Acting Presidents 100 Years of Plays about the Presidency

Although films about the presidency have been a popular subject for analysis, there is no equivalent literature about plays that portray chief executives. This book fills that gap by examining in detail about 50 plays depicting historical, fictional and even musical presidents. It explains how, as the publicrs"s trust in government has declined, the heroic presidents of the first half of the twentieth century have been replaced on stage by such antiheroes as Nixon and Harding.

Bruce E. Altschuler is a Professor of Political Science at SUNY Oswego. He is the author or co-author of four books, including LBJ and the Polls and Running in Place: A Campaign Journal, as well as numerous articles for journals such as Public Opinion Quarterly; Journal of Supreme Court History; Presidential Studies Quarterly; and White House Studies. In 2007 he received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research.