“Though the caliber of people who have served as chief executive has declined erratically but persistently from the day George Washington left office, the presidency has been responsible for less harm and more good, in the nation and in the world, than perhaps any other secular institution in history.” —Forrest McDonald, The American Presidency: An Intellectual History
Editor’s Note: Please enjoy this interview from C-SPAN’s BookTV, with the late, great historian, Forrest McDonald, as he discusses his books on the American presidency, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and the history of states’ rights.
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The featured image (detail) was taken by Michael Kranewitter of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. It has been brightened for clarity.
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