in scholarly journals such as the Journal of Politics and Political Science Quarterly and in periodicals such as Virginia Quarterly Review, the Claremont Review of Books, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Although most of his articles have been about American politics and government, he also has written about C. S. Lewis, Frank Sinatra, Charles Dickens, Garrison Keillor, football, and baseball. More than 50 of these articles have been reprinted in anthologies of political science, history, and English composition. He is editor of the American Presidential Elections book series for the University Press of Kansas and is currently writing a book about the 1992 election.

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