A Short History Of Presidential Election Crises

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A Short History of Presidential Election Crises

Author : Alan Hirsch
Publisher : City Lights Books
ISBN 13 : 087286832X
Total Pages : 193 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (728 download)

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Book Synopsis A Short History of Presidential Election Crises by : Alan Hirsch

Download or read book A Short History of Presidential Election Crises written by Alan Hirsch and published by City Lights Books. This book was released on 2020-02-27 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An urgent primer on what can be done to combat emerging threats to the core of U.S. Democracy—presidential elections. In 2000, we learned that an exceptionally close presidential election can produce chaos, because we have no reliable Constitutional mechanism for resolving disputes. Joe Biden just won a presidential election that was extremely close in a number of states. Trump—and his many supporters—refuse to accept the legitimacy of those vote results, leading to an insurrection at the Capitol Building. Where do we go from here? In A Short History, Constitutional scholar Alan Hirsch presents a concise history of presidential elections that resulted in crises and advocates clear, common-sense solutions, including abolishing the Electoral College and the creation of a permanent, non-partisan Presidential Election Review Board to prevent or remedy future crises. “Hirsch does a very good job of offering historical context to illuminate the present—and the terrifying future. His imaginative proposals are probably too sensible to be implemented in an age of parochial partisanship.”—David Shipler, former reporter for the New York Times and Pulitzer Prize winner “Democracy is broken, but as Alan Hirsch explains, it really doesn’t have to be. This is the real story of how our voting system became so vulnerable to attacks from within and without, told with precision, verve, and even hope. This is the way out.”—Douglas Rushkoff, author of Team Human “This is a must-read for anyone who cares about safeguarding presidential elections―which should be everyone.”—Evan Caminker, Professor and former Dean, University of Michigan Law School "The noted law historian, author of Impeaching the President, examines the handful of seriously problematic presidential elections in American history and what the Constitution elucidates about the process of undoing such an event—namely, nothing. . . . A highly relevant study featuring much food for thought and prospects for change."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review " [A] seminal work of meticulous and informative scholarship that should be considered as an essential and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Contemporary Political Science collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, political activists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject."—Midwest Library Review

Thirty-Six Days

Author : Correspondents of The New York Times
Publisher : Times Books
ISBN 13 : 9780805068504
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (685 download)

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Book Synopsis Thirty-Six Days by : Correspondents of The New York Times

Download or read book Thirty-Six Days written by Correspondents of The New York Times and published by Times Books. This book was released on 2001-02-07 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the most trusted newspaper in the country, here is the complete story of the Election 2000 standoff that stopped American politics. Beginning on Election Day and ending with the Supreme Court decision that gave victory to George W. Bush, this important volume provides a day-by-day record of events as they unfolded. Drawing on the talents of many of the the top political reporters at The New York Times, 36 Days aims to make sense of a complex and convoluted chapter in our recent history. Along with lead stories from each consecutive day, the book includes informative and enlightening background pieces, analytical essays, investigative reports, personality profiles, and opinion pieces, thus offering students and all other observations of this election a well-rounded, fair-minded, thoughtful account. These pieces are linked by original text that highlights key developments and shifting strategies. Also included are selected excerpts from all the relevant legal opinions, statistical graphics, quotations, and sidebar stories. An introduction by acclaimed presidential scholar Brinkley adds historical perspective to this authoritative and comprehensive chronicle.

The Crisis of American Democracy

Author : David North
Publisher : Mehring Books
ISBN 13 : 1875639365
Total Pages : 161 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (756 download)

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Book Synopsis The Crisis of American Democracy by : David North

Download or read book The Crisis of American Democracy written by David North and published by Mehring Books. This book was released on 2004 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The re-election of President George W. Bush marks an ominous turning point in American and international politics. Having been returned to power, the most reactionary administration in the history of the United States will escalate its program of international militarism and domestic repression. The volume comprises four lectures offering contemporaneous analysis of the 2000 and 2004 US Presidential elections. Through a detailed historical overview, North establishes that behind the breakdown of democracy in the United States lies the deterioration of the global economic position of American capitalism, and the development of unprecedented levels of wealth concentration and social inequality. The turn to aggressive militarism abroad, and the vast expansion of police state measures arise, he maintains, not from the so-called "terrorist threat," but from the extreme sharpening of social and class tensions within American society itself. The volume also includes an incisive obituary to Ronald Reagan and an assessment of the Kennedy presidency written by North and Bill Van Auken on the 40th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination.

Identity Crisis

Author : John Sides
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691201765
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

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Book Synopsis Identity Crisis by : John Sides

Download or read book Identity Crisis written by John Sides and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-13 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gripping in-depth look at the presidential election that stunned the world Donald Trump's election victory resulted in one of the most unexpected presidencies in history. Identity Crisis provides the definitive account of the campaign that seemed to break all the political rules—but in fact didn't. Featuring a new afterword by the authors that discusses the 2018 midterms and today's emerging political trends, this compelling book describes how Trump's victory was foreshadowed by changes in the Democratic and Republican coalitions that were driven by people's racial and ethnic identities, and how the Trump campaign exacerbated these divisions by hammering away on race, immigration, and religion. The result was an epic battle not just for the White House but about what America should be.

Truman's Triumphs

Author : Andrew E. Busch
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700618678
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis Truman's Triumphs by : Andrew E. Busch

Download or read book Truman's Triumphs written by Andrew E. Busch and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2012-10-23 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Chicago Tribune headline "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN" remains infamously wrong about the outcome of the 1948 presidential election. But, as Andrew Busch reveals, there is much more to this story than the well-worn image of a victorious and beaming President Harry Truman parading the newspaper's erroneously headlined front page for all to see. Primarily a contest between Truman and challenger Thomas Dewey, the 1948 presidential race offered something for everyone, including two third-party candidates (Strom Thurmond and Henry Wallace), triumphant grit, tragic hubris, dangerous naivet, accidents of fate, accusations of betrayal, foreign crises, the birth of Israel in the Middle East, a dramatic special session of Congress, internecine battles among unions and liberals, spies, extremists galore (including Ku Klux Klansmen and Communists), the first televised convention, wayward polls, and, of course, a final result that surprised many. Amid a small library of books on the topic, Busch's stands out by offering the best scholarly study available--and the most readable. His fresh account goes beyond previous work by examining more closely the nomination season, key congressional elections, and the state of public opinion. He also digs into splits in both parties-the Democrats seeing Southern segregationists and the far left run their own candidates and the Republicans facing a division between philosophical wings representing the 80th Congress and the presidential ticket--and tells why the Republican schism proved more damaging. He concludes that the election was especially significant as an affirmation of the New Deal, of anti-Communist containment, and of gradual progress in civil rights--all of which established the political baseline for postwar America. Even readers knowledgeable about Truman's 1948 victory will discover new findings in this fresh and revealing account of that dramatic race. Truman's Triumphs recalls a contest with more twists and turns-and a different outcome-than most contemporaries anticipated, and makes engaging reading for scholar and history buff alike.

Jefferson's Second Revolution

Author : Susan Dunn
Publisher : HMH
ISBN 13 : 0547345755
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (473 download)

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Book Synopsis Jefferson's Second Revolution by : Susan Dunn

Download or read book Jefferson's Second Revolution written by Susan Dunn and published by HMH. This book was released on 2004-09-09 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An “excellent” history of the tumultuous early years of American government, and a constitutional crisis sparked by the Electoral College (Booklist). In the election of 1800, Federalist incumbent John Adams, and the elitism he represented, faced Republican Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson defeated Adams but, through a quirk in Electoral College balloting, tied with his own running mate, Aaron Burr. A constitutional crisis ensued. Congress was supposed to resolve the tie, but would the Federalists hand over power peacefully to their political enemies, to Jefferson and his Republicans? For weeks on end, nothing was certain. The Federalists delayed and plotted, while Republicans threatened to take up arms. In a way no previous historian has done, Susan Dunn illuminates this watershed moment in American history. She captures its great drama, gives us fresh, finely drawn portraits of the founding fathers, and brilliantly parses the enduring significance of the crisis. The year 1800 marked the end of Federalist elitism, pointed the way to peaceful power shifts, cleared a place for states’ rights in the political landscape—and set the stage for the Civil War. “Dunn, a scholar of eighteenth-century American history, has provided a valuable reminder of an election in which the stakes were truly enormous and the political vituperation was far more poisonous than the relatively moderate attacks heard today. . . . An excellent work that effectively explains this critical contest that shaped the history of the new republic.” —Booklist “Dunn does a superb job of recounting the campaign, its cast of characters, and the election’s bizarre conclusion in Congress. That tense standoff could have plunged the country into a disastrous armed conflict, Dunn explains, but instead cemented the legitimacy of peaceful, if not smooth, transfers of power.” —Publishers Weekly “Dunn simultaneously teaches and enthralls with her eloquent, five-sensed descriptions of the people and places that shaped our democracy.” —Entertainment Weekly

By One Vote

Author : Michael F. Holt
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700617876
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis By One Vote by : Michael F. Holt

Download or read book By One Vote written by Michael F. Holt and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2008-10-15 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With electoral votes disputed in three states, a Democrat winning the popular vote, and the Supreme Court stepping in to overrule Florida court decisions, the presidential election of 1876 was an eerie precursor to that of 2000. Rutherford Hayes's defeat of Samuel Tilden has been dubbed the "fraud of the century"; now one of America's preeminent political historians digs deeper to unravel its real significance. This election saw the highest voter turnout of any in U.S. history-a whopping 82 percent-and also the narrowest margin of victory, as a single electoral vote decided the outcome. Michael Holt offers a fresh interpretation of this disputed election, not merely to rehash claims of fraud but to explain why it was so close. Examining the post-Civil War political environment, he particularly focuses on its most curious feature: that Republicans were the only party in history to retain the presidency in the middle of a severe depression after decisively losing the preceding off-year congressional elections. Holt begins with the election of 1872 to demonstrate how competition for Liberal Republicans shaped the campaign strategies of both parties. He stresses the critical but little-noted importance of Colorado statehood in August-which changed the size of the electoral-vote majority needed to win-and provides a new answer to the vexing question of why a Democratic-controlled Congress had admitted Colorado in time to participate in the presidential election, when without its votes Tilden would have won. And he argues that the high voter turnout was attributable both to Republicans exploiting fears of ex-Confederates recapturing control of the government and to long-apathetic southern Democrats reacting to war memories and Reconstruction realities. By One Vote shows how this election triggered a Republican revival and established the GOP as the Democrats' major competitor. Holt's compelling analysis of the dispute over electoral votes also explains why charges of Republican fraud are questionable-and how Democrats were just as guilty of corruption. A masterly retelling of this controversial episode, Holt's study captures the mood of the country and testifies to the power that hatreds and fears aroused by the Civil War still exercised over the American people.

Centennial Crisis

Author : William H. Rehnquist
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307425215
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis Centennial Crisis by : William H. Rehnquist

Download or read book Centennial Crisis written by William H. Rehnquist and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the annals of presidential elections, the hotly contested 1876 race between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden was in many ways as remarkable in its time as Bush versus Gore was in ours. Chief Justice William Rehnquist offers readers a colorful and peerlessly researched chronicle of the post—Civil War years, when the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant was marked by misjudgment and scandal, and Hayes, Republican governor of Ohio, vied with Tilden, a wealthy Democratic lawyer and successful corruption buster, to succeed Grant as America’s chief executive. The upshot was a very close popular vote (in favor of Tilden) that an irremediably deadlocked Congress was unable to resolve. In the pitched battle that ensued along party lines, the ultimate decision of who would be President rested with a commission that included five Supreme Court justices, as well as five congressional members from each party. With a firm understanding of the energies that motivated the era’s movers and shakers, and no shortage of insight into the processes by which epochal decisions are made, Chief Justice Rehnquist draws the reader intimately into a nineteenth-century event that offers valuable history lessons for us in the twenty-first.

The Bitter End

Author : John Sides
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691253986
Total Pages : 417 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

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Book Synopsis The Bitter End by : John Sides

Download or read book The Bitter End written by John Sides and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2023-09-19 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What an intensely divisive election portends for American politics The year 2020 was a tumultuous time in American politics. It brought a global pandemic, protests for racial justice, and a razor-thin presidential election outcome. It culminated in an attack on the U.S. Capitol that attempted to deny Joe Biden’s victory. The Bitter End explores the long-term trends and short-term shocks that shaped this dramatic year and what these changes could mean for the future. John Sides, Chris Tausanovitch, and Lynn Vavreck demonstrate that Trump’s presidency intensified the partisan politics of the previous decades and the identity politics of the 2016 election. Presidential elections have become calcified, with less chance of big swings in either party’s favor. Republicans remained loyal to Trump and kept the election close, despite Trump’s many scandals, a recession, and the pandemic. But in a narrowly divided electorate even small changes can have big consequences. The pandemic was a case in point: when Trump pushed to reopen the country even as infections mounted, support for Biden increased. The authors explain that, paradoxically, even as Biden’s win came at a time of heightened party loyalty, there remained room for shifts that shaped the election’s outcome. Ultimately, the events of 2020 showed that instead of the country coming together to face national challenges—the pandemic, George Floyd’s murder, and the Capitol riot—these challenges only reinforced divisions. Expertly chronicling the tensions of an election that came to an explosive finish, The Bitter End presents a detailed account of a year of crises and the dangerous direction in which the country is headed.

Our Unfinished March

Author : Eric Holder
Publisher : One World
ISBN 13 : 0593445767
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (934 download)

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Book Synopsis Our Unfinished March by : Eric Holder

Download or read book Our Unfinished March written by Eric Holder and published by One World. This book was released on 2023-06-06 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brutal, bloody, and at times hopeful history of the vote; a primer on the opponents fighting to take it away; and a playbook for how we can save our democracy before it’s too late—from the former U.S. Attorney General on the front lines of this fight Voting is our most important right as Americans—“the right that protects all the others,” as Lyndon Johnson famously said when he signed the Voting Rights Act—but it’s also the one most violently contested throughout U.S. history. Since the gutting of the act in the landmark Shelby County v. Holder case in 2013, many states have passed laws restricting the vote. After the 2020 election, President Trump’s effort to overturn the vote has evolved into a slow-motion coup, with many Republicans launching an all-out assault on our democracy. The vote seems to be in unprecedented peril. But the peril is not at all unprecedented. America is a fragile democracy, Eric Holder argues, whose citizens have only had unfettered access to the ballot since the 1960s. He takes readers through three dramatic stories of how the vote was won: first by white men, through violence and insurrection; then by white women, through protests and mass imprisonments; and finally by African Americans, in the face of lynchings and terrorism. Next, he dives into how the vote has been stripped away since Shelby—a case in which Holder was one of the parties. He ends with visionary chapters on how we can reverse this tide of voter suppression and become a true democracy where every voice is heard and every vote is counted. Full of surprising history, intensive analysis, and actionable plans for the future, this is a powerful primer on our most urgent political struggle from one of the country's leading advocates.

Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria

Author : Larry Diamond
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1349080802
Total Pages : 389 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (49 download)

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Book Synopsis Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria by : Larry Diamond

Download or read book Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria written by Larry Diamond and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-12-25 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

How Democracies Die

Author : Steven Levitsky
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 1524762946
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (247 download)

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Book Synopsis How Democracies Die by : Steven Levitsky

Download or read book How Democracies Die written by Steven Levitsky and published by Crown. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Comprehensive, enlightening, and terrifyingly timely.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE • SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Time • Foreign Affairs • WBUR • Paste Donald Trump’s presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe the answer is yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang—in a revolution or military coup—but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one. Drawing on decades of research and a wide range of historical and global examples, from 1930s Europe to contemporary Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die—and how ours can be saved. Praise for How Democracies Die “What we desperately need is a sober, dispassionate look at the current state of affairs. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, two of the most respected scholars in the field of democracy studies, offer just that.”—The Washington Post “Where Levitsky and Ziblatt make their mark is in weaving together political science and historical analysis of both domestic and international democratic crises; in doing so, they expand the conversation beyond Trump and before him, to other countries and to the deep structure of American democracy and politics.”—Ezra Klein, Vox “If you only read one book for the rest of the year, read How Democracies Die. . . .This is not a book for just Democrats or Republicans. It is a book for all Americans. It is nonpartisan. It is fact based. It is deeply rooted in history. . . . The best commentary on our politics, no contest.”—Michael Morrell, former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (via Twitter) “A smart and deeply informed book about the ways in which democracy is being undermined in dozens of countries around the world, and in ways that are perfectly legal.”—Fareed Zakaria, CNN

Votes of Confidence, 2nd Edition

Author : Jeff Fleischer
Publisher : Zest Books
ISBN 13 : 154157897X
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (415 download)

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Book Synopsis Votes of Confidence, 2nd Edition by : Jeff Fleischer

Download or read book Votes of Confidence, 2nd Edition written by Jeff Fleischer and published by Zest Books. This book was released on 2020 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Previous edition published: San Francisco, California: Zest Books, [2016] under title Votes of Confidence.

Almost President

Author : Scott Farris
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 0762784210
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (627 download)

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Book Synopsis Almost President by : Scott Farris

Download or read book Almost President written by Scott Farris and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013-05-07 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Veteran political journalist Scott Farris tells the stories of legendary presidential also-rans, from Henry Clay to Stephen Douglas, from William Jennings Bryan to Thomas Dewey, and from Adlai Stevenson to Al Gore. He also includes concise profiles of every major candidate nominated for president who never reached the White House but who helped promote the success of American democracy. Farris explains how Barry Goldwater achieved the party realignment that had eluded FDR, how George McGovern paved the way for Barack Obama, and how Ross Perot changed the way all presidential candidates campaign. There is Al Smith, the first Catholic nominee for president; and Adlai Stevenson, the candidate of the "eggheads" who remains the beau ideal of a liberal statesman. And Farris explores the potential legacies of recent runners-up John Kerry and John McCain. The book also includes compact and evocative portraits of such men as John C. Fremont, the first Republican Party presidential candidate; and General Winfield Scott, whose loss helped guarantee the Union victory in the Civil War. This new edition of Almost President brings the work up-to-date with a section that explores the results and ramifications of the 2012 presidential election.

A Magnificent Catastrophe

Author : Edward J. Larson
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1416568409
Total Pages : 355 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (165 download)

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Book Synopsis A Magnificent Catastrophe by : Edward J. Larson

Download or read book A Magnificent Catastrophe written by Edward J. Larson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2007-09-18 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title "They could write like angels and scheme like demons." So begins Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Larson's masterful account of the wild ride that was the 1800 presidential election—an election so convulsive and so momentous to the future of American democracy that Thomas Jefferson would later dub it "America's second revolution." This was America's first true presidential campaign, giving birth to our two-party system and indelibly etching the lines of partisanship that have so profoundly shaped American politics ever since. The contest featured two of our most beloved Founding Fathers, once warm friends, facing off as the heads of their two still-forming parties—the hot-tempered but sharp-minded John Adams, and the eloquent yet enigmatic Thomas Jefferson—flanked by the brilliant tacticians Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, who later settled their own differences in a duel. The country was descending into turmoil, reeling from the terrors of the French Revolution, and on the brink of war with France. Blistering accusations flew as our young nation was torn apart along party lines: Adams and his elitist Federalists would squelch liberty and impose a British-style monarchy; Jefferson and his radically democratizing Republicans would throw the country into chaos and debase the role of religion in American life. The stakes could not have been higher. As the competition heated up, other founders joined the fray—James Madison, John Jay, James Monroe, Gouverneur Morris, George Clinton, John Marshall, Horatio Gates, and even George Washington—some of them emerging from retirement to respond to the political crisis gripping the nation and threatening its future. Drawing on unprecedented, meticulous research of the day-to-day unfolding drama, from diaries and letters of the principal players as well as accounts in the fast-evolving partisan press, Larson vividly re-creates the mounting tension as one state after another voted and the press had the lead passing back and forth. The outcome remained shrouded in doubt long after the voting ended, and as Inauguration Day approached, Congress met in closed session to resolve the crisis. In its first great electoral challenge, our fragile experiment in constitutional democracy hung in the balance. A Magnificent Catastrophe is history writing at its evocative best: the riveting story of the last great contest of the founding period.

Democracy for Realists

Author : Christopher H. Achen
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400888743
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Democracy for Realists by : Christopher H. Achen

Download or read book Democracy for Realists written by Christopher H. Achen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-08-29 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why our belief in government by the people is unrealistic—and what we can do about it Democracy for Realists assails the romantic folk-theory at the heart of contemporary thinking about democratic politics and government, and offers a provocative alternative view grounded in the actual human nature of democratic citizens. Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels deploy a wealth of social-scientific evidence, including ingenious original analyses of topics ranging from abortion politics and budget deficits to the Great Depression and shark attacks, to show that the familiar ideal of thoughtful citizens steering the ship of state from the voting booth is fundamentally misguided. They demonstrate that voters—even those who are well informed and politically engaged—mostly choose parties and candidates on the basis of social identities and partisan loyalties, not political issues. They also show that voters adjust their policy views and even their perceptions of basic matters of fact to match those loyalties. When parties are roughly evenly matched, elections often turn on irrelevant or misleading considerations such as economic spurts or downturns beyond the incumbents' control; the outcomes are essentially random. Thus, voters do not control the course of public policy, even indirectly. Achen and Bartels argue that democratic theory needs to be founded on identity groups and political parties, not on the preferences of individual voters. Now with new analysis of the 2016 elections, Democracy for Realists provides a powerful challenge to conventional thinking, pointing the way toward a fundamentally different understanding of the realities and potential of democratic government.

Eighteen-Day Running Mate

Author : Joshua M. Glasser
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300183372
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (1 download)

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Book Synopsis Eighteen-Day Running Mate by : Joshua M. Glasser

Download or read book Eighteen-Day Running Mate written by Joshua M. Glasser and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-01 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No skeletons were rattling in "his" closet, Thomas Eagleton assured George McGovern's political director. But only eighteen days later--after a series of damaging public revelations and feverish behind-the-scenes maneuverings--McGovern rescinded his endorsement of his Democratic vice-presidential running mate, and Eagleton withdrew from the ticket. This fascinating book is the first to uncover the full story behind Eagleton's rise and precipitous fall as a national candidate.Within days of Eagleton's nomination, a pair of anonymous phone calls brought to light his history of hospitalizations for "nervous exhaustion and depression" and past treatment with electroshock therapy. The revelation rattled the campaign and placed McGovern's organization under intense public and media scrutiny. Joshua Glasser investigates a campaign in disarray and explores the perspectives of the campaign's key players, how decisions were made and who made them, how cultural attitudes toward mental illness informed the crisis, and how Eagleton's and McGovern's personal ambitions shaped the course of events.Drawing on personal interviews with McGovern, campaign manager Gary Hart, political director Frank Mankiewicz, and dozens of other participants inside and outside the McGovern and Eagleton camps--as well as extensive unpublished campaign records--Glasser captures the political and human drama of Eagleton's brief candidacy. Glasser also offers sharp insights into the America of 1972--mired in war, anxious about the economy, ambivalent about civil rights.