War and the American Presidency : Arthur Schlesinger

Résumé du document

War And The American Presidency was written by Arthur Schlesinger Jr., who used to be an adviser for Adlai Stevenson's campaign and a special assistant to President Kennedy . He participated in the founding of Americans for Democratic Action, "America's oldest independent liberal lobbying organization? . Schlesinger wrote quite a few books on the American politics, including the much heralded work The Imperial Presidency (1973). War And The American Presidency was published in September 2004, two months before the presidential elections. As a liberal historian, it is not a surprise that Schlesinger disapproves with the so-called "Bush doctrine?, but as the author underlines it in the Foreword (p. XI), the "historical dimension? is essential to understanding current issues such as the war in Iraq.

Extraits

[...] One can immediately tell that Democracy A Future?” or to Democratize American Democracy” are not appropriate in a book titled War and the American Presidency. Maybe the problem comes from the choice of the book title. Schlesinger's language is clear and simple, but his rhetoric is clumsy. Arthur Schlesinger's historical purpose provides a new perspective on the conflict in Iraq. Approaching a burning issue through an analysis of the past American history, and especially the past foreign policy, is original and useful. [...]

[...] Critical Book Review: War and the American Presidency, Arthur Schlesinger, Norton & Company, Inc. (New York, 2004) War And The American Presidency was written by Arthur Schlesinger Jr., who used to be an adviser for Adlai Stevenson's campaign and a special assistant to President Kennedy[1]. He participated in the founding of Americans for Democratic Action, “America's oldest independent liberal lobbying organization”[2]. Schlesinger wrote many famous books about the American politics, including the much heralded work The Imperial Presidency (1973). War And The American Presidency was published in September 2004, two months before the presidential elections. [...]

[...] After two chapters off subject, he concludes the book with a general thought on history. Thus, he explains that history must be known by policymakers, but is often a negative model rather than a positive one. This non-partisan conclusion contrasts with the rest of the book, but also contradicts the two previous chapters. After having analyzed the future of democracy through history, Arthur Schlesinger declares that historical analogy has important limits. Schlesinger's style is simple, and sentences quite short, allowing him to appear to a popular audience. [...]

[...] 21) and signals the renewal of the “imperial presidency”. This increase in executive powers can be a danger for democracy if it lasts. Then, the author analyzes the history of dissent in wartime through centuries. He notices that, even though Presidents have attempted to stop dissent with special acts, such as the Alien and Sedition Acts set by John Adams' administration or the Espionage and Sedition Acts during Wilson's presidency, criticism has always existed. He quotes the Copperheads of the Civil War, in other words “northern men with southern convictions” (p. [...]

[...] Schlesinger underlines how the administration utilised a doubt” vocabulary, although the CIA denied an imminent threat from Iraq. For the author of War And the American Presidency, the Iraq War became matter of presidential choice” (p. 21). If the difference between “preventive” and “preemptive' is well-accepted, the nature of the Iraq War is nevertheless still debated. For an issue of lawfulness, those in favor of the war maintain that the war was preemptive. Arthur Schlesinger's theories become less clear in the second part of his book. [...]