Govhar’s Reviews > The Modern American Presidency > Status Update

Just finished the chapter about Jimmy Carter and have now finished reading about Ronald Reagan’s second term. I think definitely the idea about star power and running the White House as almost a film-set has been reaffirmed in my mind. Reagan succeeded because he was able to capture public mood, manipulate the idea of star power and find his own groove in bureaucratic procedures.

Have finished the chapters on Nixon and Gerald Ford - these were incredibly interesting, especially as we’ve just just finished wrapping up the 1970s economy in lessons. I think that you can definitely see the decline of the modern presidency here and it really makes you question about how it matters more about public reception to presidential decisions than their actual virtue in many cases, unfortunately.

I’m genuinely enjoying this book so much, and have felt like I’ve really gotten into the flow of Gould’s writing. I’ve just finished the chapters about the three key Republican presidents: Harding, Coolidge and Hoover, alongside Democrat FDR. What I find particularly interesting, besides this being a useful revision tool, is how each president relies on their predecessor to frame their administration!