Constructing Presidential Legacy: How We Remember the American President

Remembering the enduring legacies of the American presidencyWhat do we remember about Thomas Jefferson, the Roosevelts or Barack Obama - and how do we come to commemorate their legacies? Few personalities loom larger than the American president. Their accomplishments and failures are forensically documented, and their personal lives undergo pervasive examination by the mass media.Such interest does not end when the president leaves the White House and this volume takes a holistic view of the American presidency by examining the impressions we develop in the years after their retirement. A collection of world-leading experts on the presidency explain how American chief executives acquire legacies and how those legacies evolve through various modes of commemoration. Incorporating multiple presidencies, the ten chapters presented here investigate some of the most prominent former presidents, but, most importantly, they explore the way various types of tribute alter public memory. Be it anniversaries, farewell tours, museum exhibitions, public art, advertising, film, political invocation, pop culture or literature, the modes of memorialisation contribute to our perceptions. The result of this multi-disciplinary approach is an invaluable framework for observing how political legacies come to be.Michael Patrick Cullinane is a Professor of US History at the University of Roehampton.Sylvia Ellis is a Professor of American History at the University of Roehampton.