In Michael Nelson′s fourth edition of The Evolving Presidency, students of the information-rich modern age are reminded that there is no substitute for a primary source. Over 50 documents help to anchor the ever-changing presidency in historical context, dramatically showing presidents pioneer U.S. history in both word and deed. Students will encounter a range of documents from speeches and debates to letters and landmark Supreme Court decisions. Every selection has its own headnote that is carefully crafted to convey the significance of the document during its own time and its lasting effects on the office of the presidency.
Documents new to this edition:
• Memo from Walter F. Mondale to Jimmy Carter Proposing the Modern Vice Presidency (1976
• Bush v. Gore (2000)
• Barack Obama′s Campaign Speech on Race in America (2008)
• Barack Obama′s Health Care Address (2009)
Michael Nelson is Fulmer Professor of Political Science at Rhodes College and a senior fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. A former editor of the Washington Monthly, his most recent books include Trump’s First Year (2018); The Elections of 2016 (2018); The Evolving Presidency: Landmark Documents (2019); The American Presidency: Origins and Development (with Sidney M. Milkis, 2011); and Governing at Home: The White House and Domestic Policymaking (with Russell B. Riley, 2011). Nelson has contributed to numerous journals, including the Journal of Policy History, Journal of Politics, and Political Science Quarterly. He also has written multiple articles on subjects as varied as baseball, Frank Sinatra, and C. S. Lewis. More than fifty of his articles have been anthologized in works of political science, history, and English composition. His 2014 book, Resilient America: Electing Nixon, Channeling Dissent, and Dividing Government, won the American Political Science Association’s Richard E. Neustadt Award for best book on the presidency published that year; and his 2006 book with John Lyman Mason, How the South Joined the Gambling Nation, won the Southern Political Science Association’s V.O. Key Award.