The Values of Presidential Leadership

In this volume, presidential scholars from communication, history, law, philosophy, political science, and psychology explore the broader phenomenon of leadership. Like leadership more generally, presidential leadership is a value-laden activity, an exercise in communication, and a collective enterprise. It is also subject to psychological and historical barriers to interpretation. Finally, presidential leadership is instrumental: presidents must achieve their valued ends. Contributors address each of these aspects of leadership in essays on how presidential values are determined or constructed, how they are condoned and criticized, how they are packaged and conveyed, and how they are interpreted and acted upon.

TERRY L. PRICE is Associate Professor at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond. He has degrees in philosophy, politics, and psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Oxford, and he completed his doctorate in philosophy at the University of Arizona. His work has been published in outlets such as the Encyclopedia of Leadership, Journal of Political Philosophy, and Leadership Quarterly. He is author of Understanding Ethical Failures in Leadership on Cambridge University Press and co-editor of the three-volume reference set The International Library of Leadership.  J. THOMAS WREN is Professor of Leadership Studies and Interim Dean of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond. He has an undergraduate degree in economics and social studies from Denison University, a law degree from the University of Virginia, a master’s in public policy from George Washington University, and a master’s and doctorate in history from the College of William and Mary. In addition to a number of articles and book chapters, he has edited The Leader’s Companion: Insights on Leadership through the Ages and written an accompanying Instructor’s Manual. He is co-editor of the three-volume reference, The International Library of Leadership.  His most recent book (in press) is Inventing Leadership: The Challenge of Democracy.