Commander in Chief How Truman, Johnson, and Bush Turned a Presidential Power into a Threat to America's Future

This is the history of ever-expanding presidential powers in an age of unwinnable wars. Harry Truman and Korea, Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam, George W. Bush and Iraq: three presidents confronted wars that no amount of American power or prestige could win, and all reacted similarly. In hopes of elusive victory, each sought ever-broader executive powers under the commander-in-chief clause of the Constitution. The notable presidential biographer and military historian Geoffrey Perret places these men and events in the larger context of post-World War II history to establish their collective legacy: a presidency so powerful that it undermines the checks and balances built into the Constitution, thereby creating a permanent threat to the Constitution itself. In Commander in Chief, Perret cogently proves what America is now learning: that it's possible for the world's only superpower to lose wars when they become tests of stamina rather than strength. And while no increase in the powers of the commander in chief will alter that fact, such increases have damaged democracy at home and undermined America's power abroad. Book jacket.

Geoffrey Perret is the award-winning author of twelve previous books, including Ulysses S. Grant, Eisenhower, and Lincoln’s War. He has been a consultant for PBS, C-Span, and the History Channel.