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Genre/Form: | Biography Biographies History |
---|---|
Material Type: | Biography, Internet resource |
Document Type: | Book, Internet Resource |
All Authors / Contributors: |
Randall Herbert Balmer |
ISBN: | 9780060734053 0060734051 9780060872588 0060872586 |
OCLC Number: | 192045819 |
Description: | x, 243 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
Contents: | 1 Protestant Underworld: John F. Kennedy and the "Religious Issue" 7 -- 2 Do Unto Others: Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Improbable Presidency of Gerald R. Ford 49 -- 3 Born Again: Jimmy Carter, Redeemer President, and the Rise of the Religious Right 79 -- 4 Listing Right: Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and the "Evil Empire" 109 -- 5 Dualistic Discourse: The Clinton Interregnum and Bush Redux 133 -- Conclusion: Cheap Grace: Piety and the Presidency 155 -- Appendix 1 John F. Kennedy in Houston, Texas 175 -- Appendix 2 Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society 181 -- Appendix 3 Gerald Ford's Preemptive Pardon of Nixon 189 -- Appendix 4 Jimmy Carter's "Crisis of Confidence" Speech 195 -- Appendix 5 Ronald Reagan's "Statue of Liberty" Speech 209 -- Appendix 6 Bill Clinton on Billy Graham 215 -- Appendix 7 George W. Bush on September 11, 2001 221. |
Responsibility: | Randall Balmer. |
More information: |
Abstract:
Historian Balmer reveals the role religion has played in the personal and political lives of the last nine American presidents. Americans were once content to disregard religion as a criterion, as in most of the modern presidential elections before Jimmy Carter. But today's voters have come to expect candidates to disclose their religious views and to illustrate their personal relationship to the Almighty. This book explores the paradox of Americans' expectation that presidents should simultaneously trumpet their religious views and relationship to God while supporting the separation of church and state. Balmer tells the story of the politicization of religion in the last half of the twentieth century, as well as the "religionization" of our politics. He reflects on the implications of this shift, and offers a new lens through which to see not only these presidents, but also our current political situation.--From publisher description.
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