Robert W. Merry
For the 2012 presidential race, the author of the acclaimed and successful biography of President James Polk offers a fresh, playful, and challenging way of playing â€œRating the Presidentsâ€â€”Americaâ€™s favorite gameâ€”by pitching historiansâ€™ views and subsequent expertsâ€™ polls against the judgment and votes of the presidentsâ€™ own contemporaries.,The author of the acclaimed biography of President James Polk, ,A Country of Vast Designs, ,offers a fresh, playful, and challenging way of playing â€œRating the Presidents,â€ by pitching historiansâ€™ views and subsequent expertsâ€™ polls against the judgment and votes of the presidentsâ€™ own contemporaries., ,Merry posits that presidents rise and fall based on performance, as judged by the electorate. Thus, he explores the presidency by comparing the judgments of historians with how the voters saw things. Was the president reelected? If so, did his party hold office in the next election? ,Where They Stand ,examines the chief executives Merry calls â€œMen of Destiny,â€™â€™ those who set the country toward new directions. There are six of them, including the three nearly always at the top of all academic pollsâ€”Lincoln, Washington, and FDR. He describes the â€œSplit-Decision Presidentsâ€™â€™ (including Wilson and Nixon)â€”successful in their first terms and reelected; less successful in their second terms and succeeded by the opposition party. He describes the â€œNear Greatsâ€™â€™ (Jefferson, Jackson, Polk, TR, Truman), the â€œWar Presidentsâ€™â€™ (Madison, McKinley, Lyndon Johnson), the flat-out failures (Buchanan, Pierce), and those whose standing has fluctuated (Grant, Cleveland, Eisenhower). ,This voyage through our history provides a probing and provocative analysis of how presidential politics works and how the country sets its course. ,Where They Stand ,invites readers to pitch their opinions against the voters of old, the historians, the pollstersâ€”and against the author himself. In this year of raucous presidential politics, ,Where They Stand ,will provide a context for the unfolding campaign drama.
History,Politics,Nonfiction,Politics,Presidents,North American Hi...,American History,Presidents,Us Presidents,Biography
Where They Stand: The American Presidents in the Eyes of Voters and Historians