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Subject Area: American Presidency
Brown, Jacqueline Elaine2012 0-7734-1317-0 224 pages
Examines presidential inaugural speeches, during the Civil Rights and Black Power era, from the Kennedy administration to President Lyndon Baines Johnson, to prove that, most times, this type of speech is little more than epideictic formality in regard to black interests, and, perhaps, the initial step in an administration’s disregard for the concerns of African Americans—or the first indication that an administration is ensnared in a dilemma of catering solely to white American interests. Correspondingly, the book explores the theory that African American leaders’ speeches attempt to respond to Presidential inaugural addresses.
Ranson, Edward
2007 0-7734-5304-0 472 pages
This study offers an original account and analysis of the political fortunes of the Harding Administration at its mid-point, and of the public verdict upon the perceived record of the so-called “Do Nothing” Sixty-seventh Congress. This work reveals much about the political culture of the early 1920s, and the extent to which it reflected the many economic, social and cultural changes of the decade. It fills a surprising gap in the political history of the 1920s and paves the way for a proper understanding of the 1924 presidential election in which so many of the issues and personalities resurfaced.
Ranson, Edward
2008 0-7734-4838-1 1020 pages
A reassessment of the political style and acumen of Calvin Coolidge during the 1924 presidential campaign, this study analyzes the presidential election campaign following the national conventions and discusses organisational and financial difficulties, and the popularity and impact of opinion polls and of radio.
Otenyo, Eric E.
2009 0-7734-4707-5 304 pages
This work examines the relationships between U.S. strategic security, trade interests, and democratic enlargement in Africa. The author demonstrates that idiosyncratic presidential actions shaped the outcomes of the policy to export democratic ideals to Africa.
Schlup, Leonard
2007 0-7734-5413-6 336 pages
This book is an edited compilation of first-person accounts consisting of valuable primary source material, presenting historians and students of the Gilded Age with a wealth of information with which to dissect the times and better understand the individuals who occupied the vice presidency from 1869 to 1901. The book presents a chronologically arranged assortment of letters, speeches, statements, essays, and inaugural and farewell addresses to the Senate of Vice Presidents Colfax, Wilson, Wheeler, Arthur, Hendricks, Morton, Stevenson, Hobart, and Roosevelt. Readers will find a judicious array of important information useful in various ways. Professors and teachers of history, political science, social science, and classes on the presidency may want to place the book on lists of supplementary reading or for purposes of selecting topics for written or oral assignments. This book contains 17 black and white photographs.
Leibowitz, Arnold H.
2012 0-7734-2537-3 640 pages
A first time legal analysis of three Presidential impeachments: Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and William Clinton. Leibowitz makes the case that the impeachment process is divisive to the cohesion of the United States. Leibowitz provides an historical analysis of the processes used by Congress during all three impeachments and presents a biographical sketch for each individual president in order to illustrate how they reached the presidency and how the attainment of that goal influenced their relationship with the public and Congress during the impeachment process. Leibowitz concludes by arguing that congressional censure may be a better option than impeachment.
Witcher, Russ
2003 0-7734-6720-3 168 pages
To study the career of Richard Nixon is to study the last half of the 20th century, for both good and ill. This book is a collection of articles, interviews and excerpts from journalists, historians, and associates of Nixon’s, of views from both people who admired him and those who feverishly despised him. The viewpoints of such a diverse ideology gives a fully-rounded account of this still-controversial figure. It takes him beyond the limits of Watergate to portray the entirety of his career. If journalism is indeed the first draft of history, this volume is a good place to learn how Nixon’s legacy has evolved.
Kirby, David
1991 0-88946-793-5 212 pages
Examines the charms and, more closely, the dangers of boyishness in American culture. Argues the paradox of American culture by drawing from the allied disciplines of literature, history, and psychology, from sources as venerable as the classic texts of our civilization and as current as today's headlines. In the words of one journalist, "our dreamy, drifting culture throws off dangerous, drifting dreamers," the kind of men who shoot our presidents, of course, yet also the kind of men who sometimes become president.
Ayeni, Chris Olugbenga
2005 0-7734-5976-6 208 pages
This research expands the data base in comparative cross-national political communication. It thereby establishes the basis for generalizations about, and comparisons of, the campaign styles of Blair and Clinton. Throughout, the larger question is to what extent Great Britain has imported American communication methods.
Pederson, William D.
1991 0-7734-9742-0 164 pages
A number of distinguished political scientists, historians, and present and former Congressmen address the issue of governmental gridlock from structural and psychological perspectives. Because the issue may be traced to the South's ticket-splitting in the 1950's, it's appropriate to assess this phenomenon of American politics from both national and southern perspectives.
Carter, John J.
2006 0-7734-5835-2 264 pages
This work is a study of presidential employments of covert action as a foreign policy tool during six presidential administrations from Kennedy through Reagan. It offers the reader brief accounts of covert operations undertaken by the American intelligence community during the critical period from 1961 to 1989. The accounts examine and illustrate the evolving nature of the relationship between the American presidency and the burgeoning intelligence community during the middle to late Cold War era. Much of the analysis focuses on the recurring tension between presidential efforts to subordinate and control the intelligence community and the centrifugal forces of bureaucratic politics which led the key agencies of the community to seek larger roles and more important positions within the executive policy making process. Between 1961 and 1989, both the presidency and the intelligence community faced significant challenges from within both their political and policy environments. This work analyzes how these challenges combined with the Cold War international environment to motivate some of the most controversial and dangerous employments of covert action in the history of America’s secret foreign policy.
Carter, John J.
2003 0-7734-6937-0 220 pages
This study offers a series of vignettes of covert operations undertaken by presidents from Harding to Eisenhower. It explores how the interaction of presidential personalities, their political environments and the evolving American intelligence community combined to shape America’s covert foreign policy agenda. It examines the struggle of American political leaders to reconcile the democratic imperative of government by the people with the political need to pursue certain foreign policy objectives by covert means during the critical period from the end of WWI to the Bay of Pigs.
Carter, John J.
2000 0-7734-7754-3 240 pages
This volume employs a series of historical case studies of early American covert actions to support an analysis of the evolution of this instrument of presidential foreign policy over the first 120 years of American under the Constitution. It offers a series of Vignettes of selected covert actions undertaken by presidents from Jefferson to Wilson. It explores how presidential personalities and the changing political environment shaped the evolution of covert action as a tool, and provides insight into how American leaders came to reconcile the inconsistencies between government by the people and secret undertakings by the executive branch. “Dr. Carter has provided an important contribution to the historical study of intelligence. Works like his on intelligence are important references because they draw light on operations and events that were, by necessity, originally shrouded in secrecy. I highly recommend this book for the student of American history as well as those involved in the study of intelligence-related statecraft. . . . The bibliography and references are excellent and are valuable information sources I themselves.” – Wayne Madsen, author of Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa
Witcher, Russ
2008 0-7734-4961-2 132 pages
Examines how the war in South Vietnam was reflective of a larger battle within the United States between the executive and the legislative branches of government over war-making powers.
Griffin, John Chandler
2014 0-7734-4502-1 324 pages
The cold-blooded execution of President John F. Kennedy remains the most intriguing mystery of the 20th century. This fascinating book methodically examines the various organizations and numerous individuals who had the motive, the opportunity and the means of carrying out such an incredible crime exonerating, in theory, the alleged lone assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.
Hallett, Brien
2012 0-7734-3053-9 88 pages
In this provocative book Hallett argues that dropping the atomic bomb on Japan had no impact on their surrender to America. What was more important was the threat of a Soviet and American invasion, and the Japanese government preferred to deal with America rather than have the Soviets turn the country communist.
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were certainly evil, but how evil? Evil in which way? Conventionally, their evil has been explained away by repeating that the atomic bombings ‘ended the war to save lives.’ If true, the evil was not truly evil. In this book, Professor Hallett challenges this all too comforting explanation. If lives were saved, then how many were saved, he asks? Did bombs cause the surrender of Japan; or was the Soviet involvement in the Pacific another influence among many that coincided with the end of the war? Reviewing the dramatic events of August, 1945, Hallett concludes that few, if any lives were saved and that the dropping of the atomic bombs was merely coincidental with the ending of the war. Instead, Soviet entry into the Pacific War was the immediate causal factor in the timing of the Japanese surrender. This study concludes that there was a banal evil induced by an ordinary lack of imagination on the part of President Truman and the American officials.
Holowchak, Mark Andrew
2021 1-4955-0888-9 208 pages
This book, thus, is a systematic, philosophy-of-science examination of the Strong Thomas Jefferson Hypothesis (HTJS) by rigorous analysis of all the pro-paternity evidence and of all of the anti-pro-paternity evidence. I evaluate every scrap of material and historical evidence pro and con the Strong Thomas Jefferson Hypothesis and designate the arguments of which they function as premises as very weak (W), weak (w), neither weak nor strong (w/s), strong (s), or very strong (S).
Holowchak, Mark Andrew
2021 1-4955-0889-7 300 pages
Jorstad, Erling
1981 0-88946-982-2 171 pages
Distinguishes between moderate "press on" and conservative "hold fast" evangelicals, characterizing Jimmy Carter as the former and Ronald Reagan as the latter, and attributes Reagan's and the "hold fast" evangelicals' political successes to their mastery of computer and television technology.
Ryley, Thomas W.
1997 0-7734-8476-0 404 pages
Brandt, Thompson
2001 0-7734-7651-2 144 pages
This book presents for the first time over 100 selected letters with reference to music, written to Harry S. Truman’s wife Bess, later to his daughter Margaret, and finally to a host of 20th century musicians, historical figures, and other important people, including Bob Hope, Eugene List, Joseph Kennedy, Jose Iturbi, Guy Lombardo, et al.. Truman revealed in these letters a passion for music, mature taste and insight, and goodwill. As a single body, they trace the life of Harry Truman from the perspective of music. More intriguing is the tone of several letters from the late 1940s that clearly signals Truman’s volatile letter to music critic Paul Hume. The record shows that Truman corresponded with Hume on several occasions after 1950. Finally, Truman’s Musical Letters presents a full account of the Hume letter, from the time it was sent with a three-cent stamp on it to its current place in American history. The volume includes a selection of the public’s letters to Truman in reaction.
Lauck-Dunlop, Penny L.
2013 0-7734-4541-2 228 pages
Democratic governments who need public opinion on their side to make decisions use different strategies to win popular support for their wars. This book chronicles that process in specific how popular support for the Iraq Wars were won by the two Bush Presidents, and how the leaders can often twist the truth. There is a tacit assumption that the public wants to trust the President, and that there are things the leaders know that the general public is not privy to. In certain cases, like wars of retaliation, little marketing is necessary. The use of polling data can also aide the government in determining with certainty which marketing strategies will convince people to support the war policy.
Broesamle, John
2014 0-7734-4276-6 520 pages
This book identifies the core factors that spell success, mediocrity, or outright failure in the White House. It discusses how some chief executives have managed to avoid pitfalls better than others. It shows us how core presidential errors interact and compound, with significant implications for the performance of the political system as a whole.
Impact of Franklin Pierce on Nathaniel Hawthorne: Friendship, Politics, and the Literary Imagination
Williamson, Richard J.2007 0-7734-5647-3 180 pages
This book demonstrates how Nathaniel Hawthorne’s lifelong friendship with Franklin Pierce influenced the author’s literary imagination, often prompting him to transform Pierce from his historical personage into a romanticized figure of distinctly Jacksonian qualities. The book also examines how Hawthorne’s friendship with Pierce profoundly influenced a wide range of his work, from his first novel, Fanshawe (1828), to the Life of Franklin Pierce (1852) and such later works as the unfinished Septimius romances and the dedicatory materials in Our Old Home (1863). Finally, the book shows how Pierce became for Hawthorne a literary device – an icon of Jacksonian virtue, a token of the Democratic party, and an emblem of steadfastness, military heroism, and integrity, all three of which were often at odds with Pierce’s historical character.
Leibowitz, Arnold H.
2022 1-4955-1030-1 640 pages
This is a softcover book (reprint). "This book rejects Presidential impeachment, supporting in its stead a Congressional action of censure against the President. ...For over 220 years from the founding of the Republic, the impeachment of the President was an unusual event. It occurred only once in the case of Andrew Johnson; but the circumstances then were extraordinary, the impeachment arising in the wake of a civil war. Even so, the impeachment effort failed albeit by one vote. It was not expected to be used again. ...This seemed to be in accordance with the vision of the Framers of the Constitution. Many of the Founding Fathers argued that impeachment was unnecessary for the President. The Presidency, after all, was an elected position; the periodic elections themselves would act as a safety value and remove those who abused the public trust. ...In addition to treating all of the impeachments in a comparative way, the book discusses the biographical background of Johnson, Nixon and Clinton so as to understand, in each case, their struggles to reach the Presidency, their relationship to the Congress and to the public." -From the Author's Abstract
Geraci, Melissa Wye
2003 0-7734-6629-0 196 pages
This is the first historical analysis that reveals the depth and scope of the contribution that the Kennedy family, professional staff, and outside collaborators made in creating the John F. Kennedy presidential campaign image. Documenting the origins of this ground-breaking strategy as the combined result of both 1920s Hollywood film production and propaganda films in Europe during the 1930s, it sheds new light on the effectiveness of the Kennedy influence during the 1960s and up to the present. The Kennedy boundary-spanning approach to the development and dispersal of public/private information has since become an integral component of media-based politics. The business of enhancing the aesthetics of the run for the presidency through pictorial and cinematic representation has become an essential contributing factor in many of the more controversial aspects of Hollywood filmmaking, as well as a governmental propaganda resource. The work particularly examines the campaign film The New Frontier. With illustrations.
Summitt, April R.
2008 0-7734-4942-6 296 pages
The first comprehensive examination of President Kennedy’s policy toward the entire Middle East. This book contains five black and white photographs.
Ulloth, Dana
2024 1-4955-1269-X 42 pages
This essay shows that Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrant persons from two widely separated parts of the world understands the dedication to the success of the middle class, and to the wide diversity of people in the nation. ...The record she built up in California, rising from a county district attorney's office to occupy the position of attorney general for the state, demonstrates her ability to confront barriers and succeed. -Dana Ulloth ("Introduction")
Hedtke, James R.
2002 0-7734-7164-2 256 pages
Weeber, Stan C.
2003 0-7734-6829-3 264 pages
A synthesis of an array of information regarding the Kennedy assassination and the subsequent investigations. It offers a biographical analysis of Lee Harvey Oswald, documenting Oswald's troubled childhood, dysfunctional family roots, and his involvement in radical activism.
Oliver, Williard M.
2008 0-7734-4963-9 592 pages
This work analyzes the interplay between the American political system and criminal justice policy, providing a comprehensive examination of the vital role politics plays in defining key elements of the criminal justice system.
Putcha, Chandrasekhar
2010 0-7734-3827-0 180 pages
This interdisciplinary monograph analyzes presidential and legislative elections themes. Topics covered in the work include a critical discussion of all the forecasting models used in the past 20 years, and an examination of the forecasting of Presidential elections from an engineering and mathematical point of view, and actual mathematical equations between predicted votes and the polls.
Holowchak, Mark Andrew
2022 1-4955-0921-4 172 pages
From the author's Introduction (pg.3): "My memoirs, however, are more than a casual romp down Memory Lane. They are a commentary on the ills, even evils, of politicizing history by the network of revisionists at and around Monticello. What pertains to Jeffersonian scholarship pertains to all scholars involved in American history. Many today have gamified the task of writing American history and the result has been a discretionary interpretation of the life and mind of key figures like Thomas Jefferson and key events like the American Revolution. Any country that cares nothing about the truth of its past cannot have much of a future."
DeRouen, Karl Jr.
2001 0-7734-7564-8 172 pages
This study adds to the foreign policy decision making literature by furthering an understanding of the convergence between foreign policy and domestic politics. It is also relevant to conflict theory, in particular the diversionary use of force. It uses a simultaneous design to tap the interdependence between politics, the economy, and force. Statistical analyses reveal that the unemployment and Soviet crisis activity had positive impacts on levels of US force. Ongoing war had a negative impact. Uses of force also lead to a significant rally effect in presidential approval. It offers explanations of the use of force decision process based upon the noncompensatory theory. Two case studies are presented: Dien Bien Phu, 1954, and Grenada, 1983. Finally, the study discusses the benefits of substituting domestic economic management and collective security for military force.
Paschen, Stephen H.
2010 0-7734-1445-2 404 pages
An edited selection of presidential campaign letters and speeches of four native Ohio presidents. The primary source documents shed new light on campaign strategies during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They are chronologically arranged with a descriptive paragraph preceding each entry. The book contains an introduction, brief biographical sketches of each president, a list of recommended readings for further research, photographs, and an index. There is no other single book containing all this information on the four elections, showing striking differences and similarities among these four Republican leaders.
Kline, Benjamin
1997 0-7734-8606-2 232 pages
This study is a chronological history of the moral and economic factors which have influenced United States-South African relations since 1948, accessible to students, academics and the general readers. The chapters are primarily divided according to US presidential terms to show how each administration has dealt with the problems of supporting business interests while denouncing South Africa's racial policies. Included are the basic debates over divestment, international criticism, and the development of apartheid. It can also be used for US history, political science, and African history classes.
Zeitler, Michael A.
2012 0-7734-1601-3 308 pages
Work examines significant aspects of President Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father both in relation to the African American literary tradition and to the context of the relevant historical and cultural productions that inform it. The authors view the book a work of literature and compare it to other works by black authors such as Toni Morrison, Frederick Douglass, and Ralph Ellison among others.
Thornton, Jamie
2008 0-7734-5124-2 308 pages
Through the lens of rhetorical criticism, this study offers a unique understanding of the arguments that Lyndon Johnson used to launch the educational package that came to fruition in his Great Society. This work will appeal to scholars in politics, English, and various fields of public speaking.
Fleser, Arthur
1990 0-88946-321-2 134 pages
Calvin Coolidge participated in 15 inaugurals, ran for over 30 elective offices. His speaking contributed to his success and mirrored the conservative mind of his age. Although more flexible than strong, Coolidge was able to impress many as a man of action and conviction. Although he seldom used humor, he knew how to prepare a speech with clearly defined divisions, balanced sentences, and flowing phrases. He usually talked in soothing generalities on the virtues of the Republican Party, the principles of constitutional government, and love of God and country. He organized his material chronologically and often supported his propositions with historical examples. His was primarily a ceremonial rhetoric, never a rhetoric of reform.
Peterson, Christian
2003 0-7734-6703-3 204 pages
This work challenges the assertion that the nuclear freeze and Western European movements forced Ronald Reagan to embrace arms control and improve Soviet-American relations during his presidency. While these movements put tremendous pressure on Reagan, they never fundamentally altered his conception of how to reduce nuclear weapons significantly. Besides outlining Reagan’s complex interaction with these movements, this work will show that Reagan’s conduct and personal views played a crucial role in bringing about the Soviet-American Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987.
McClure, Arthur F.
1988 0-88946-098-1 240 pages
Covers Reagan's early years in radio, films, and television and his formative role as President of the Screen Actors Guild. Also features complete cast lists for the films of Ronald and Nancy Reagan and lists of books and articles on Reagan and his family.
Schlup, Leonard
2008 0-7734-5107-2 488 pages
This collection of documents, both personal and political, is an invaluable tool for better understanding and appreciating a president often condemned by historians as a poor leader and administrator.
Wert, Joseph
2003 0-7734-6676-2 200 pages
Isaac, Paul E.
1998 0-7734-8501-5 424 pages
Based on presidential papers and manuscripts in Tennessee, this work details the history of the Republican and Progressive parties during the Progressive era when the Republican party played a more significant role in the state than in any of the former Confederate states. Traces the party relationship with Theodore Roosevelt and its breakup under Taft.
Witcher, Russ
2004 0-7734-6232-5 107 pages
This critical analysis of director Oliver Stone's Nixon argues that the screenplay and film are early attempts in American cinema to put the life of Richard Nixon in proper historical perspective. Although known for his provocative and controversial approach in his films toward people and events of the 1960s and '70s in America, Stone has delivered an evenhanded account of the impact of Nixon on American history. This book is appropriate for anyone interested in the Cold War, American film, or popular art and politics and adds to the study of the media's depiction of history and historical figures.
Vasillopulos, Christopher
2024 1-4955-1303-3 296 pages
Discussion on the Trump Phenomenon. Trump and his supporters have been called sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, isolationist, and many other epithets of the Woke Culture. He and his supporters have been accused of being Neo-Nazis, or Quasi-Nazis by reasonably well educated and intelligent politicians, members of the Media, and a majority of academics. Of course, Trump has brought much of this onslaught upon himself with his often vulgar, bombastic, and exaggerated speech. His policies, however, have been prudent, measured, and effective. This book tries to account for this seeming discrepancy, as well as, the fierce loyalty and hatred he has provoked.
Vasillopulos, Christopher
2024 1-4955-1299-1 296 pages
Discussion on the Trump Phenomenon. Trump and his supporters have been called sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, isolationist, and many other epithets of the Woke Culture. He and his supporters have been accused of being Neo-Nazis, or Quasi-Nazis by reasonably well educated and intelligent politicians, members of the Media, and a majority of academics. Of course, Trump has brought much of this onslaught upon himself with his often vulgar, bombastic, and exaggerated speech. His policies, however, have been prudent, measured, and effective. This book tries to account for this seeming discrepancy, as well as, the fierce loyalty and hatred he has provoked.
Neuringer, Sheldon
1993 0-7734-9367-0 108 pages
The first specialized case study of the Carter administration's response to the tragic developments in Cambodia. Examines the complex interplay of factors that shaped American policy, including the inability to impose economic and diplomatic sanctions on the regime in Phnom Penh, a distaste felt by the American people for immersion into another Indochina "quagmire", and the administration's desire to move forward in its quest for normalization of relations with the People's Republic of China, which was the chief patron of the Khmer Rouge.
Broesamle, John
2016 1-63313-005-3 44 pages
The discussion of this book deals with the action-reaction syndrome which typifies American government , in which a President's success (like Obama's by moving the country in a somewhat more liberal direction) produces a degree of resistance that makes any farther success that much harder.
Ranson, Edward
2010 0-7734-3702-9 192 pages
This study investigates how. for the first time the new medium of radio impacted upon a presidential campaign. Prior to 1924 candidates were known to the public by their photographs and by the printed versions of their major speeches published in the press. Beginning in 1924, however, party standard-bearers were recognized by their voices.
Vasillopulos, Christopher
2024 1-4955-1252-5 156 pages
"Trump allows the People to feel that they matter. He allows them to believe their concerns, how trivial they seem to Elites, define their decency and significance. Thus we come to our question: how is Trump different? He is the archetypal Outsider, who not only threatens the Establishment's monopoly of power but their monopoly of statue. He is the billionaire who exemplifies the values and the speech, of ordinary Americans. He is the Outsider, who wears a custom made suit and a baseball cap. He is the Outsider who cannot be corrupted by the lure of playing golf at Burning Tree Country Club. Above all, he is the Outsider, who just might drain the Swamp." -Christopher Vasillopulos *This is an 8 x 10 softcover book.*
Caiazzo, Thomas A.
2011 0-7734-1526-2 220 pages
This book analyzes the history and purposes of third-party presidential candidacies in America. It uses the theories of political culture and functionalism to describe the institutional barriers these candidates face. Emphasis is placed on the variables of historical dualism, institutional barriers, and the political culture that impacts third party presidential politics, from both a normative and empirical approach.
Steinfeldt, Andrew
2012 0-7734-3066-0 180 pages
The book argues that the imperial presidency began, not with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but rather with Grover Cleveland. The role of the president was enlarged, and the role of congress diminished during his time in office.
Once the concept of the modern presidency is clearly defined according to its attributes, it becomes clear that it has evolutionary roots that extend to the late 19th century. An examination of Grover Cleveland’s presidencies shows that he laid the foundation for what has become the modern presidency by actions that took place during his two separated terms. He implemented civil service reform and scaled back the number of patronage appointments significantly, took steps towards building a professional bureaucracy. He also regained the independence of the presidency by pressuring Congress to repeal the Tenure of Office Act, and pioneered the form of political leadership that presidents exhibit today.
Williams, William J.
1992 0-7734-9492-8 232 pages
This study is the most thorough one available of the Wilson Administration's inept initial attempts to deal with the shipbuilding crisis of 1917. Based upon extensive research in government archives and private manuscript collections, it begins with an outline of the history of American shipbuilding prior to 1914 and examines the impact of the Great War. It details the growth of the shipyards, the political process involved in the creation of the Shipping Board and the Wilson Administration's choice of the original members. The bulk of the book then examines how the new agency dealt with the U-boat crisis that led America into the war, and, in particular, Frederic Eustis's incredible plan to mass-produce small wooden steamships. The U.S., he believed, could turn them out faster than German submarines could sink them. The manuscript demonstrates this scheme's impracticality. The Board's first chairman, William Denman, though, was impressed by the proposal and adopted it as the Shipping Board's answer to the U-boat. "This is a well written, thoroughly researched case study of America's industrial mobilization during World War I. . . . His account of various proposals for creating a national merchant fleet is both useful in itself and relevant in the context of post-Desert Storm changes in U.S. deployment strategy. . . . His description of the techniques for mass producing steel vessels throws new light on the construction of the "four-piper" destroyers during World War I and the liberty ships of World War II. And his presentation of the personal conflicts that shaped the wooden ship program establishes the importance of human factors in a pre-bureaucratic age." - Dennis Showalter