Presidential campaigns : from George Washington to George W. Bush / Paul F. Boller, Jr.

Previous edition: 1996.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 421-466) and index.

1789--Starting off: George Washington -- 1792--Washington again -- 1796--Federalist succession: John Adams -- 1800--Republican takeover: Jefferson's revolution -- 1804--Jefferson's landslide -- 1808--Madison and the dambargo -- 1812--Madison's wartime re-election -- 1816--Monroe: another Virginia victory -- 1820--Monroe's quiet-re-election -- 1824--John Quincy Adams and the "corrupt bargain" -- 1828--Jackson vs. Adams -- 1832--Jackson, Clay, and the bank war -- 1836--Van Buren's victory over three whigs -- 1840--Tippecanoe and Tyler too -- 1844--Polk and manifest destiny -- 1848--Old Zach and the Michigander -- 1852--Frank Pierce and the old fuss and feathers -- 1856--Buchanan and bleeding Kansas -- 1860--Lincoln and the sectional crisis -- 1864--Lincoln and the war crisis -- 1868--Grant and reconstruction -- 1872--Grant and the liberal republicans -- 1876--The Hayes-Tilden disputed election -- 1880--The triumph of "boatman Jim" Garfield -- 1884--The Cleveland-Blaine contest -- 1888--Harrison, Cleveland, and the tariff -- 1892--Cleveland's return to power -- 1896--McKinley, Bryan, and free silver -- 1900--The McKinley-Roosevelt triumph -- 1904--T.R.'s smashing victory -- 1908--Taft's big victory over Bryan -- 1912--The high tide of progressivism: Wilson, Roosevelt, and Taft -- 1916--Wilson and the great war -- 1920--Harding, Nostrums, and Normalcy -- 1924--Keeping cool with Coolidge -- 1928--Hoover, Smith, and the catholic issue -- 1932--Roosevelt, Hoover, and the great depression -- 1936--Roosevelt and the new deal -- 1940--Roosevelt, Wilkie, and the war in Europe -- 1944--Roosevelt's wartime mandate -- 1948--The great Truman surprise -- 1952--The Eisenhower landslide -- 1956--Another Eisenhower landslide -- 1960--Kennedy and the new frontier -- 1964--Lyndon Johnson and the great society -- 1968--Nixon, Humphrey, and the Vietnam War -- 1972--Another Nixon triumph -- 1976--The triumph of an outsider: Jimmy Carter -- 1980--The Reagan victory -- 1984--Another Reagan sweep -- 1988--Trivial pursuit: Bush vs. Dukakis -- 1992--Clinton and the call for change -- 1996--Bill Clinton and the vital center -- 2000--Bush, Gore, and the Supreme Court -- Presidential campaigns through the years.

"Presidential Campaigns devotes a chapter to each of America's elections, from George Washington's in 1789 to George W. Bush's in 2000, dealing with the candidates, the conventions, the party platforms, the speeches, and the reasons for the victories and defeats on election day. The book contains campaign highlights, too, singling out for special attention the gaffes, surprises, dramatic events, and novel ways of vote-chasing that turned up in each campaign. With a postscript analyzing the major changes in the ways Americans have conducted their campaigns through the years, Presidential Campaigns shows that for all their shortcomings, America's quadrennial races represent a basic feature of the American system and, for better or worse, reveal a great deal about the nature of the American people and their culture."--Provided by publisher.