Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. xv, 360 pages; 24 cm

Summary

1. The outspoken political advisor and commentator offers a survey of history's most memorable coups and failures. Dick Morris is one of the frankest and most incisive political observers in America today. A fiercely intelligent advisor to candidates at the highest levels of government, Morris is a popular columnist and a political analyst for the Fox News Channel, bringing his brilliant strategic mind and insider's political savvy to a weekly audience of millions. Now, in Power Plays, Morris reaches into history to create this fresh and fascinating survey of the most dramatic political moves ever made, from the wildly effective to the disastrous. The result is a strategy playbook that holds lessons equally valuable to the planning of a political campaign, a business venture -- or even the War on Terror. Drawing on American and international examples, Morris identifies five different types of power play, and focuses on politicians whose careers have skyrocketed after implementing them successfully -- or foundered in the wake of misjudgment. Morris explores ideologues like Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill, who stood on principle and waited for their moment to shine, and "triangulators" like George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and François Mitterrand, who seized the opportunity to defang their opponents by stealing their pet issues and solving them. He looks at figures as diverse as Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, and Richard Nixon -- who rose to power by dividing and conquering their enemies -- and at reformers like Britain's Tony Blair and Japan's Junichiro Koizumi, who ascended by purging their parties of corruption. And he shines a light on how Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson used technology and new media to electrify their political careers. In a chapter inspired by the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Morris also reviews the efforts of FDR and Churchill to mobilize their nations in the face of Nazi Germany -- and compares their performance to that of George W. Bush in mounting America's ongoing campaign against terrorism. Morris also devotes attention to unsuccessful power plays, from Woodrow Wilson's failed attempt to launch the League of Nations to the disavowal of environmental issues that, he argues, cost Al Gore the presidency in 2000. His analysis is surprising, often irreverent, but always enlightening. And the conclusion he draws -- that candidates who best serve the people also serve themselves -- is a breath of fresh air in the often bloodthirsty arena that is politics. - Jacket flap.
2. Includes material on Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater, Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Al Gore, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Francois Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac, Nelson Rockefeller, Richard M. Nixon, George McGovern, Thomas Dewey, Harry S. Truman, Tony Blair, Junichiro Koizumi, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Subject

1. Politiker Musikgruppe
2. Umschulungswerkstätten für Siedler und Auswanderer Bitterfeld
3. Chōsen Kōgei Kenkyūkai
4. Heads of state > Case studies
5. Political leadership > History
6. Power (Social sciences) > History
7. Comparative government
8. Heads of state
9. Political leadership
10. Power (Social sciences)
11. Staatsoberhaupt
12. Macht
13. Führung
14. Großbritannien
15. Frankreich

Genre/Form

1. Case studies.
2. History.
3. Études de cas.

Contents

1. Strategy One: Stand on Principle -- Successful--Reagan Stands on His Principles ... and Wins -- Unsuccessful--Goldwater's Crusade Crashes -- Successful--Churchill Emerges from the Wilderness to Lead Britain in Its Finest Hour -- Successful--De Gaulle Defeats the Political Parties -- Successful--Abraham Lincoln Moves from Abolitionism to Union ... and Wins -- Unsuccessful--Woodrow Wilson Goes Down Fighting for the League of Nations -- Unsuccessful--Al Gore Runs Away from His Environmental Beliefs ... and Loses as a Result -- Strategy Two: Triangulate -- Successful--George W. Bush Moves the GOP Toward Compassionate Conservatism -- Successful--Bill Clinton Leads His Party to the Center -- Successful--Francois Mitterrand Lets Jacques Chirac Pass His Program ... and then Beats Him at the Polls -- Unsuccessful--Nelson Rockefeller Crashes as He Falls Between the Parties -- Strategy Three: Divide and Conquer -- Successful--Lincoln Splits the Democrats over Slavery and Gets Elected -- Successful--Nixon Capitalizes on the Democratic Split on Vietnam to Get Elected -- Unsuccessful--Dewey Splinters the Democrats but Truman Wins Anyway -- Strategy Four: Reform Your Own Party -- Successful--Tony Blair Reforms the Labour Party and Takes Over Britain -- Successful--Koizumi Reforms Japan's Ruling Party ... and Transforms Japanese Politics -- Unsuccessful--McGovern Reforms His Party ... and the Empire Strikes Back -- Strategy Five: Use a New Technology -- Successful--FDR Uses Radio to Reach America.

Owning institution

1. Princeton University Library

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (p. [319]-343) and index.