Behind the Scenes in American Government [antikvár]

PREFACE This book is designed as a supplementary text for introductory American government courses. It is also an exciting complement to a wide range of courses that analyze parties and political campaigning, interest groups and lobbyists, the media and political consultants, the presidency. Congress, the courts, and the bureaucracy. Politics is, by any measure, fascinating. But this fascination is not often conveyed to students because many books and courses concentrate on structures and processes at the expense of the individuals who constitute the lifeblood of politics. And it is, after all, the people in politics who shape its character, just as they themselves are shaped by it. This book illustrates how character and personality influence politics, and the ways in which political institutions and processes, such as the presidency and political campaigning, affect the personalities and actions of those who are directly, and sometimes indirectly, involved. Vignettes of famous politicians, pressure group leaders, journalists and political consultants, members of Congress, White House staffers and presidential advisers. Supreme Court justices, and top-level bureaucrats comprise the book. By introducing students to the colorful and powerful personalities who are to be found in politics, I hope to make American government the lively subject that it should be. The sixth edition, just off the press as the 1988 presidential contest begins to heat up, presents fresh profiles of leading contenders for the presidential nominations of both parties. Included in this volume are the most popular political profiles from previous editions that have, according to user surveys, riveted student attention and helped to give a sense of the excitement of politics through the firsthand accounts of participants and close observers. New to the sixth edition are portrayals of vice-president and presidential hopeful George Bush, who early in the contest was a front runner for his party's nomination because of his position and the political ties he developed while in office. Lively accounts of Congressman Jack Kemp's run for the presidency and Mario Cuomo's political career and possible bid for the Democratic nomination also have been added. In a fresh selection in Chapter 2, on pressure groups and lobbyists. Time cover-story writer Evan Thomas depicts influence peddling in the nation's capital. He portrays the colorful personalities and styles of the many lobbyists who prowl the corridors and inner offices of power in the city on the Potomac. Also new to the chapter is Tom Watson's