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Judging Bush

Conference open to the public, sponsored by University of Arkansas, the University of Southern Mississippi, and Villanova University  (full schedule)

November 22, 2008, Villanova University

"They pick a president, and then for four years they pick on him."
--Adlai Stevenson

"The president should also be the prime enemy of wishful thinking... Like any good teacher, he should press his students to acknowledge tragic choices…”
--Marc Landy and Sidney M. Milkis

Paradoxically, George W. Bush entered national politics as one of the most popular Texas governors in history, but went on to become as Gary C. Jacobson put it, "a divider, not a uniter." While presidential “greatness” is a slippery concept, traditionally both scholars and the general public have ranked highest those presidents who boldly pushed an activist agenda, and whose ideas seemed in keeping with the times. Arguably, conservative activist George W. Bush fit the bill. So what accounts for the President's unpopularity? Will history support current judgments? What does the scholarly literature have to say about these questions?
 
To explore these issues we will hold an all-day conference at Villanova University near Philadelphia on Saturday, November 22, 2008, to showcase papers by outstanding scholars with diverse views.  This conference will be broadcast on CSPAN.

Tentative Conference Presenters/Topics Include

  • Bush's Brain (No, Not Karl Rove): How Bush's psyche affects his decision-making, Robert Maranto (University of Arkansas) & Richard E. Redding (Chapman University).
  • President Bush and the Use of Executive Power, James P. Pfiffner (George Mason University.
  • Reactionary Ideologues and Uneasy Partisans: Bush and Party Realignment, Lara Brown (Villanova University).
  • The Cheneyization of the Bush Administration, Shirley Anne Warshaw (Gettysburg College).
  • The Bush White House and Bureaucracy, Karen Hult (Virginia Tech), Dave Cohen (University of Akron) and Charles Walcott (Virginia Tech).
  • Realignment in the Judiciary? Michael Moreland (Villanova University) & Lori Johnson (Mercer University).
  • Bush’s Great Society: No Child Left Behind, Frederick Hess (AEI) & Patrick McGuinn (Drew University).
  • Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security, Anne Khademian (Virginia Tech).
  • The Bush Grand Strategy, Robert Gordon Kaufman (Pepperdine University).
  • Forging an American Empire, Lawrence Korb (Center for American Progress).
  • Fighting Two Wars, Tom Lansford (University of Southern Mississippi).
  • A Mis-underestimated President, Al Felzenberg (Princeton University).
  • Missed Opportunities: Conflict and Polarization in the Bush Years, William Galston (Brookings Institution).

Contact

Robert Maranto; rmaranto@uark.edu 
Villanova University is on the R5 (Paoli/Thorndale) train line, only a half-hour drive and 70-minute train ride from Philadelphia International Airport.