Lectures for the American Presidency
Entries by Title
- 01.A: Greetings I'm Your Professor!
- 01.B: What the Course is About
- 01.C: How I Approach Political Science
- 01.D: My Teaching Philosophy and Method
- 01.E.: Course Rules
- 02.A: Lecture Outline
- 02.B: Class Announcements
- 02.C: Review
- 02.D(a): What is a "President?" (class discussion)
- 02.D(b): What is a "President?" (answers)
- 02.E: The Emergence of the Roman Republic
- 02.F: The Roman Consul
- 02.G: Conceptualizing Monarchical Power
- 02.H: An Introduction to Article II
- 03.A: Lecture Outline
- 03.B: Class Announcements
- 03.C: Review of Last Lecture
- 03.D: The History of Power Sharing in Governments
- 03.E: The Structure of Britain's Rule Over Her Colonies
- 03.F: Early Experiments in American Executive Design
- 03.G: Debating the Executive at the Constitutional Convention
- 03.H: "The Dog on the Chain" -- The Architectural Compromise in Executive Design
- 04.A: Lecture Outline: Washington and American Nationhood
- 04.B: Class Announcements
- 04.C: Your First Quiz!
- 04.D: Understanding the Professor's Slide Technique: How to Take Good Notes
- 04.E: Review of Previous Lecture
- 04.F: The Unresolved Questions Surrounding America's New Chief Executive
- 04.G: Why Study Washington and Historical Presidents?
- 04.H: An Introduction to Washington (the person)
- 04.I: The "Ohio Country:" France v. Great Britain
- 04.J: Washington's Early Journeys to Western Pennsylvania
- 04.K: Washington and the Braddock Campaign
- 04.L: Washington and the "Virginia Blues"
- 04.M: Washington and the Forbes Campaign
- 05.A: Lecture Outline: Washington Survives the War, Rejects the Throne and Becomes President
- 05.B: Class Announcements
- 05.C: Review of Previous Lecture
- 05.D: The Pregame Show: How Could Part-Time Farmers Defeat the British Empire?
- 05.E: The First Quarter: Mistakes, Confrontation, Surprise and Retreat
- 05.F: The Second Quarter: Saratoga and the French
- 05.G: The Third Quarter: Cold Winters, Mutinies and Despair for the Revolutionary Cause
- 05.H: The Fourth Quarter: America's Accidental Victory Against Britain
- 05.I: The Newburg Conspiracy: Washington Rejects the American Throne
- 05.J: Washington's Presidency: Leading by Example
- 06.A: Jefferson: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (part I)
- 06.C: Review of Previous Lecture
- 06.D: Building Nationhood: Washington and the National Tour
- 06.E: Washington and Race: Redemption and Virtue at Mount Vernon
- 06.F: History Versus Myth: An Introduction to Jefferson
- 06.G: Jefferson's Fixatious Views: Women, Crime, Race, Indians and More
- 06.H: Jefferson's Failures: Finance, Farming, Plagiarism & Protecting Virginia
- 07.A: Lecture Outline: Jefferson -- The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (Part II)
- 07.B: Class Announcements
- 07.C: Review of Previous Lecture
- 07.D: Jefferson the Ideologue: A Virtuous Agrarian Slave Republic Forever?
- 07.E: Jefferson the Partisan: The Formation of Political Parties
- 07.F: Jefferson the President: Federal Power, Success & Failure
- 07.G: Summarizing Jefferson.
- 08.A: Lecture Outline: Andrew Jackson: The Person, The President & The Ideologue
- 08.B: Class Announcements
- 08.C: Review of Previous Lecture
- 08.D: Andrew Jackson the Person: The Making of Old Hickery
- 08.E: Andrew Jackson the War Hero
- 08.F: Jackson Becomes President: America's Second Ascension of Agrarian Ideology
- 08.G: The Presidency of Andrew Jackson
- 09.A: Lecture Outline: A Transformed Presidency for a Transformed America: Progressives & Teddy Roosevelt
- 09.B: Class Announcements
- 09.C: Review of Previous Lecture
- 09.D: Congress' Clerk? -- The Presidency in the Late 1800s
- 09.E: The Birth of American Liberalism: Progressivism Emerges in the 1900s
- 09.F: Theodore Roosevelt: The Enthused, Courageous & Ethnocentric Reformer
- 09.G: America's First Progressive: Theodore Roosevelt, the Bully Pulpit & the Square Deal
- 10.A: Lecture Outline: The Democrats Steal Progressivism While Republicans Immitate Nero
- 10.B: Class Announcements
- 10.C: Review of Previous Lecture
- 10.D: Republicans Fumble Progressivism: Taft's Betrayal and the Bull Moose Party
- 10.E: Woodrow Wilson: The Accidental Progressive and "Southern Gentleman"
- 10.F: The Democrats Become Progressive: The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson
- 10.G: The Calm Before the Storm: Conservative Presidents and Laissez Faire
- 10.H: Capitalism Finally Breaks: The Great Depression
- 10.I: "A Christian and a Democrat:" An Introduction to Franklin Roosevelt
- 11.A: Lecture Outline: How Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal Forever Changed Both American Politics and the Presidency
- 11.B: Class Announcements
- 11.C: Review of Previous Lecture
- 11.D: The New American Hegemony: FDR and the New Deal
- 11.E: FDR -- The Second, Third and Fourth Terms
- 11.F: Helping Britain: How FDR Cleverly Positioned America Toward Entering World War II
- 11.G: Concluding Thoughts About Franlkin Delano Roosevelt
- 11.H: How New-Deal Ideology Changed the Presidency
- 12.D: How New-Deal Ideology Changed the American Presidency
- 12.E: The President's Cabinet
- 12.F: The Executive Office of the President
- 12.G: The White House Staff.
- 13.A: John Kennedy and Presidential Decision Making
- 13.B: Class Announcements
- 13.C: Review of Previous Lecture
- 13.D: John Fitzgerald Kennedy -- An Introduction.
- 13.E: Prelude to the Bay of Pigs: Communists and the Red Scare
- 13.F: The Bay of Pigs and Presidential Decision Making
- 13.G: The Cuban Missile Crisis and Presidential Decision Making
- 14.A: Lecture Outline: Controlling Congress
- 14.B: Class Announcements
- 14.C: Review of Previous Lecture
- 14.D: How Presidents Can Control Congress
- 14.E: Controlling Congress: Comparing Carter and Reagan
- 15.A: Lecture Outline: Presidents and Their Poll Numbers
- 15.B: Class Announcements
- 15.C: Review of Previous Lecture
- 15.D: The Poll Numbers of Harry Truman
- 15.E: The Poll Numbers of Eisenhower
- 15.F: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
- 15.G: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of Lyndon Johnson
- 15.H: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of Richard Nixon
- 15.I: The Poll Numbers of Gerald Ford
- 15.J: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of Jimmy Carter
- 15.K: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of Ronald Reagan
- 15.L: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of George I
- 15.M: The Presideny and Poll Numbers of Bill Clinton
- 15.N: The Presidency and Poll Numbers of George II
- 16.A: Lecture Outline: The History and Philosophy of the Electoral College
- 16.B: Review of Previous Lecture
- 16.D: The Electoral College as the Hall of Fame -- the Framers Invent Another Accident
- 16.E: America's First Presidential Selection: Washington, Virtue and Non-Partisanship
- 16.F: Electing a President: The Partisan Model Arrives With Jefferson in 1800
- 17.A: Lecture Outline: Nominating and Electing a President
- 17.B: Your Next Quiz and Exam!
- 17.C: Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go
- 17.D: Review of Previous Lecture
- 17.E: The Mechanics of Electoral College, and What Happens if Elections Tie (again and again)
- 17.F: The Democratization of the Nomination Process: From King Caucus to Primaries
- 17.G: Is it Fair for New Hampshire to Have All of That Power?
- 18.A: Lecture Outline: Congress and its Failed Attempt to Keep Pace With the President
- 18.B: Class Announcements
- 18.D: Congress Tries to Beef Up in Modern World, Too?
- 18.E: Congress and the Budget -- An Appaling Tale of the Failure of an Institution
- 18.F: More Congressional Failure -- The Legislative Veto
- 18.G: Can Congress Ever Be the Leader Again?
- 19.A: Lecture Outline: A Study in American Political Drama -- The Life and Presidency of Richard Milhouse Nixon
- 19.B: Class Announcements
- 19.C: Review of Previous Lecture
- 19.D: Psychology, Drama, Pragmatism and Ideology -- An Introduction to Richard Milhouse Nixon
- 19.E: Nixon's Domestic Presidency -- Where Did the Ideologue Go?
- 19.F: Nixon and Foreign Policy -- His Greatest Accomplishments?
- 19.G: Nixon and Watergate -- an American Political Drama
- 19.H: What Watergate Really Was -- Subversion of Democracy and Dissent by Powerholders
- 20.A: Lecture Outlilne: Presidents, the Rule of Law & the Power to Start War
- 20.B: Class Announcements
- 20.C: Review of Previous Lecture
- 20.D: The President and the Rule of Law
- 20.E: Who Has The Power to Start War In the American System of Government?
- 21.A: Lecture Outline: Presidential Power During War -- Lincoln, Milligan & the Japanese Internment
- 21.B: Class Announcements
- 21.D: Presidents, War & Power -- An Introduction
- 21.E: Emergency Power -- Lincoln and the Civil War
- 21.F: Suspending Habeas Corpus -- The Milligan Principle
- 21.G: Fred Korematzu and The Japanese Internment