In Elusive Victories, Polsky provides a study of six wartime presidents, drawing lessons about the limit of presidential power during conflict. He examines Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush, to show how each overestimated his power as commander-in-chief. In each, the presidents’ resources did not match the recurring challenges of war. With insight, Polsky identifies issues that inform current and future policymakers in the first comprehensive account of presidential leadership during wartime.
Andrew J. Polsky is professor of political science at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center. A former editor of Polity, he is the author of The Rise of the Therapeutic State and has written for Political Science Quarterly, Perspectives on Politics, American Politics Research, and other journals.
