James Madison Library in American Politics

Rick Perlstein is the author of Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America (Scribner) and Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (Hill & Wang), which won the Los Angeles Times book prize. He has written for many publications, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. The first book to present America's most controversial president in his own words across his entire career, this unique collection of Richard Nixon's most important writings dramatically demonstrates why he has had such a profound impact on American life. This volume gathers everything from schoolboy letters to geostrategic manifestos and Oval Office transcripts to create a fascinating portrait of Nixon, one that is enriched by an extensive introduction in which Rick Perlstein puts forward a major reinterpretation of the thirty-seventh president's rise and fall. This anthology includes some of the most famous addresses in American history, from Nixon's "Checkers" speech (1952) and "Last Press Conference" (1962), to the "Silent Majority" speech (1969) and White House farewell. These texts are joined by campaign documents--including the infamous "Pink Sheet" from the 1950 Senate race--that give stark evidence of Nixon's slashing political style. Made easily available here for the first time, these writings give new depth to our understanding of Nixon. "This selection of Nixon documents is excellent, as is Rick Perlstein's introduction. It gets Nixon right, and it identifies the defining themes of his life and career."-David Greenberg, Rutgers University, author of Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image "Rick Perlstein's Nixon anthology is extremely impressive. Given that Nixon wrote or heavily edited most of his speeches, this collection of representative statements not only sheds much light on Nixon's long public life but it also reveals much about his multifaceted personality. And Perlstein's introduction and notes are insightful and balanced."-Timothy Naftali, author of Blind Spot: The Secret History of American Counterterrorism

Barry M. Goldwater (1909-1998) was a five-term U.S. senator from Arizona whose 1964 campaign for president is credited with reviving American conservatism. His books include With No Apologies and a memoir, Goldwater. CC Goldwater is the granddaughter of Barry Goldwater and the producer of the HBO documentary Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater In 1960, Barry Goldwater set forth his brief manifesto in The Conscience of a Conservative. Written at the height of the Cold War and in the wake of America's greatest experiment with big government, the New Deal, Goldwater's message was not only remarkable, but radical. He argued for the value and importance of conservative principles--freedom, foremost among them--in contemporary political life. Using the principles he espoused in this concise but powerful book, Goldwater fundamentally altered the political landscape of his day--and ours. "The book lays out, clearly and succinctly, [Goldwater's] uncompromising views. Goldwater held freedom as the highest value in American society: freedom from law, freedom from government, freedom from anybody else's vision but your own. You can argue with him on the particulars, but there's something compelling about his quintessentially American notion of self-reliance."---David Ulin, Los Angeles Times "The new Conscience of a Conservative takes what might be called the 'anti-fusionist' side in the Goldwater wars...The Conscience of a Conservative continues to be read today because it isn't a political tract, a soulless campaign book of the sort generated by every other modern presidential effort."---Daniel McCarthy, The American Conservative "Praise for the original edition: "Goldwater's conservatism is not isolationism, nor is it a cold-blooded commitment to the 'haves' as against the 'have-nots.' It is the creed of a fighter who has both a warm heart and a clear mind.""---John Chamberlain, Wall Street Journal "Praise for the original edition: "There is more harsh fact and hard sense in this slight book than will emerge from all of the chatter of this year's session of Congress. . . . Sen. Goldwater is one of a handful of authentic conservatives. . . . [H]e has the clarity of courage and the courage of clarity.""---George Morgenstern, Chicago Tribune "It is good that C.C. Goldwater brings us this new edition. It directs new attention to a political figure who, though fiery, was never mean-spirited or unfairly partisan."---Max J. Skidmore, European Legacy

Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) was a prominent American essayist and editor. His many books include A Preface to Politics, Public Opinion, A Preface to Morals, and The Good Society. Ronald Steel is professor of international relations and history at the University of Southern California. He is author of Walter Lippman and the American Century. Sidney Blumenthal, former adviser to President Bill Clinton, is the author of How Bush Rules (Princeton) and a regular columnist for the Guardian and Salon.com. Liberty and the News is Walter Lippman's classic account of how the press threatens democracy whenever it has an agenda other than the free flow of ideas. Arguing that there is a necessary connection between liberty and truth, Lippman excoriates the press, claiming that it exists primarily for its own purposes and agendas and only incidentally to promote the honest interplay of facts and ideas. In response, Lippman sought to imagine a better way of cultivating the news. A brilliant essay on a persistent problem of American democracy, Liberty and the News is still powerfully relevant despite the development of countless news sources unimagined when Lippman first published it in 1920. The problems he identifies--the self-importance of the press, the corrosion of rumors and innuendo, and the spinning of the news by political powers--are still with us, and they still threaten liberty. By focusing on the direct and necessary connection between liberty and truth, Lippmann's work helps to clarify one of the most pressing predicaments of American democracy today. "Why republish this old book? In its new format, it features an introduction by Lippmann biographer Ronald Steel, who economically places the book in the context of its day. There's also an afterword, nearly half as long as Lippmann's book, by the journalist, former Clinton Administration insider and newly appointed Clinton (Hillary that is) adviser Sidney Blumenthal.... If there is a rationale for republishing Liberty and the News, it surely must be to give Lippmann's diagnosis and prescriptions a further airing. If we do, we see not only new energy in journalism education but clear evidence that Lippmann's political observatories have taken hold."---Michael Schudson, The Nation "Lippmann's concern more than four generations ago was not about journalists, but about the impact poor journalism was having on readers, or more to the point, on the citizens in this democracy. We should have the same concern today."---Timothy J. McNulty, Chicago Tribune "It is absolutely necessary to read it slowly, paragraph by paragraph, in order to follow the 'precocity' of Walter Lippmann. It is quite obvious, that the author would have seen today, 90 years after he wrote the pages, the same crisis of journalism. His critical remarks however, deserve attentive reading and observance. We would strongly recommend it, but: Be careful, don't read too much at a time, unless you do not want to be mingled in a plethora of philosophical remarks!"---Henn-Jüri Uibopuu, Vienna Online Journal on International Constitutional Law "There is great merit in reading old books because you find that current preoccupations are always echoes of past debates, although of course the context changes. Lippmann's essay is full of insight and seems particularly timely again now."

Herbert Croly (1869-1930) was founding editor of the New Republic. Franklin Foer is the editor of the New Republic and the author of How Soccer Explains the World. The Promise of American Life is part of the bedrock of American liberalism, a classic that had a spectacular impact on national politics when it was first published in 1909 and that has been recognized ever since as a defining text of liberal reform. The book helped inspire Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalism and Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, put Herbert Croly on a path to become the founding editor of the New Republic, and prompted Walter Lippmann to call him twentieth-century America's "first important political philosopher." The book is at once a history of America and its political ideals and an analysis of contemporary ills, from rampant economic inequality to unchecked corporate power. In response, Croly advocated combining the Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian traditions and creating a strong federal government to ensure that all Americans had a fair shot at individual success. The formula still defines American liberalism, and The Promise of American Life continues to resonate today, offering a vital source of renewal for liberals and progressives. For this new edition, Franklin Foer has written a substantial foreword that puts the book in historical context and explains its continuing importance. "I do not know when I have read a book which I felt profited me as much."-Theodore Roosevelt "Seminal for American political thinking."-Felix Frankfurter "[A] political classic which announced the end of the Age of Innocence with its romantic faith in American destiny and inaugurated the process of self-examination."-Walter Lippmann "As comprehensive and progressive a statement of American political ideas and ideals as I have found."-Learned Hand

John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) was an eminent economist, the author of thirty-one books, and a member of four U.S. presidential administrations. He served as U.S. ambassador to India and president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. At the time of his death, he was Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics Emeritus at Harvard University. With searing wit and incisive commentary, John Kenneth Galbraith redefined America's perception of itself in The New Industrial State, one of his landmark works. The United States is no longer a free-enterprise society, Galbraith argues, but a structured state controlled by the largest companies. Advertising is the means by which these companies manage demand and create consumer "need" where none previously existed. Multinational corporations are the continuation of this power system on an international level. The goal of these companies is not the betterment of society, but immortality through an uninterrupted stream of earnings. First published in 1967, The New Industrial State continues to resonate today. "Praise for the original edition: "The New Industrial State deserves the widest possible attention and discussion.""---Raymond J. Saulnier, New York Times "Praise for the original edition: "[The New Industrial State] is a dazzling work, full of brilliant epigrams, intriguing aphorisms and sardonic humor.""---Harvey H. Segal, Washington Post "Praise for the original edition: "[W]ithout a doubt one of the most provocative offerings of our time in the realm of economics.""---John McCutcheon, Chicago Tribune

The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Its members included former Illinois governor Otto Kerner, New York City mayor John Lyndsay, U.S. senators Edward Brooke and Fred R. Harris, and NAACP executive director Roy Harris. Julian E. Zelizer is the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University. His many books include The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and The Battle for the Great Society. A landmark study of racism, inequality, and police violence that continues to hold important lessons today The Kerner Report is a powerful window into the roots of racism and inequality in the United States. Hailed by Martin Luther King Jr. as a "physician's warning of approaching death, with a prescription for life," this historic study was produced by a presidential commission established by Lyndon Johnson, chaired by former Illinois governor Otto Kerner, and provides a riveting account of the riots that shook 1960s America. The commission pointed to the polarization of American society, white racism, economic inopportunity, and other factors, arguing that only "a compassionate, massive, and sustained" effort could reverse the troubling reality of a racially divided, separate, and unequal society. Conservatives criticized the report as a justification of lawless violence while leftist radicals complained that Kerner didn't go far enough. But for most Americans, this report was an eye-opening account of what was wrong in race relations. Drawing together decades of scholarship showing the widespread and ingrained nature of racism, The Kerner Report provided an important set of arguments about what the nation needs to do to achieve racial justice, one that is familiar in today's climate. Presented here with an introduction by historian Julian Zelizer, The Kerner Report deserves renewed attention in America's continuing struggle to achieve true parity in race relations, income, employment, education, and other critical areas. "The 2016 reissue of the report, along with historian Julian Zelizer's riveting introduction, should be required reading for all Americans interested in understanding the historical and policy roots of contemporary discussions of race." "Some aspects of the report may resonate even more loudly today than they did in the late 1960s. For example, the commission's repeated emphasis on the role of police brutality in alienating black citizens and sowing the seeds of urban discontent now assumes added significance, given the many images of unarmed black men whose deaths at the hands of the state have been seared into the national psyche. Indeed, some of the report's assessments could-eerily and depressingly-have been written yesterday to describe America's recent racial disturbances, in locales ranging from Ferguson, Missouri, to Baltimore, Maryland: 'Almost invariably the incident that ignites disorder arises from police action.'"---Justin Driver, The Atlantic "The Kerner Report is one of the seminal documents in understanding American race relations and the origins of urban unrest, and was an instant bestseller when it was published in March 1968-inspiring one of the most wide-ranging debates about race in recent American history. I hope that this book helps spark a new national conversation."-Steven M. Gillon, author of Separate and Unequal: The Kerner Commission and the Unraveling of American Liberalism "First released in 1968, The Kerner Commission Report offered a blunt assessment of the United States as two nations, black and white, and generated intense debate. Recent commentators have referred to the report, particularly in light of intensifying police-community hostility and persistent racial inequality. Readable and timely, The Kerner Report is likely to find a wide audience."-Thomas J. Sugrue, author of The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality i

Kevin Phillips is a writer and political commentator. He is the author of fifteen books, including, most recently, 1775, Bad Money, American Theocracy, and American Dynasty. One of the most important and controversial books in modern American politics, The Emerging Republican Majority (1969) explained how Richard Nixon won the White House in 1968-and why the Republicans would go on to dominate presidential politics for the next quarter century. Rightly or wrongly, the book has widely been seen as a blueprint for how Republicans, using the so-called Southern Strategy, could build a durable winning coalition in presidential elections. Certainly, Nixon's election marked the end of a "New Deal Democratic hegemony" and the beginning of a conservative realignment encompassing historically Democratic voters from the South and the Florida-to-California "Sun Belt," in the book's enduring coinage. In accounting for that shift, Kevin Phillips showed how two decades and more of social and political changes had created enormous opportunities for a resurgent conservative Republican Party. For this new edition, Phillips has written a preface describing his view of the book, its reception, and how its analysis was borne out in subsequent elections. A work whose legacy and influence are still fiercely debated, The Emerging Republican Majority is essential reading for anyone interested in American politics or history.