Background
Langston, Thomas Samuel was born on November 25, 1960 in Louisville. Son of John Harold and Patricia Marie Langston.
( What's wrong with the American presidency? Why is the w...)
What's wrong with the American presidency? Why is the world's oldest surviving democracy headed by a leader who lives and acts like a king? And why is that same leader so often held in low esteem by those who elected him? In this spirited survey of presidential history, Thomas Langston examines two centuries of unrealistic expectations, false hopes, and willful misunderstandings that lie at the heart of America's "dysfunctional relationship" with its president. Langston argues that each president becomes an icon, a stylized image of Americans' faith in themselves and in their country. Taking us on an investigation of how the game of presidential symbol-making is played, Langston reveals how Americans' wishful thinking is encouraged and how even the best presidents are invited to deceive the public. With Reverence and Contempt concludes with a series of recommendations, including legislative changes aimed at improving the relationship between the president and the public by cutting the president's symbolic value down to size.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801855101/?tag=2022091-20
(Each volume in the "American Presidents Reference Series"...)
Each volume in the "American Presidents Reference Series" is organized around an individual presidency and gathers a host of biographical, analytical, and primary source historical material that will analyze the presidency and bring the president, his dministration, and his times to life. The series focuses on key moments in U.S. political history as seen through the eyes of the most influential presidents to take the oath of office. Unique headnotes provide the context to data, tables and excerpted primary source documents. Lyndon Baines Johnson was born in 1908. He was first elected to Congress in 1937 and reelected twice. When he set his sights on the U.S. Senate in 1940 he was defeated. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Johnson was the first member of the House to volunteer for active military duty. In 1949 he became a U.S. Senator and was elected its majority leader in 1955. Johnson sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960, but lost to John F. Kennedy, who would offer him the vice president spot. In a close election, the Kennedy/Johnson ticket prevailed over Nixon/Lodge. In 1963 Vice President Johnson was part of the motorcade traveling through Dallas, Texas when Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated Kennedy. Johnson, while aboard Air Force One, was sworn in as 36th president of the United States. His administration crafted and oversaw several great moments in American history, including civil rights efforts, the Great Society, and technological advances. These events were, to some degree, overshadowed by the poor economy, civil unrest, and the U.S involvement in the Vietnam War. Troubled by his rapidly declining public approval, he did not seek re-election. This new volume on the presidency of Lyndon Baines Johnson will cover: His political skills; Replacing JFK; The Vietnam War; The Economy; The Great Society; Civil Rights; and, Technology and Space.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1568027036/?tag=2022091-20
( In the first book to focus on civil-military tensions a...)
In the first book to focus on civil-military tensions after American wars, Thomas Langston challenges conventional theory by arguing that neither civilian nor military elites deserve victory in this perennial struggle. What is needed instead, he concludes, is balance. In America's worst postwar episodes, those that followed the Civil War and the Vietnam War, balance was conspicuously absent. In the late 1860s and into the 1870s, the military became the tool of a divisive partisan program. As a result, when Reconstruction ended, so did popular support of the military. After the Vietnam War, military leaders were too successful in defending their institution against civilian commanders, leading some observers to declare a crisis in civil-military relations even before Bill Clinton became commander-in-chief. Is American military policy balanced today? No, but it may well be headed in that direction. At the end of the 1990s there was still no clear direction in military policy. The officer corps stubbornly clung to a Cold War force structure. A civilian-minded commander-in-chief, meanwhile, stretched a shrinking force across the globe. With the shocking events of September 11, 2001, clarifying the seriousness of the post-Cold War military policy, we may at last be moving toward a true realignment of civilian and military imperatives.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801874211/?tag=2022091-20
( Ideologues and Presidents argues that ideologues have b...)
Ideologues and Presidents argues that ideologues have been gaining influence in the modern presidency. There were plenty of ideologues in the New Deal, but they worked at cross purposes and could not count on the backing of the cagey pragmatist in the Oval Office. Three decades later, the Johnson White House systematically sought the help of hundreds of liberals in drawing up blueprints for policy changes. But when it came time to implement their plans, Lyndon Johnson’s White House proved to have scant interest in ideological purity. By the time of the Reagan Revolution, the organizations that supported ideological assaults on government had never been stronger. The result was a level of ideological influence unmatched until the George W. Bush presidency. In Bush’s administration, not only did anti-statists and social conservatives take up positions of influence throughout the government, but the president famously pursued an elective war that had been promoted for a decade by a networked band of ideologues. In the Barack Obama presidency, although progressive liberals have found their way into niches within the executive branch, the real ideological action continues to be Stage Right. How did American presidential politics come to be so entangled with ideology and ideologues? Ideologues and Presidents helps us move toward an answer to this vital question.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/141285363X/?tag=2022091-20
(Organized chronologically by president, The Cold War Pres...)
Organized chronologically by president, The Cold War Presidency brings the tension and the drama of the Cold War to life from the perspective of the men who occupied the Oval Office. Inside this comprehensive single volume, students and readers will discover an extensive collection of primary source documents alongside original, analytical essays on the U.S. presidents and their roles during the Cold War. The pairing together of these useful materials allows researchers to learn comprehensively or selectively about the interdependence of the presidency and the Cold War.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933116382/?tag=2022091-20
( How have ideologues--people driven to politics by the f...)
How have ideologues--people driven to politics by the force of ideas--influenced presidential administrations and even the presidency itself? In Ideologues and Presidents Thomas Langston approaches this question through case studies of three key presidents whose programs changed the direction of the modern domestic agenda: Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Ronald Reagan.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801843618/?tag=2022091-20
Langston, Thomas Samuel was born on November 25, 1960 in Louisville. Son of John Harold and Patricia Marie Langston.
Student, Duke University, 1980. Bachelor cum laude, University Texas, 1982. Doctor of Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1989.
Teacher Keystone School, San Antonio, 1982—1983. Visiting instructor State University of New York, Geneseo, 1988—1989. Assistant professor department political science Tulane University, New Orleans, 1989—1995, associate professor, 1995—2002, professor, since 2003, department chairman, 1999—2002, 2005—2008, adjunct professor, Freeman School Business, since 2007.
( What's wrong with the American presidency? Why is the w...)
( How have ideologues--people driven to politics by the f...)
(Each volume in the "American Presidents Reference Series"...)
( In the first book to focus on civil-military tensions a...)
(Organized chronologically by president, The Cold War Pres...)
( Ideologues and Presidents argues that ideologues have b...)
Vestry member St. George's Episcopal Church, New Orleans, 1995-1998, 2001-2003. Member American Political Science Association (board directors Presidency Research Group 2000-2005, editor Presidency Research Group Report 2000-2005), Thackeray Society.
Married Mary Anne Sprague, May 15, 1982. Children: Jessica, Taylor.