TY - BOOK ID - 77956875 TI - Presidential Party Building PY - 2009 SN - 1400831172 9786612964428 1282964429 9781400831173 9780691136929 0691136920 9780691136936 0691136939 6612964421 9781282964426 PB - Princeton, NJ DB - UniCat KW - Presidents KW - Political leadership KW - Political parties KW - History KW - Bush, George W. KW - Eisenhower, Dwight D. KW - United States KW - Politics and government KW - Ai-sen-hao, KW - Ėĭzenkhauėr, Duaĭt, KW - Eisenhower, Ike, KW - Ai-sen-hao-wei-erh, KW - Ayzinhāvir, Duvāyt, KW - ايزنهاور، دوايت KW - Bush, George, KW - Bush, Geo, KW - Bush, Dzhordzh Uoker, KW - Bush, Dzh. U. KW - Bush, Dzh. KW - Bush, KW - Bushi, Qiaozhi W., KW - Bush, Zhorzh, KW - Arbusto, Jorge W., KW - Bush, Xhorxh W., KW - 20th century KW - Bush, George Walker, 1946 KW - -Nixon, Richard Milhous KW - Ford, Gerald Rudolph KW - Reagan, Ronald KW - Kennedy, John Fitzgerald KW - Carter, Jimmy KW - Clinton, William J. KW - Eisenhower, Dwight David, UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:77956875 AB - Modern presidents are usually depicted as party "predators" who neglect their parties, exploit them for personal advantage, or undercut their organizational capacities. Challenging this view, Presidential Party Building demonstrates that every Republican president since Dwight D. Eisenhower worked to build his party into a more durable political organization while every Democratic president refused to do the same. Yet whether they supported their party or stood in its way, each president contributed to the distinctive organizational trajectories taken by the two parties in the modern era. Unearthing new archival evidence, Daniel Galvin reveals that Republican presidents responded to their party's minority status by building its capacities to mobilize voters, recruit candidates, train activists, provide campaign services, and raise funds. From Eisenhower's "Modern Republicanism" to Richard Nixon's "New Majority" to George W. Bush's hopes for a partisan realignment, Republican presidents saw party building as a means of forging a new political majority in their image. Though they usually met with little success, their efforts made important contributions to the GOP's cumulative organizational development. Democratic presidents, in contrast, were primarily interested in exploiting the majority they inherited, not in building a new one. Until their majority disappeared during Bill Clinton's presidency, Democratic presidents eschewed party building and expressed indifference to the long-term effects of their actions. Bringing these dynamics into sharp relief, Presidential Party Building offers profound new insights into presidential behavior, party organizational change, and modern American political development. ER -