The Modern Presidency

Pfiffner (government and public policy, George Mason U.) portrays the presidency as being not so much the president himself, but the numerous people and institutions that support him. Concentrating on the era of the modern presidency (1933 to the present), he explains how what was once a small group of presidential advisors has grown into a large collection of bureaucracies, and how White House staffers have gradually replaced Cabinet secretaries as primary advisors to the president. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.