Cornell University Press
Winning It Back
About this book
In Winning It Back, David A. Crockett explores why presidents who promise to set things aright—to "restore"—so often usher in the opposite.
Since the earliest days of the United States, presidencies have seemingly unfolded in a cyclical manner, with features from prior eras recurring in later ones. Building on the idea of "political time"—that presidential terms fall within particular regime cycles—Crockett shows that presidents often fall into one of two roles: opposition presidents and restoration presidents. Opposition presidents belong to the political party not representing the dominant governing philosophy of a specific political era—for example, Republican presidents during the New Deal era (e.g., Eisenhower, Nixon) and Democratic presidents during the Reagan era (e.g., Clinton, Obama). Restoration presidents, conversely, belong to the dominant party, come to power after opposition presidents and, as such, face the task of "restoring" the dominant party's governing agenda.
But that return is rarely smooth. Restoration presidents—like Kennedy after Eisenhower, or George W. Bush after Clinton—inherit both the hope of a comeback and the burden of pent-up expectations. Crockett argues that these leaders often overreach in their urgency to restore what was, inadvertently setting the stage for backlash and, eventually, the unraveling of their own political order.
With sharp historical analysis and a wide-angle view of presidential politics from Jackson to today, Winning It Back offers timely insights on leadership legacies and the risks of nostalgia—and a clarion call for what (and who) may come next.
Author / Editor information
David A. Crockett is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Trinity University. He is the author of The Opposition Presidency and Running against the Grain.
Topics
-
Download PDFPublicly Available
Frontmatter
i -
Download PDFPublicly Available
Contents
vii -
Download PDFPublicly Available
List of Tables
viii -
Download PDFPublicly Available
Preface
ix -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
1. The Logic of Restoration Politics
1 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
2. Jacksonian Era Restoration Politics
22 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
3. Gilded Age Restoration Politics
39 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
4. Warren G. Harding and the Return to Normalcy
54 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
5. New Deal Restoration Politics
79 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
6. George W. Bush and the Reagan Restoration
106 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
7. Donald Trump and Transgressive Restoration
133 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
8. The Perils of Restoration Politics
171 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Notes
187 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Bibliography
205 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Index
219
