 |
 |
Store: An Independent Institute Book
RECARVING RUSHMORE
Ranking the Presidents on Peace, Prosperity, and Liberty
By
Ivan Eland
Who were the best and worst U.S. presidents? In the past when historians and scholars have rated the presidents, their evaluations often have been based on individual charisma, activism, and service during periods of crisis.
Taking a distinctly new approach in Recarving Rushmore, Dr. Ivan Eland profiles each U.S. president on the merits of his policies and whether those strategies contributed to peace, prosperity, and liberty. This ranking system is based on how effective each president was in fulfilling his oath to uphold the Constitution. Contrary to the preferences of modern conservatives and liberals, this oath was intended to limit the role of the federal government.
Readers will be intrigued to discover why, of the four men given exalted representations on Mount Rushmore, only Washington deserves the honor. They will learn why Teddy Roosevelt has been overrated; why Jefferson hypocritically violated his lofty rhetoric of liberty; and why Lincoln provoked a civil war that achieved far less than believed. Readers will uncover why some presidents are rated much higher than the conventional wisdom—for example, Warren Harding—and some rank much lower—for example, Harry Truman.
As for more modern U.S. chief executives, Republicans will be astounded to learn that Nixon was the last liberal president and that Reagan wasn’t all that conservative. Democrats will be amazed to learn that Clinton was in some respects more conservative than George W. Bush. Readers will learn why the author goes against the grain and anoints Eisenhower and Carter as the two best modern presidents.
Eland courageously puts forth these provocative findings in this unique and insightful assessment of those who have held the office of President of the United States.
Detailed Summary |
| |
|
Praise for Recarving Rushmore “In the intriguing book, Recarving Rushmore, Ivan Eland reassesses the record of all U.S. Presidents based on the constitutional principles that each swore to uphold. While conventional accounts glorify the flagrant misdeeds of the ‘Imperial Presidency,’ this insightful and crucial book provides an inspiring vision for both conservatives and liberals on the crucial need to rein in White House power and restore peace, prosperity and liberty.”
—Ron Paul, U.S. Congressman
“Recarving Rushmore is colorful, entertaining, and profound. Ivan Eland shatters the grand illusion that great presidents are those who wage war or deprive people of their liberty, either here or abroad. The new ‘gold standard’ for measuring presidential performance, this book upends what we ‘know’ about ‘Great’ presidents and will challenge your view of political history, one president at a time.”
—Jonathan Bean, Professor of History, Southern Illinois University
“Eland engagingly shows why the conventional wisdom on the American presidency is all wrong and why presidents like Van Buren, Arthur, and Harding in fact ably advanced the nation’s interest, while iconic names like Lincoln, the two Roosevelts, and Wilson caused serious harm. Recarving Rushmore is must reading.”
—Richard K. Vedder, Distinguished Professor of Economics and Faculty Associate, Contemporary History Institute, Ohio University
“Judging presidents by a deceptively simple metric—their impact on peace, prosperity, and liberty—leads Ivan Eland in to reach radical conclusions about the rankings of presidents. Whether you agree that Coolidge was a good president and FDR a bad one, you’ll never again glibly think to yourself that it’s obvious which presidents are good and bad. It isn’t—and Eland shows us why.”
—Richard Shenkman, Editor, History News Network; author, Presidential Ambition and Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of American History
“Eland calls into question our whole conception of presidential greatness. In this well-written book, Eland offers readers insightful surveys of every president from Washington to Bush. Along the way, he makes a compelling case that many of the so-called ‘greats’ were not so great after all when it came to preserving liberty, peace, and prosperity. Readers will never see the presidency the same way again.”
—David T. Beito, Professor of History, University of Alabama
“According to American historians, the best presidents are the ones who get us into the biggest wars, impose the most interventionist economic policies, and trample civil liberties by expanding executive power beyond what the Constitution permits. The more European-style fascism the better seems to be their criterion. That’s why Lincoln and FDR are always at the top of their lists. In Recarving Rushmore Ivan Eland makes a novel proposal: Why not rank presidents according to the traditional American values of peace, prosperity and liberty? Read this important new book and find out why John Tyler may be America’s greatest president!”
—Thomas DiLorenzo, Professor of Economics, Loyola College in Maryland; author of The Real Lincoln and Hamilton’s Curse
“Recarving Rushmore stands as a much-needed corrective to the history of America we are all taught in our schools. We are propagandized to adulate all American presidents simply by virtue of the office they held, regardless of what their record might have been. Indeed, it appears that the worse they trampled on civil liberties the higher the regard in which they are held. Dr. Eland has provided a far more accurate account of the actions of these men (and they are indeed men, not gods), pointing out the manner in which most abused their power and oppressed the nation. Historians who are dedicated to the truth are indebted to him for his efforts.”
—Ronald Hamowy, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Alberta, Canada
“By focusing on peace, prosperity, and liberty, Recarving Rushmore moves us miles closer to a proper evaluation of America’s presidents—especially those of the 20th century—than the hallowed (but misleading) Schlesinger poll of prominent historians. Eland makes an eloquent and persuasive case, for example, that Harding and Coolidge were better presidents than were FDR and LBJ.”
—Burton W. Folsom, Charles F. Kline Chair in History, Hillsdale College; author, New Deal or Raw Deal? How FDR’s Economic Legacy Has Damaged America
“Of the four presidents exalted glory on Mount Rushmore, only George Washington deserves the honor, writes Ivan Eland, whose intriguing new book is appropriately titled Recarving Rushmore. The author argues that Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt was overrated by historians and scholars; Thomas Jefferson hypocritically violated his lofty rhetoric of liberty; and Abraham Lincoln provoked a civil war that achieved far less than believed. Mr. Eland’s book profiles and ranks every U.S. president on the merits, including his oath to uphold the Constitution. Surprisingly, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Jimmy Carter are anointed the two best modern presidents, and Bill Clinton is declared in some respects more conservative than George W. Bush.”
—Washington Times
“Recarving Rushmore is a ‘very good’ book of concise historical assessments of each U.S. presidential administration’s domestic, defense and foreign policies regarding peace, national prosperity, and individual liberty. This book is ‘better’ in terms of the depth of the analysis of each administration’s role in an evolving process of shaping the legacy of prior administrations for their successors. And the book is ‘best’ in the ways it provides insights into how a libertarian perspective on these issues is meaningful for the broader policy debates within U.S. society.”
—Edward A. Olsen, Emeritus Professor of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School
“Well-written and fascinating, Recarving Rushmore provides a long-overdue reassessment of the actual record of all U.S. presidents. Thanks to Ivan Eland’s efforts, the traditional classroom narrative of our ‘great presidents’ and their glorious deeds lies in well-deserved ruin.”
—Thomas E. Woods, Jr., Senior Fellow, Ludwig von Mises Institute; author, The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History and 33 Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask
“Recarving Rushmore is a fine book, a thought-provoking study on national leadership in the United States from the perspective of a free society. His rankings and rationales will provide provocative material for discussions of leadership where individual liberty is a priority. Avoiding the usual popularity contest of presidential rankings, Eland weighs practical realities of policies and accomplishments to come up with rankings that are sometimes surprising and always interesting.”
—T. Hunt Tooley, Professor of History, Austin College
“With the righteous chisel of liberty, Ivan Eland chips away at the war-making, state-building ‘great’ presidents and sculpts an alternative gallery of America’s finest chief executives—men of peace, of liberty, of a becoming modesty. Down with Wilson and the Bushes; hail to Grover Cleveland, Martin Van Buren, and John Tyler!”
—William Kauffman, former Associate Editor, American Enterprise; author, Ain’t My America: The Long, Noble History of Anti-War Conservatism and Middle American Anti-Imperialism
“Independent Institute Senior Fellow Ivan Eland has his criteria ready. In Recarving Rushmore: Ranking the Presidents on Peace, Prosperity, and Liberty, he uses them to rank 40 previous presidents, yielding results that, he says, surprised him. Eland’s assessment of each of the 40 is thoughtful and judicious. He neither obscures nor trumpets where he’s coming from ideologically. He’s for prudential foreign policy, free-market economics, and personal freedom. He’s against entangling alliances, government aid programs, and second-class citizenship. Despite occasional dull wording, his writing provokes sober reflection about what a president ought to be. Reading him may be quite an adventure for an awful lot of citizens, including, perhaps, the first citizen.”
—Booklist
“No matter what party partisans say, no American president is perfect—to say the least. But when historians get around to ranking our greatest presidents, the top spots invariably go to the usual titans—Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and the Roosevelts, Teddy and Franklin. Ivan Eland, a senior fellow at The Independent Institute and an expert on defense issues, begs to differ with the standard consensus—by about 180 degrees. In his book Recarving Rushmore: Ranking the Presidents on Peace, Prosperity, and Liberty, Eland doesn't rank our commanders in chief according to how many wars they won or how many new federal government social or regulatory agencies they fathered. He ranks them on how well they adhered to the principles of limited government as put down in the Constitution by our Founding Framers.”
—Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“This provocative, profound and enlightening book by a respected scholar presents an intriguing and novel proposal on how to evaluate presidential effectiveness based on domestic, foreign and defense policies as they relate to peace, prosperity and individual liberty. Eland judges presidents not by who they were, how they led or how they governed, but by what they did. He explores the criteria that most political scientists, law professors and journalists use to evaluate presidential performance and points out why these do not accurately reflect a president’s actual service to our country.”
—Rocky Mount Telegram About the Author Ivan Eland is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty at the Independent Institute. Dr. Eland is a graduate of Iowa State University and holds an M.B.A. in applied economics and a Ph.D. in public policy from George Washington University. He spent fifteen years working for Congress on foreign affairs and national security issues.
Dr. Eland is the author of The Empire Has No Clothes: U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed and Putting “Defense” Back into U.S. Defense Policy, as well as the forthcoming Partitioning for Peace: An Exit Strategy for Iraq.
|
|
 |
|
