Intended for students and scholars of the presidency, this book examines the character of recent presidents and examines how societal expectations of presidential leadership have changed.

Lara M. Brown, Ph.D., is an associate professor and director of the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University. She is the author of Jockeying for the American Presidency: The Political Opportunism of Aspirants (2010), and co-editor of The Presidential Leadership Dilemma: Between the Constitution and a Political Party (2013) and Campaigning for President 2016: Strategy and Tactics (2017). She has published articles in Society, American Politics Research, Congress and the Presidency, Journal of Political Marketing, and Presidential Studies Quarterly.

1. Leadership, Character, and Presidents 2. Presidential Nature and Historical Development 3.Two Greats: George Washington and Abraham Lincoln 4.The Ousted One-Termers: Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush 5.The Popular Two-Termers: Ronald Reagan and William J. Clinton 6.The Polarizing Two-Termers: George W. Bush and Barack Obama 7.The Problematic Presidency of a National Celebrity: Donald J. Trump 8.Performing the Presidency: Continuity and Change Bibliography