365Acknowledgments
As an author, I have the pleasure of saving the best for last—thanking
the many people who helped make this book possible. I begin with my
students at Hunter College, an extraordinary public university that has
been my academic home for more than two decades. Soon after the
United States invaded Iraq in 2003, students organized a teach-in to
protest the war and invited members of the Department of Political
Science to speak briefl y about the war. I off ered some remarks about
the expansion of presidential war powers and the lack of effective
constraints on their use, which prompted me to begin thinking seri-
ously about the subject of wartime presidential leadership. Th e rest, as
we say, is history. Subsequently, I twice taught a special topics course,
“Th e Presidency at War,” which gave me an opportunity to explore
some of the themes that ultimately coalesced in this volume. Many
course discussions are refl ected in these pages, and I owe a debt to all
of the students who participated. Special thanks go to two outstanding
Hunter students, Alex Neustein and Daniel Passentino, who did honors
research projects under my supervision on topics connected to wartime
presidents.
My appreciation extends to many others in the Hunter College com-
munity. I was chosen to present the 2006 TIAA-CREF Distinguished