Guardian of the Presidency: The Legacy of Richard E. Neustadt by Matthew J. Dickinson (Editor), Elizabeth A. Neustadt (Editor), Doris Kearns Goodwin (Foreword by)

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Synopsis

For more than five decades, Richard E. Neustadt was America's leading expert on the Presidency. He was an adviser to several Presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Bill Clinton. His book Presidential Power, first published in 1960, remains required reading for anyone seeking to understand decisionmaking at the highest levels of American government. He also produced classic studies of foreign and domestic policy such as Alliance Politics, a penetrating analysis of crises in U.S.-U.K. relations, and Thinking in Time: The Uses of History (coauthored with Ernest R. May). In Guardian of the Presidency, Neustadt's colleagues and students celebrate the rich and diverse contributions he made to political and academic life.

Dick Neustadt began his career as presidential adviser in 1946. He joined the Bureau of Budget, working for President Truman, before becoming a special assistant in the Truman White House in 1950. After the Republicans captured the White House in 1952, he entered academic life, teaching first at Cornell University and then at Columbia. The publication of Presidential Power brought him to the attention of President-elect John F. Kennedy, who commissioned Neustadt to prepare recommendations for his transition to office. Neustadt declined a formal position with the administration but continued to advise Kennedy and, later, Lyndon Johnson. He also consulted to the transition teams for Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton.

An institution builder as well as a scholar and an adviser, Neustadt was the founding director of Harvard University's Institute of Politics and a guiding force in developing the John F. KennedySchool of Government. In this role, he helped shape generations of leaders, both in the United States and abroad.

Contributors: Graham Allison, Jonathan Alter, Harvey V. Fineberg, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Al Gore, Charles O. Jones, Anthony King, Ernest R. May, Eric Redman, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Theodore C. Sorensen, Harrison Welford.

Biography

Matthew J. Dickinson is professor of political science at Middlebury College. An expert on the Presidency, he is the author of Bitter Harvest: FDR, Presidential Power, and the Growth of the Presidential Branch (Cambridge University Press, 1996). Elizabeth A. Neustadt is head of Consultancy and Professional Development at the Tavistock Institute in London. Doris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and presidential historian. Her most recent book is Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (Simon & Schuster, 2005).