Ideologues and presidents

by Thomas S. Langston

How have ideologues - people drawn 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. In chapters on Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Ronald Reagan, Langston illustrates the important role of ideologues in national politics. In an epilogue on the Bush presidency, Langston demonstrates that ideologues, though they are often overlooked, are now too powerful to be kept out of even the most anti-ideological administrations. For Langston, these "people of ideas" form a class of political actors distinct not only from pragmatic professional politicians but also from nonideological "experts," with whom ideologues compete for power. Because they are appointed to their governmental positions, ideologues are not directly accountable to the electorate, b