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THAT MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE
A Light-Hearted Look at the Serious Subject of the American Presidency
(Six Lectures)
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Lecture 1: The Half-Step Rule (Timing, Timing, Timing)
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Synopsis: Historian H. W. Brands looks at the presidencies of Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. Successful presidents are successful at a particular moment in time. What made George Washington a great president in the 1790s worked in the 1790s; it wouldn't have worked in the 1920s or in 2008. What has been key to each president's success has been his ability to stay a half-step -- not a full step -- ahead of the times.
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Lecture 2: Loyal to a Fault (Why Nice People Make Lousy Presidents)
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Synopsis: H. W. Brands distinguishes between a private code of ethics and a code that guides successful politicians and presidents. Taking Andrew Jackson as the greatest example, Brands shows that decisions have to be made for the common good -- for the good of the nation -- that might not correspond with decisions presidents would have made if they were only concerned with themselves and their conscience.
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Lecture 3: Sam Goldwyn's Secret (Sincerity is Everything; Learn to Fake it and You'll Go Far)
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Synopsis: Being a successfully president requires being able to fulfill the role of a president. The president must know how to play the role. He can be brilliant on policy -- he can be a very insightful analyst -- but unless he knows how to fill the role, he's going to be a failure. George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan are all examples of presidents who mastered the dominant communications medium of the day and played the role.
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Lecture 4: They Don't Vote in Montevideo (All Foreign Policy is Local)
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Synopsis: Presidents, when they are devising foreign policy, have to pay attention to American politics. It's nice if people in foreign countries like American policies -- but that's not essential. It's much more important that people in the United States like American policies. Brands follows this lesson through through the administrations of presidents who got it, and others who didn't.
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Lecture 5: Leave Under a Cloud (and the Sun is Sure to Shine)
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Synopsis: Looking at the presidencies of Woodrow Wilson and Harry Truman, H. W. Brands observes that presidents and presidential reputations are at the mercy of historians and subsequent events. Historians make history accord with changing times because they are creatures of their times. What is the result?
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Lecture 6: Dance with Them that Brung You (Remember Who You Work For)
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Synopsis: Democracy in America is considered an unalloyed good thing; it's almost as though Democracy can do no wrong. But is this true? H. W. Brands gets at this question by contrasting James Buchanan with Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt with Lyndon Johnson.
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