On August 3, 1981, over 12,000 members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association (PATCO) walked off their jobs, striking for higher pay, shorter hours, and increased benefits. Unexpectedly, President Ronald Reagan decided to fire the strikers, prosecute their leaders, and decertify their union. This swift and unwavering decision was a shocking reversal of the sympathy and support Reagan showed PATCO during his campaign ten months earlier, which had earned him the union’s endo...

A Brief History of Public Policy Since the New Deal traces the development of national domestic policy from the Great Depression through the early Trump years. A chronological look that illuminates the cumulative effects of policy change, the book also focuses on themes such as the interplay of ideas, events, politics, and people; models such as incrementalism, multiple streams, and punctuated equilibrium; the importance of foreign policy issues to the development of domestic policy; and f...

If you wish to understand the intellectual history and trajectory of American conservatism, you are sure to enjoy this brilliant course by one of America’s leading conservative scholars.Since the 1950s, economic conservatives have been in political alliance with social conservatives or traditionalists. That coalition has been a source of both strength and tension. Under the guidance of award-winning Professor Andrew E. Busch, you will first examine the distinctive features of econo...

In Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Freedom, Andrew E. Busch goes beyond economic and foreign policies to examine Reagan's understanding of statesmanship. Busch analyzes Reagan's conscious attempt to strengthen the separation of powers, federalism, and traditional rhetoric, and his efforts to revive the notion of limited government in a Constitutional Republic. In this important new study, Busch concludes that Ronald Reagan's politics of freedom-found in his discourse, policy, an...

The Chicago Tribune headline “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN” remains infamously wrong about the outcome of the 1948 presidential election. But, as Andrew Busch reveals, there is much more to this story than the well-worn image of a victorious and beaming President Harry Truman parading the newspaper’s erroneously headlined front page for all to see.Primarily a contest between Truman and challenger Thomas Dewey, the 1948 presidential race offered something for everyone, including two third-p...

The Constitution is the fundamental governing document of the United States. But to what extent do candidates and parties make constitutional arguments in the course of American elections? By examining party platforms, candidate messages, presidential debates, and television ads, The Constitution on the Campaign Trail answers four main questions: How often does constitutional rhetoric appear in campaigns? How much of it is explicit and how much implicit? What constitutional topics...

Many have pointed to the Iran hostage crisis, others to galloping inflation. In reality, as Andrew Busch makes clear, Ronald Reagan’s defeat of President Jimmy Carter in 1980 was attributable to more than any one issue, no matter how galvanizing. It marked the growing ascendancy of conservative attitudes that had been brewing for two decades—and marked the clear end of the era of New Deal liberalism.Busch offers the first comprehensive study of this contest, going beyond journalist...

Continuing a tradition now in its fourth decade, this book provides the most comprehensive and authoritative account of the national election, as well as congressional and state elections. From the nominating process to the ratification of the electoral college vote, Andrew E. Busch and John J. Pitney Jr. revisit the campaigns and results through the short lens of politics today and the long lens of American political history. With its keen insights into the issues and events that drove th...

Through pandemic, protests, and polarization, Americans went to the polls in 2020, one of the most contentious elections in American history. Continuing an R&L tradition now entering its fourth decade, Divided We Stand book provides the most comprehensive and authoritative account of the national election, as well as congressional and state elections. From the nominating process to the insurrection designed to stop the ratification of the electoral college vote, Andrew E. Busch and John J....

In The Perfect Tie: The True Story of the 2000 Presidential Election, James W. Ceaser and Andrew E. Busch continue their study of national elections and their broader implications for American politics and society. With groundbreaking research of electoral politics and penetrating discussions of divided government, independent candidates, party platforms, realignment theory, the electoral college, and campaign strategies, Ceaser and Busch attempt to make sense of the 2000 presiden...

Now updated to include the 2014 midterms and preview the coming 2016 election cycle, After Hope and Change provides the most comprehensive and authoritative account of the national election, including the presidential nomination process and election and congressional elections. As they have for every national election since 1992, James W. Ceaser and Andrew E. Busch, now joined by John J. Pitney, Jr., combine a concise account of the elections as well as the broader context for American pol...

Now updated to include the 2018 midterms and previewing the coming 2020 election cycle, Defying the Odds provides the most comprehensive and authoritative account of the national election, including the presidential nomination process and election and congressional elections. With its keen insights into the issues and events that drove the 2016 election, Defying the Odds will be an invaluable resource for students and all political observers seeking to understand an election that was decad...