AccountingQueen
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Based on your reading of The Imperial Presidents, answer one of the following questions.
1. What is meant by the “imperial presidency?” How have historians defined this most important relegation or arrogation of power to the executive branch of government? In your opinion, which president best personified in action and deed this dynamic of executive power?
2. Discuss the evolution of the ideology of liberalism from FDR to Barack Obama? Define liberalism and then discern which president did the most to carry forward such a tradition and consensus. (Presidents to focus on: FDR, LBJ, Clinton, and Obama.)
3. Not all presidents embraced the liberal ethos and thus there was a conservative reaction or backlash to liberalism that, interestingly, initially emanated from the people or the electorate, who, for a variety of reasons, believed liberalism had failed to uplift all citizens equally. Instead, in many peoples’ view by the 1960s, liberal policies and programs had focused on improving the lives of only certain groups, while the majority of middle and working class citizens continued to grind it out without any government assistance. Such perceived favoritism led to a white middle class “backlash” in the late 1960s and the momentary end of the liberal consensus which had governed the nation since the New Deal. What caused such polarization and widespread discontent and alienation among the white middle class by the late 1960s, with many former working class Democrats embracing the conservative ethos as expressed by the Republican Party? Indeed, many historians believe that the election of 1968 marked the end of liberalism and the rise of conservatism in the United States, which down to the present has become the dominant ideology, especially among alienated white working class Americans. Do you agree with that assessment? Indeed, in many ways the rise and apparent popularity among disenfranchised white working class males in particular of such far Right demagogues such as Donald Trump and Ted Cruz within the current Republican Party reflect this sense of angst among many disaffiliated blue collar white folk, evangelicals, and other conservative affinity groups. Explain this “phenomenon.” (Presidents to focus on: LBJ, Nixon, Reagan, and George W. Bush).
4. Based on your careful reading and understanding of the presidencies of Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon, discuss the origins of the Cold War and how each of the presidents listed above handled the Cold War crises and geopolitical exigencies of their respective administrations. In other words, each of these presidents had a series of different challenges in their relations with the Soviet Union and later with China; what were those major confrontations and how did each president deal with that particular “test” to his commitment to the United States’ overall Cold War policy. What were the fundamental tenets of America’s Cold War policy and which of the above presidents was most responsible for laying that foundation?
Your answers to these questions must be substantiated by the information in the book. Put the page number from the book where you have found or cited the appropriate documentation. Your papers are due by midnight, Wednesday, August 10th. No later papers will be accepted. You have ample time to complete this assignment.