The Presidency on Trial

If our democratic system is to survive the internal and external stresses of the present era, the President of the United States must exercise presidential leadership, not presidential politics. Such is the premise of this book, elaborated in the context of a concise examination of Robert Kennedy’s 1968 campaign for the Presidency, a campaign oriented to the major issues facing the United States then as now.

Presidential politics, explains the author, is the manipulation of the power of the presidential office to achieve undeclared objectives and obfuscate divisive issues. The politics of presidential leadership, on the other hand, is the manipulation of the influence of the presidential office to secure popular and congressional support for declared policies addressed to the resolution of problems arising in part from the existence of division. Professor Brown describes how Presidents and presidential candidates in the recent past have approached or used the office of the Presidency as a base for exercising such political techniques. He shows especially, by piecing together statements made in campaign speeches, how Robert Kennedy held out a promise for presidential leadership, and how a consequence of his death has been a return to “politics as usual”. Against his background, the author analyzes the performance of President Nixon in handling the Vietnam war, civil rights, welfare, and other vital matters.