This book challenges the notion of presidents being the sole steward of American interests through an examination of a range of policies.

Douglas L. Kriner is an associate professor of political science at Boston University. He is the author of After the Rubicon: Congress, Presidents, and the Politics of Waging War, which received the 2013 D. B. Hardeman Prize from the LBJ Foundation for the best book that focuses on the US Congress from the fields of biography, history, journalism, and political science. He is co-author (with Francis Shen) of The Casualty Gap: The Causes and Consequences of American Wartime Inequalities. His work has also appeared in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, and the Journal of Politics, among other outlets.

1. Introduction; 2. The origins of presidential particularism; 3. Base closings and trade; 4. Disaster declarations and transportation grants; 5. Federal grants and presidential particularism; 6. The electoral rewards of presidential particularism; 7. Conclusion.