Presidents and Civil Liberties from Wilson to Obama
A Story of Poor Custodians

This is the first book to examine the civil liberties records of American presidents from Woodrow Wilson to Barack Obama.

Samuel Walker (Author)

9781107677081, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 28 February 2014

570 pages, 9 b/w illus.
23.3 x 15.7 x 3.1 cm, 0.8 kg

'… [an] exciting, important book … It is an engaging, fascinating, eye-opening, impressively researched and thoughtful discussion of such a vital topic. To the credit of the author, the book is scrupulously fair and non-partisan, taking special pains to dispel stereotypes, shibboleths and oversimplifications about particular presidents and political parties. The initial exploration of the Obama Administration's record, putting it into the overall historical context, is very important - critical but fair.' Nadine Strossen, New York Law School and former President, American Civil Liberties Union (1991–2008)

This book is a history of the civil liberties records of American presidents from Woodrow Wilson to Barack Obama. It examines the full range of civil liberties issues: First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, press and assembly; due process; equal protection, including racial justice, women's rights, and lesbian and gay rights; privacy rights, including reproductive freedom; and national security issues. The book argues that presidents have not protected or advanced civil liberties, and that several have perpetrated some of the worst violations. Some Democratic presidents (Wilson and Roosevelt), moreover, have violated civil liberties as badly as some Republican presidents (Nixon and Bush). This is the first book to examine the full civil liberties records of each president (thus, placing a president's record on civil rights with his record on national security issues), and also to compare the performance on particular issues of all the presidents covered.

1. Introduction: presidents and civil liberties
Part I. The Early Years: 2. Woodrow Wilson and the suppression of civil liberties in World War I
3. Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover: civil liberties in the wilderness
4. Franklin D. Roosevelt: the mixed legacy of a strong president
Part II. Civil Liberties in the Cold War and Civil Rights Eras: 5. Harry Truman: courage and contradictions
6. Dwight D. Eisenhower: a failure of presidential leadership
7. John F. Kennedy: the failed promise of the new frontier
8. The glory and the tragedy of Lyndon Johnson
9. Richard Nixon: a singular abuse of presidential power
Part III. The Post-Watergate Era: 10. Gerald Ford: a minor president in very interesting times
11. Jimmy Carter: failed president, good civil libertarian
12. Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush: the neo-conservative assault on civil liberties
13. Bill Clinton: the divided soul of a 'new democrat'
Part IV. Civil Liberties in the Age of Terrorism: 14. George W. Bush: the worst president ever on civil liberties
15. Reflections on presidents, civil liberties, and democracy with observations on Barack Obama.

Subject Areas: Law [L], Politics & government [JP], History of the Americas [HBJK]