
Backlash Presidents
From Transformative to Reactionary Leaders in American History
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
How most presidents avoid upsetting the racial status quo—and why those who do pave the way for lawless, norm-violating successors
When Barack Obama won the White House in 2008, becoming the nation’s first Black president, the stage was set for Donald Trump’s eventual rise to power. Backlash Presidents shows how, throughout American history, administrations that challenge the country’s racial status quo are followed by presidents who deal in racially charged politics and presidential lawlessness, culminating in impeachment crises.
In this incisive book, Julia Azari traces the connections between racially transformative presidents and their successors, examining the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, and Obama and Trump. When he signed long-awaited civil rights legislation in 1964, Lyndon Johnson unleashed a perfect political storm that swept Nixon into the White House. Azari demonstrates how Nixon’s rhetoric, relationship to Congress, and attitudes about executive power exhibit striking parallels with Andrew Johnson and Trump. She discusses how their actions are linked to race and racialized institutions—the Department of War during Reconstruction, the FBI during the Nixon years, and elections today—and looks at what happens after impeachment, describing how the rush to establish a new order perpetuates many of the same problems as the old.
Challenging the conventional wisdom about the role of norms in American democracy, Backlash Presidents reveals how normal presidential politics upholds unsustainable racial hierarchy that in turn gives rise to intense periods of instability.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Series Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1. Introduction: Race and Presidential Impeachment
- 2. A New Birth of Freedom: George Washington to Abraham Lincoln
- 3. āThe Constitution as It Isā: Andrew Johnsonās Impeachment
- 4. āPatience and Moderationā: Theodore Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson
- 5. Law and Order: Nixon and Watergate
- 6. āThe Content of Their Characterā: Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama
- 7. āHostile Takeoverā: The Two Impeachments of Donald Trump
- 8. Conclusion: The Choices We Face: Rethinking Presidential Impeachment
- Afterword: We Are Going Back
- Notes
- Index
- Series List