Author Description

"In writing this book twenty years ago, I sought to characterize the power of a modern American President. I addressed, not the office but rather the person as one among many in an institution. "Power" I defined as personal influence on governmental action. This I distinguished sharply--a novel distinction then--from formal powers vested in the Presidency. In considering Dwight D. Eisenhower and Harry S. Truman, with Franklin D. Roosevelt in their immediate background, I found that sort of influence to be a risky thing, hard to consolidate, easy to dissipate, rarely assured. Presidential weakness was the underlying theme of Presidential Power. This remains my theme. It runs through the eight original chapters, here reprinted, and through three new ones that are meant to supplement, bring up to date, revise, and reconsider, as befits a new edition"--Page xi