Four years have passed since the release of the second edition of this work, a three-volume set that was produced to serve primarily as a library collections reference source and as an introductory tool for serious students of politics interested in both the history of presidential campaigning and in the various features and dynamics that currently define presidential politics. This three-volume edition was itself an expansion of a single-volume work that had been published several years before, composed with the same basic intention. Both the single-volume first edition and the three-volume second edition featured, in addition to the elements mentioned above, several entries describing campaign slogans as well as entries focused on specific issues written independently of the longer campaign narratives. So as to produce a more streamlined edition more amenable and accessible to a wider readership, all of the stand-alone entries on campaign slogans and most of the more dated campaign issues have been removed for this new volume, maintaining the inclusion of those campaign issues that are still current as well as retaining the campaign narrative chronicle that accounted for a large portion of both the first and second editions. Additionally the number of separate entries explaining major campaign events has also been reduced, those being primarily retained within the narratives themselves. There are a few exceptions to this editorial decision, but generally the narratives cover events that in previous editions would have merited an independent entry. In sum, this third edition is an attempt at combining elements of the first two: the inclusion of a considerable number of topic-specific entries as in the first and second volumes combined with the longer narratives as they were expanded in the three-volume set (the second volume). This volume also possesses qualities of its own, as a few new topic-specific entries have been added, while older entries have been updated and strengthened. All of these modifications are designed to assist readers in their efforts to further understand presidential campaign politics, to answer some questions about presidential campaigning, and to stimulate the more committed students toward further research.
Presidential politics is a rich, complex, and vitally important facet of American democracy. But knowledge of political history seems to be on the wane as increasingly fewer students appear on college campuses with a reasonable grasp of the fundamental events, actors, institutions, issues, episodes, controversies, themes, principles, and ideas pertaining to the development of American political culture and the story of American democracy. Admittedly, while a new encyclopedia by itself cannot serve as the sufficient corrective for the current state of political education, it can supply a mine of information that will stimulate the thinking student onward toward richer, deeper veins. This work is designed with that very purpose in mind. This volume, it must be remembered, will only support the initial stages of a student’s inquiry and help to foster in a modest way the continued legacy of a particularly fascinating and relevant aspect of the American political past—presidential politics and its colorful, and at times indecipherable, multifaceted history of idealism, cynicism, high aspiration, overweening ambition, persuasion, enthusiasms, honesty, deception, bombast, inspiration, human nobility and folly, embittered rivalry, inventive strategy, sincere promise, masked intentions, scandalmongering, grace, inconsolable disappointment, unrestrained elation, the admirable and the contemptible, the moments of personal heroism, the revelation of flawed character, unrestrained elation, and devastating heartbreak.
Political rhetoric is as old as politics itself, dating at least to the establishment of democracy in ancient Athens and long preceding the high oratory of Greek leaders such as Pericles and Demosthenes, and Romans statesmen such as Cato the Elder and Cicero. American presidential campaigning, by comparison, is still a new phenomenon within the long arc of the political history of the world, and in many ways it continues to show the signs of growing pains that usually accompany the early stages of development. And yet, from the perspective of Americans, this history is built on tried and true traditions, exhibits its own legacy, and follows its own comfortable (or perhaps for some, uncomfortable), predictable patterns and sturdy continuities. In an attempt to understand the history and nature of presidential campaigning more thoroughly, this work discusses an aspect of politics—presidential politics—that can at times still exhibit the unpredictable vigor characteristic of the new, and in so doing is itself influenced by the youthful energy of American democracy; and as such, this work is directed at an audience of readers who approach new fields of the intellect with the openness and enthusiasm of the young everywhere. Perhaps more importantly, this volume aims at drawing the attention of students to the deep connections between our current political culture and the political history that has shaped it. In reading through the campaign histories, careful students will recognize themes, connections, constants, and variables when they direct their attention to those facets of presidential politics that are more current, more evidently pertinent to what is important now. It is in this spirit that our readers are exhorted to continue their quest beyond the front and back covers here, and to truly chart the often turbulent and yet always alluring seas of the American political drama.