Backlash Presidents - From Transformative to Reactionary Leaders in American History

How most presidents avoid upsetting the racial status quo-and why those who do pave the way for lawless, norm-violating successorsWhen Barack Obama won the White House in 2008, becoming the nation's first Black president, the stage was set for Donald Trump's eventual rise to power. Backlash Presidents shows how, throughout American history, administrations that challenge the country's racial status quo are followed by presidents who deal in racially charged politics and presidential lawlessness, culminating in impeachment crises. In this incisive book, Julia Azari traces the connections between racially transformative presidents and their successors, examining the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, and Obama and Trump. When he signed long-awaited civil rights legislation in 1964, Lyndon Johnson unleashed a perfect political storm that swept Nixon into the White House. Azari demonstrates how Nixon's rhetoric, relationship to Congress, and attitudes about executive power exhibit striking parallels with Andrew Johnson and Trump. She discusses how their actions are linked to race and racialized institutions-the Department of War during Reconstruction, the FBI during the Nixon years, and elections today-and looks at what happens after impeachment, describing how the rush to establish a new order perpetuates many of the same problems as the old. Challenging the conventional wisdom about the role of norms in American democracy, Backlash Presidents reveals how normal presidential politics upholds unsustainable racial hierarchy that in turn gives rise to intense periods of instability.

About the author

Julia R. Azari is professor of political science at Marquette University. She is the author of Delivering the People’s Message: The Changing Politics of the Presidential Mandate and the editor (with Lara M. Brown and Zim G. Nwokora) of The Presidential Leadership Dilemma: Between the Constitution and a Political Party. Her work has been featured widely in the media, including The New York Times, MSNBC, Politico, and FiveThirtyEight.

Product details

• Authors: Julia R. Azari
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 19.08.2025
• EAN: 9780691246956
• ISBN: 978-0-691-24695-6
• No. of pages: 288
• Series: Princeton Studies in American Politics
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; USA, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Constitutions, POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / Executive Branch, POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / Legislative Branch, Politics & government, Social discrimination & inequality, Legal History, United States of America, USA, Politics and government, Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Race & Ethnic Relations, Central / national / federal government, Central government, Constitutional & administrative law, Racism and racial discrimination / Anti-racism, History of constitution and comparative constitutional law