About this Blog

During the semester, I shall post course material and students will comment on it. Students are also free to comment on any aspect of the presidency, either current or historical. There are only two major limitations: no coarse language, and no derogatory comments about people at the Claremont Colleges.

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Monday, May 4, 2026

Additional Presidential Topics

CANNOT MAKE STUDENT HOUR TODAY BUT WILL BE AVAILABLE VIA ZOOM AFTER 3 PM TODAY AND ALL DAY TOMORROW.  EMAIL ME TO SET UP A TIME.

On Wednesday, we will consider one thing we missed:  ex-presidents.  A short easy read: Barbara Bradley Hagerty, "Can an Ex-President Be Happy?" The Atlantic, Jan/Feb 2017.

Revisit 2/26 on campaign finance tricks


Economic policy:  chart book

Presidents convene people to reach extralegal solutions

Presidential directives


The 1974 TV movie The Missiles of October:

  • 26:30 deliberations of the ExComm
  • 45:00 role of the press secretary

Media and Foreign Influence

Flattering interviewees (an actual email to yours truly):
Dear John , 
I hope all is well. 
 I would like to introduce myself again. I would  like to introduce myself.  My name is XXX  I’m an international producer for Russian Television -  Channel One  that based in Moscow, Russia. We also have offices in New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles.  “Chanel One” is a number one broadcasting company in Russia and also very popular in Russian Community around the world.  We have over 250 million audience in 190 Countries.  Channel One is as big in Russia as CNN and FOX in US.
We have been working on our weekly news show "Sunday times" about Donald Trump's meeting with Putin. Our network's CEO Mr. Ernst asked me to contact you and include you in our show. He really would like to have you as a part of our show. You opinion is very important for Russian audience.
...

You are very well known in Russia. Russian politicians and regular people look up to you as a peer where they watch your interviews and follow you on social media for inspiring messages. It would be such an honor and  pleasure to meet you in person and film an interview with you. 

The most interesting presidential movie you never heard of:  Gabriel Over the White House (1933)