The Hidden-Hand Legacy of Fred I. Greenstein

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Description

This roundtable will discuss the extensive and enduring scholarly legacy of Professor Fred I. Greenstein. Overall, Greenstein’s pioneering research in political socialization, political psychology, and the American presidency fundamentally oriented and continues to influence those fields of study today. His first book, "Children and Politics" (1965), examined how children are socialized to view political authority, information, and party identification. "Personality and Politics: Problems of Evidence, Inference, and Conceptualization" (1969) systematically examined how a leader’s personality can influence action. Greenstein’s path-breaking archival and interview-based study, "The Hidden-Hand Presidency: Eisenhower as Leader" (1982; 2nd ed., 1994) was one of the seminal revisionist studies about Eisenhower’s strategy of working privately to exercise political leadership while publicly maintaining an image of disinterest in politics. "How Presidents Test Reality: Decisions on Vietnam, 1954 and 1965" (co-authored with John P. Burke, and with contributors Larry Berman and Richard Immerman, 1989) won APSA’s Richard E. Neustadt Book Award for its carefully structured comparison of foreign policy decision making in the Eisenhower and Johnson administrations.

Most recently, Greenstein’s "The Presidential Difference" (2000; 2nd ed., 2004; 3rd ed., 2009) identified qualities that contribute to effective governance in the modern presidency and applied that conceptual framework to presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt onward. He went on to apply the qualities retroactively to 17th and 18th-century presidents, publishing two more books examining leadership from Washington through Lincoln: "Inventing the Job of President: Leadership Style from George Washington to Andrew Jackson" (2009); and with Dale Anderson, "Presidents and the Dissolution of the Union: Leadership Style from Polk to Lincoln" (2013). And, this brief summary does not include Greenstein’s scholarly journal articles, the multi-volume "Handbook of Political Science" that he co-edited with Nelson W. Polsby, and so many other scholarly contributions. Upon Greenstein’s retirement in 2001, political scientists convened at Princeton University to present research grounded in his innovative scholarship, which was published in a Festschrift edited by Larry Berman, "The Art of Political Leadership: Essays In Honor of Fred I. Greenstein" (2005).

Roundtable participants will share how Greenstein guided their scholarship in presidency studies as professor, dissertation adviser, and colleague. Larry Berman and John Burke collaborated with Greenstein on many projects, most notably the award-winning "How Presidents Test Reality". Meena Bose was Greenstein’s last primary dissertation advisee and continued to seek his professional guidance well after graduate school on research, teaching, and organizing scholarly and public events in presidency studies. George C. Edwards III, Nancy Kassop, and Martha Joynt Kumar were close professional and personal friends of Greenstein for many years (in some cases dating back to the founding of PEP, which originally was the Presidency Research Group). David E. Lewis worked closely with Greenstein at Princeton University in the Department of Politics and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs. For all participants, and so many others in presidency studies, Fred Greenstein was a model scholar, teacher, mentor, and friend, whose legacy will always inspire, encourage, and enlighten future generations.

Sub Unit

• APSA Panels and All Meetings and Receptions

Chair

• Meena Bose Hofstra University

Presenters

• Larry Berman University of California, Davis

• John P. Burke University of Vermont

• George C. Edwards Texas A&M University

• Nancy Kassop SUNY New Paltz

• Martha Joynt Kumar White House Transition Project

• David E. Lewis Vanderbilt University

• Meena Bose Hofstra University

• Richard H. Immerman Temple University