Robert Dallek
Robert Dallek
Robert Dallek is an American historian specializing in the Presidents of the United States. He retired as a history professor at Boston University in 2004 and previously taught at Columbia University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Oxford University. As of November 2013 he teaches at Stanford University's Stanford in Washington program in Washington, D.C. He won the Bancroft Prize for his 1979 book Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945 as well as other awards for scholarship...
exactly trail truth
He was able to put them on the trail of the truth to find out just exactly what was going on in this scandal.
images impact people question reactions respects shape sorts television white
There's no question that these sorts of television images have a big impact on people and in many respects shape reactions to the White House,
kennedy nuclear question sensitive using
Kennedy was very sensitive to this question of ever using nuclear weapons,
comeback country receptive turn
as he put it. Still, he added: ''Bush did make a comeback then. But the country was more receptive to his kind of leadership. I can't see how they're going to turn this around.
dramatic events
It's a dramatic turnabout. Events have overtaken him.
affection government left preached reagan rekindled restored uplift white
Reagan restored a sense of hope, a sense of uplift about the presidency. Now it's ironic, because he preached the idea that government was not the solution, government was the problem. And yet, when he left the White House, he had kind of rekindled affection for the presidency.
central changing effective ingredient responsive
That's why pragmatism is such a central ingredient of an effective presidency. If you're not pragmatic, not responsive to changing realities, then you don't succeed.
work
It didn't work for Johnson, and it's not working for Bush.
crisis effective establish exert forward opportunity oval president step
A crisis is an opportunity for a president to step forward and exert effective leadership, and establish his credentials as a significant occupant of the Oval Office.
across careful court crises except heavy johnson nixon problems seen touch tries
I think he's really undermined his credibility at this point, and it really saddles him with the kind of problems that Johnson and Nixon faced. These crises are such a heavy burden, and they are so self-inflicted, except for the court vacancies, that if he is not very careful and tries to put across someone who is seen as an ultraconservative, he is going to touch off a conflagration in the Senate.
eyes
When I read about the hospitalizations, my eyes widened,
father writing character
One doesn't simply write about Lyndon Johnson. You get the Johnson treatment from beyond the grave - arm around you, nose to nose. I should admit that he also reminds me of my father, quite an overbearing and narcissistic character. And in some ways, he reminds me of myself. Another workaholic.
determination acceptance pigs
The consequence of the Bay of Pigs failure wasn't an acceptance of Castro and his control of Cuba but, rather, a renewed determination to bring him down by stealth.
war president doctrine
Truman is now seen as a near-great president because he put in place the containment doctrine boosted by the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan and NATO, which historians now see as having been at the center of American success in the cold war.