Burton I. Kaufman

In this insightful biography, Burton I. Kaufman explores how the political career of Barack Obama was marked by conservative tendencies that frustrated his progressive supporters and gave the lie to socialist fearmongering on the right. Obama's was a landmark presidency that paradoxically, Kaufman shows, resulted in few, if any, radical shifts in policy. Following his election, President Obama's supporters and detractors anticipated radical reform. As the first African American to serve as president, he reached the White House on a campaign promise of change. But Kaufman finds in Obama clear patterns of classical conservativism of an ideological sort and basic policy-making pragmatism. His commitment to usher in a multiracial, multiethnic, and multicultural society was fundamentally connected to opening up, but not radically altering, the existing free enterprise system. The Affordable Care Act, arguably President Obama's greatest policy achievement, was a distillation of his complex motivations for policy. More conservative than radical, the ACA fitted the expansion of health insurance into the existing system. Similarly, in foreign policy, Obama eschewed the use of force to affect regime change. Yet he kept boots on the ground in the Middle East and supported ballot-box revolts geared toward achieving in foreign countries the same principles of liberalism, free enterprise, and competition that existed in the United States. In estimating the course and impact of Obama's full political life, Kaufman makes clear that both the desire for and fear of change in the American polity affected the popular perception but not the course of action of the forty-fourth US president.

Conservative, Pragmatist, Progressive

Barack Obama

Roots -- From Organizer to Politician -- The Presidential Run and Earthquake of Iowa -- From Iowa to President-Elect -- Landmark Achievement : The Affordable Care Act -- Quest for a Common Purpose -- The Comeback President -- Dysfunctional Government -- A Second Recovery -- The Shock of Donald J. Trump's Election -- The Post-Presidency.

Diane Kaufman

U.S. Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower first entered into the public eye during World War II as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. In 1952, he was elected as the 34th President of the United States and served two terms. During those terms he oversaw the cease-fire of the Korean War, kept up the pressure on the Soviet Union during the Cold War, made nuclear weapons a higher defense priority, launched the Space Race, enlarged the Social Security program, and began the Interstate Highway System. The A to Z of the Eisenhower Era examines significant individuals, organizations, and events in American political, economic, social, and cultural history during this era in American history. In addition to the hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on politics, economics, diplomacy, literature, science, sports, and popular culture, a chronology, introductory essay, and several appendixes are also included in this valuable reference.

Burton I. Kaufman

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