Thirty years ago Richard Neustadt published Presidential Power, which became a widely studied book on the theory and practice of presidential leadership. Presidents themselves read it and assign it to their staff for study, as did the intructors of hundreds of thousands of students of government. Now Richard Neustadt re-examines the theory of presidential power by testing it against events and decisions in the administrations of the later modern presidents who followed FDR, Truman and Eisenhower. To the original study of presidential power, Neustadt has added a series of chapters appraising the presidential styles and skills of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan in the light of his guiding belief that the President must consider the effect a decision will have on his prospects for the successful exercise of presidential power in the future.
About the Author: Richard E. Neustadt is Douglas Dillon Professor of Government Emeritus at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. For three decades an advisor to presidents, their aides, and to members of the cabinet, he is also the author with Ernest R. May of Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision Makers (The Free Press, 1986).