How Did We Get Here?: From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump
by Robert Dallek
View on GoodreadsVeteran presidential historian Robert Dallek's structural narrative of the presidency from TR through Trump — treating the office's evolution as the through-line that explains where the contemporary crisis comes from.
Core ideas
- The "imperial presidency" arc (Schlesinger's term) from FDR through the Cold War expanded executive power on bipartisan grounds and weakened the checks that older constitutional design relied on.
- Television and post-television media reshaped what the presidency rewarded — image management, base management, demagogic potential — in ways that selected for traits the older system filtered out.
- Trump is treated as the predictable result of the long trajectory, not as a unique aberration — the office had been moving in his direction for decades, with both parties contributing.
Published2020
ISBN9781094158624
ReadAug 2024
