The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776-1998

Now in a new edition, The American Presidency — winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award for History, Politics and Philosophy — examines both the constitutional precepts that underlie the presidency and the social, economic, political, and international conditions that continue to shape it.Authors Milkis and Nelson analyze the origins of the presidency and discuss the patterns of presidential conduct that developed during the nineteenth century. They argue that the modern presidency had its origins not just in Franklin D. Roosevelt, as is commonly believed, but also in the earlier administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.

This new edition provides updated coverage of the Clinton presidency through the first half of his second term. The authors take account of new research on the presidency to make this outstanding history of the presidency as up to date as possible.