366 a cknowledgments
Faculty Lecture, titled “Th e Presidency at War, 1787–2006: Unchecked
Power and Political Risk,” to the faculty and guests. For that oppor-
tunity and ongoing support that included a sabbatical in 2010–2011,
during which I completed the manuscript, I thank Hunter President
Jennifer Raab, Provost Vita Rabinowitz, and then Dean of Arts and
Sciences Shirley Clay Scott. My colleagues in the Department of
Political Science have been a consistent source of intellectual stimu-
lation and fruitful conversation, plus a healthy dose of humor. Th is
project took shape under three department chairs, Ken Sherrill, Walter
Volkomer, and Charles Tien, who encouraged it in every way pos-
sible. I am grateful, too, to my other department colleagues (some
of whom have since left Hunter), Eva Bellin, Ann Cohen, Jennifer
Dwyer, Ken Erickson, Lennie Feldman, Rob Jenkins, Roger Karapin,
Scott Lemieux, Robyn Marasco, Lina Newton, Ros Petchesky, Cynthia
Roberts, Zachary Shirkey, Carolyn Somerville, Joan Tronto, John
Wallach, and Emily Zackin.
As I became interested in writing about the presidency at war, I
contacted Michael Nelson, a leading scholar on the presidency who
has produced multiple editions of a sophisticated college reader on
the presidency, Th e Presidency and the Political System , and proposed
writing a chapter on the subject for the next edition. He readily
agreed, and later showed himself to be a gifted editor, too. Some
portions of that chapter have been adapted here in the introduction,
and I thank CQ Press, publisher of his anthology, for permission.
At the invitation of Ronald M. Peters, I wrote a piece, “Collective
Inaction: Presidents, Congress, and Unpopular Wars,” for the Spring
2008 issue of Extensions , published by the Carl Albert Congressional
Research and Studies Center, University of Oklahoma. I thank Ron
for his careful feedback and the Center for permission to incorporate
some of the material into this book. Last, I explored the diffi culties
faced by Lyndon Johnson in Vietnam and George W. Bush in Iraq
in an article, “Staying the Course: Presidential Leadership, Military
Stalemate, and Strategic Inertia,” which appeared in March 2010 in
Perspectives on Politics. I am indebted to Jeff rey C. Isaac, who guided
it through the review and editorial processes. With the permission of
Cambridge University Press, I have adapted some of the material for
inclusion here.