WHY MODERATES MAKE THE BEST PRESIDENTS
George Washington to Barack Obama
Second Edition with a new Afterword
Gil Troy, University Press of Kansas
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- August 27, 2012
- Second Edition with a new Afterword
- Pages: 360, 6 x 9
- Cloth ISBN 978-0-7006-1859-0, $34.95
- Paper ISBN 978-0-7006-1860-6, $19.95
NOW AVAILABLE @ Amazon.com — Barnes & Noble — Amazon.ca
ABOUT
In an era of extremist politics, Gil Troy argues, moderation and moderate leaders are needed more than ever. Challenges like managing the debt, preserving the environment, fighting terrorism, improving education—in short, protecting America today and building toward tomorrow—require the kind of consensus that can only come from leaders who seek the center.
As Troy reminds us, the election of Barack Obama in 2008 seemed to presage such a shift. Nearly four years later, however, political moderation remains as elusive as ever.
Troy champions the presidencies of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan. They succeeded not because of their bold political visions, he argues, but because of their moderation. The great presidents of American history have always sought a golden mean—from George Washington, who brilliantly mediated between the competing visions of Jefferson and Hamilton; to Abraham Lincoln, who rescued the union with his principled pragmatism; to the two Roosevelts, Theodore and Franklin, who united millions of Americans with their powerful, affirmative, nationalist visions; to the bracing can-do optimism of Kennedy and Reagan.
Troy explains how presidents can both hew to the center and address important political challenges. By his reckoning, the best presidents have exercised “muscular moderation.” In his afterword Troy cogently critiques President Obama’s fraught evolution from a “Magic Moderate” deeply committed to extending his election night civility as widely as possible to his gradual realization that a much more muscular moderation would be required. Obama’s increasingly tough-minded and much less forgiving rhetoric might not immediately heal the scars from our polarized politics but might be necessary in the short run.
Troy underscores in this new edition that moderation must be restored or greatness—for our presidents and our nation—will likely be denied.
First time in paperback. Originally published as Leading from the Center: Why Moderates Make the Best Presidents.
REVIEWS
“Moderate does not equal namby-pamby, and extremism is not an American norm; instead, the founders ‘celebrated modesty, balance, self-denial, and rationality,?’ none of which seems abundant in politics today. . . . Those sick to death of extremist rhetoric should be assured by Troy’s conclusions.”—Kirkus
“Troy’s mastery of his material and ability to condense it elegantly reflect both deep immersion in his subject and an ability to see forest through trees.”—History News Network
“Troy constructs a presidential A-list of masters of the middle. . . . It’s a good time to start getting passionate about moderation.”—New York Post
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface to the Second Edition ix
Introduction: Presidents as Muscular Moderates
A “Middle Course” for Our “Common Cause” 1
1 Washington’s Way
“Liberal Allowances, Mutual Forbearances, and Temporizing Yieldings on All Sides” 19
2 Compromisers, Zealots, and Ciphers
The Blessing of Parties, the Challenge of Slavery, and the Failure of Presidents 39
3 Abraham Lincoln’s Middle Measure
A Cautious Politician’s “My Policy Is to Have No Policy” Pragmatism 57
4 Theodore Roosevelt’s Democratic Two-Step
The Rise of the Romantic, Nationalist Presidency 75
5 Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal
The Radical as Moderate 93
6 Truman, Eisenhower, and America’s Bipartisan Consensus
Building Political Unity through Cultural Conformity 123
7 John F. Kennedy Civil Rights
Moderation and the Challenge of Change 147
8 The Consensus Collapses
Lyndon Johnson and the Limits of Moderation 165
9 Learning from Losers
Where Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter Went Wrong 183
10 Ronald Reagan’s Moderate Revolution
Resurrecting the Center 201
11 Bill Clinton and the Perils of Triangulation
The Need to be Muscular as Well as Moderate 223
12 George W. Bush
Imprisoned by Conviction? 247
Conclusion: Center Seeking in the Twenty-first Century
Is Political Moderation Possible in an Age of Excess? 273
Afterword: A President and a People in Search of Moderation 287
Acknowledgments 297
A Note on Sources 301
Notes 309
Index 337
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GIL TROY, a native of Queens, New York, and professor of history at McGill University, is the author of Mr. and Mrs. President: From the Trumans to the Clintons; Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s; and Hillary Rodham Clinton: Polarizing First Lady.
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