Drawn from the Hofstra University series of Presidential conferences, this volume collects a diverse set of essays that explore the life and times of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Treated in depth are Roosevelt's political beginnings and his life as a politician, the tumultuous World War II years, the New Deal and its legacy, and the political emergence of Eleanor Roosevelt in an era that saw few women in public life. these papers provide a good sense of the complexity of the man, his policies, and some of the people who were personally and politically close to him. . . . It is of value to serious students of twentieth-century American history, as well as those interested in public policy and the presidency. Perspective Drawn from the Hofstra University series of Presidential conferences, this volume collects a diverse set of essays that explore the life and times of Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Treated in depth here are Roosevelt's political beginnings and his life as a politician, the tumultuous World War II years, the New Deal and its legacy, and the political emergence of Eleanor Roosevelt in an era that saw few women in public life. Among the contributors are such distinguished Roosevelt scholars as Frank Friedel, Nathan Miller, D.K. Adams, Sheldon Neuringer, and Daniel Fusfeld. By combining critical assessments with friendly commentary and treating historically vital subjects along with more personal and intimate matters, this book presents a more complete picture of a man whose impact is still felt today than is usually available.

Jimmy Carter was an unexpected president. The first Southerner since the Civil War to gain the office, he had pursued the presidency at the grass roots as an outsider. A president who sought to run a government as good as the American people, Carter soon found himself embroiled in system overload as he worked for a domestic agenda to increase park lands, made the federal judiciary accessible to more women and minorities, to better manage the civil service, to devise a rational long-range policy of energy consumption and conservation, and to keep the deficit under control. Deadlock with Congress, special interests, and, ultimately, caught up in the Iran hostage crisis, the outsider president saw many of his programs defeated and himself voted out of office. With a stellar cast of political figures, headed by President and Mrs. Carter, and with leading scholars of the period, this volume is a major document for a better understanding of the period and the development of the presidency.

President Jimmy Carter, like all his predecessors since World War II, experienced the blurring of lines between foreign and domestic politics while, paradoxically, the contrasts between those lines became more pronounced. In nearly every arena of domestic and foreign policy, he had to deal with the intrusion of the politics of both spheres.

The major concerns of the Carter foreign policy experience and, consequently, of the papers included in the volume were staffing the foreign policy apparatus, shifting human rights to the forefront of basic policy considerations, attempting to create peaceful conditions in the Middle East, contributing to the emergence of underdeveloped countries, lessening Cold War tensions, ending the negotiations over the Panama Canal, and working to free the hostages in Iran. While the bulk of the volume focuses on these concerns, the remainder addresses President Carter's career after leaving the White House. These essays will be of concern to all involved with the study of the twentieth-century American presidency and modern diplomacy.