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Kennth T. Walsh

Author, Speaker, & Journalist

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Presidential Leadership in Crisis

Defining Moments of the Modern Presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Donald Trump

by Kenneth T. Walsh

 

Crises pose a challenge to leaders beyond any other tests they confront. In this comprehensive and timely book, veteran journalist Kenneth T. Walsh offers a probing look at how presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Donald Trump dealt with crises they faced. Including domestic as well as international issues and assassination attempts, this book stands apart from other accounts of presidents in crisis. Walsh is in search of lessons we can learn, and his findings focus on the presidential attributes and skills that matter most in trying times. This expertly crafted, elegantly written book is appropriate for a variety of college courses and will find its way onto the reading lists of ambitious politicians and interested citizens alike.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

About the Author

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter One: Abraham Lincoln: The Nation’s Worst Crisis

Chapter Two: Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Great Depression

Chapter Three: Harry Truman: The Battle with Douglas MacArthur

Chapter Four: Dwight Eisenhower: The U-2 Mission

Chapter Five: John F. Kennedy: The Cuban Missile Crisis

Chapter Six: Lyndon B. Johnson: The War in Vietnam and Re-election

Chapter Seven: Richard M. Nixon: The Watergate Scandal and National Disgrace

Chapter Eight: Gerald R. Ford: The Pardon

Chapter Nine: Jimmy Carter: The Iranian Hostage Crisis

Chapter Ten: Ronald Reagan: A Matter of Life and Death

Chapter Eleven: George H.W. Bush: The Persian Gulf War

Chapter Twelve: Bill Clinton: Impeachment and Scandal

Chapter Thirteen: George W. Bush: 9/11 and the Global War on Terror

Chapter Fourteen: Barack Obama: Ending the “Great Recession”

Chapter Fifteen: Donald Trump: A New Era of Perpetual Crisis

Epilogue

Selected Readings

Index

 

Copyright Year 2020

ISBN 9780367429492

ISBN-10: 0367429500

Published February 20, 2020 by Routledge

242 Pages 15 B/W Illustrations

Book cover for Presidential Leadership in Crisis by Kenneth T. Walsh.

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Praise for Presidential Leadership in Crisis

 

"Having dealt with crisis in the White House and maybe created one or two on my own, I appreciate Ken Walsh’s informative review of how presidents respond to something nearly inevitable in their tenures: dealing with all the things that disrupt and challenge the normal course of business. Crisis and dealing with it might be a new normal for presidents, but it requires the best and smartest efforts of our nation’s chief executive."

 

 

—Mike McCurry

White House Press Secretary (1995–98) and Director/Professor, Center for Public Theology, Wesley Theological Seminary

KENNETH T. WALSH

"Ken Walsh nails it again as an award winning journalist and an astute student of presidents and the presidency. Ken provides valuable presidential leadership lessons especially in times of crisis."

 

—Kenneth M. Duberstein

White House Chief of Staff (1988–89)

"For those who write about politics, direct experience matters, and so does a knowledge of history. Ken Walsh has an unusual amount of both, which is why he has been able to offer such an insightful account of crises that American presidents from Lincoln to Trump have faced. Incoming presidents would do well to read this book before they take office."

 

—William A. Galston

Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution

 

"It has been said that only the 'big things' (war and peace, economic downturns, terrorist attacks) go directly to the president. Lesser matters are handled at lower levels. In this highly readable book, Ken Walsh, one of the nation’s shrewdest observers of presidents and the presidency, takes readers on a tour of how fourteen presidents resolved crises that came their way and how a fifteenth, Donald Trump—who regards crises as the norm rather than the exception—has incorporated them into his management style. Anyone interested in how power is exercised will come away enriched by tales Walsh tells of both success and failure at the highest level of the American government."
 

—Alvin S. Felzenberg

author of The Leaders We Deserved (and Some We Didn't):

Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game and A Man and His Presidents:

The Political Biography of William F. Buckley, Jr.

Book Cover

KENNETH T. WALSH

Presidential Leadership in Crisis

Defining Moments of the Modern Presidents

from Franklin Roosevelt to Donald Trump

 

Smithsonian Associates

 

Wednesday, July 29, 2020 - 6:45 p.m. ET

This program is part of our Smithsonian Associates Streaming series.

Online registration is required.

 

Code: 1H0498S

 

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Crises that occur during their time in office can pose a supreme challenge to presidents.

Leaders from Franklin Roosevelt to Donald Trump dealt with their defining moments—including international, economic, political, and personal crises—in a variety of ways that forever changed our perceptions of them.

Roosevelt's initiatives to end the Depression, John F. Kennedy's management of the Cuban Missile Crisis, George W. Bush's response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and Trump's handling of impeachment are all examples of such defining crises according to journalist Ken Walsh.

As he discusses these moments in history, Walsh defines what we have learned about presidential attributes and skills that matter most in trying times. He also takes a fresh and timely look at President Trump through the prism of his ongoing crisis-filled administration.

 

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