"Students of the presidency and the American party system will be grappling for years with this pathbreaking, exhaustively researched book. This is a model of the political scientist's craft, addressing an issue of major theoretical and practical significance with historical sensitivity and methodological care."--Steven M. Teles, author of The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement

"Galvin provides a compelling reexamination of the relationship between the modern presidency and political parties. He upends the conventional wisdom that modern presidents have systematically undermined their party organizations, demonstrating instead that minority-party presidents have played a crucial role in building the vibrant parties that occupy a central place in today's politics. Galvin combines innovative theorizing with careful archival work to develop a persuasive new perspective on the president's role in the American political system."--Eric Schickler, University of California, Berkeley

"In this meticulously documented and gracefully written book, Dan Galvin puts presidents at the very center of party-building activities. Sometimes he finds them investing in their party, other times exploiting it. But whether they do one or the other, Galvin persuasively argues, critically depends upon their party's hold on political institutions beyond the White House. Anyone interested in the growth and decline of parties in our system of separated powers should read this important book."--William G. Howell, University of Chicago

"This is an important book. With voluminous research and incisive analysis, it demolishes the prevailing view of how presidents relate to their political parties. Galvin forces us to rethink not only how presidents might strengthen their parties along with their own political prospects but how the two major parties have developed in so dissimilar a manner over the last half century."--Bruce Miroff, author of The Liberals' Moment: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party

"This is an important book. With voluminous research and incisive analysis, it demolishes the prevailing view of how presidents relate to their political parties. Galvin forces us to rethink not only how presidents might strengthen their parties along with their own political prospects but how the two major parties have developed in so dissimilar a manner over the last half century."--Bruce Miroff, SUNY, Albany

Daniel J. Galvin is assistant professor of political science at Northwestern University.