Command of office

the long version

"Command of office reveals the remarkable - and dangerous - concentration of power in the American presidency over the course of the twentieth century, told through incisive analyses of the eighteen men who have held the office and the events that shaped their presidencies. Stephen Graubard argues that the modern presidency began after McKinley's assassination with the succession of Theodore Roosevelt - a new kind of president for the new century. His vigorous presidency foretold the expansion of wartime authority under Woodrow Wilson; the growth of federal government under Franklin D. Roosevelt; and the national security issues that dominated American foreign policy during the Cold War." "Drawing upon his intimate knowledge of every president since FDR, Graubard reveals the dangerous transformation of the executive branch in the last hundred years. He tracks the steady expansion of secrecy as a tool of presidential authority, one that inevitably diminished the power of the other two branches of government."--BOOK JACKET.