J. Q. Adams, B. Harrison, FDR, Kennedy: A republican office with no bloodline, the U.S. presidency retains a royal similarity. American families prominent in high office bespeak homes with a strong...

Tyler, Fillmore, A. Johnson, Arthur, Truman: Happenstance has played its part in politics and the presidency, with nearly a quarter of U.S. presidents succeeding a deceased predecessor. Often...

J. Adams, Taylor, Hayes, Carter: Each president is alone accountable for his administration, but powerful interests continually push and pull him on all sides. The four grouped here raised...

Van Buren, Buchanan, Lincoln, LBJ: By the mid-19th century, politics had emerged as a vocation, a life's work for a worthy man. Each of these four presidents dedicated his life to cultivating the...

Jefferson, Coolidge, Hoover, Reagan: If the American national identity is less a condition than an idea, no one is better positioned to express it than the president. "The vision thing" is an...

Monroe, McKinley, Wilson, G. H. W. Bush: Modern statesmen seek to fashion a new order in the world, while Americans debate their role in it. A president's greatest is to represent the nation to the...

Washington, W. H. Harrison, Grant, Eisenhower: National heroes renowned for selfless service to country often become Commander-in-Chief, rallying people to their sides by appearing to stand beyond...

Pierce, Garfield, Harding, Ford: Lord Bryce asked why relatively obscure figures were often prominently featured in the American presidency. Between Jackson and FDR, U.S. political parties passed...

Jackson, Cleveland, T. Roosevelt, Nixon: Presidential powers expanded as the nation grew, yet rarely smoothly. Its uncertain prerogatives, combined with the invariable challenges to assertions of...

Madison, Polk, Taft, Clinton: Each had different conceptions of leadership in an era of divided government. One equal part of a larger group of institutions, the presidency rests largely on its...