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Prisoners of the White House: The Isolation of America's Presidents and the Crisis of Leadership

In his seminal 1970 work, The Twilight of the Presidency, former Lyndon Johnson press secretary George Reedy argued that "the most important, and least examined, problem of the presidency is that of maintaining contact with reality" (The Twilight of the Presidency [New York: New American L...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Presidential Studies Quarterly 2014, Vol.44 (2), p.379-380
Main Author: Walcott, Charles E.
Format: Review
Language:English
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Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In his seminal 1970 work, The Twilight of the Presidency, former Lyndon Johnson press secretary George Reedy argued that "the most important, and least examined, problem of the presidency is that of maintaining contact with reality" (The Twilight of the Presidency [New York: New American Library, 1970], p. 17). Since Reedy wrote, elements of this problem have attracted a goodly number of political scientists, journalists, and professional pollsters. Reedy's challenge and Walsh's response suggest a conundrum at the heart of presidential lead- ership: presidents must understand their constituencies in order to represent them, yet they must know when, and how far, to move beyond the public in exercising leadership.
ISSN:0360-4918
1741-5705
DOI:10.1111/psq.12127