Recasting American Presidential History in the Classroom

Recasting American Presidential History in the Classroom

A variety of resources on the American Presidency that provide research activities for students and encourage online discussion

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Classroom Resources

An old image of president adams
The origins of the modern American presidency

This section offers a look at the origins of the modern American presidency. Debates about the institution in the early republic and the nineteenth century set the rules and parameters that modern presidents would accept or challenge.  
Theodore Roosevelt at a rally with fist raised
The presidency and the state in the Progressive Era

This section brings the presidency into these historiographical debates by examining the ways in which the expansion of the federal bureaucracy shaped the formation, function, and expectations of the modern American presidency
a man dressed in red spreading yellow flyers - yellow journalism
Inventing the media presidency

This section examines the creation of a public presidency, in which presidents and presidential aspirants became media leaders—both courting public opinion and relying on new communication tactics to shape public opinion
A long line of unemployed men standing outside to get a free meal
The president and the economy during the Great Depression

This section investigates both the ways in which the relationship between the people and the president changed during the 1930s and the debates about the role of the president in initiating and narrating solutions to economic crises
Truman displaying the National Security Act Amendments of 1949
The president and the national security state during the Cold War

This section examines the presidency as it dominates the history of post-WWII foreign relations because presidents set the rhetorical parameters of international relations
TV crew set-up to film the president give a speech
The presidency in the television era

This section examines the ways in which presidents responded to the technological development of television and how it influenced electoral campaigns, communications strategies, and party structures
Protests outside the whitehouse
The presidency and social movements

This section encourage students to think about the ideology of post-WWII liberalism—its promises and contradictions—and how presidents responded to the pressures to take action to make the democracy and equality a reality for all Americans
a cartoon of the whitehouse with a flag that says - whatever you can get away with for as long as you can get away with it
The presidency in crisis

This section examines the crisis of the American presidency that unfolded during the 1960s and 1970s