The Presidential Image

Presidential Image has become an integral part of the campaign, presidency and legacy of Modern American presidents. Across the 20th century to the age of Trump, presidential image has dominated media coverage and public consciousness, winning elections, gaining support for their leadership in office and shaping their reputation in history.

Is the creation of the presidential image part of a carefully conceived public relations strategy or result of the president's critics and opponents? Can the way the media interpret a presidents' actions and words alter their image? And how much influence do cultural outputs contribute to the construction of a presidential image?

Using ten presidential case studies. this edited collection features contributions from scholars and political journalists from the UK and America, to analyse aspects of Presidential Image that shaped their perceived effectiveness as America's leader, and to explore this complex, controversial, and continuous element of modern presidential politics.

About the Editors

Iwan Morgan is Professor of US Studies at the Institute of the Americas, University College London, and Commonwealth Fund Chair of American History in the UCL Department of History. He is also a distinguished fellow of the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford, recipient of the British Association of American Studies Honorary Fellowship in 2014, and winner of the Neustadt Prize in 2010. He is the author of Reagan: An American Icon (2016).

Mark White is Professor of History at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of eight books, including The Presidency of Bill Clinton (2012) and Kennedy: A Cultural History of an American Icon (2013). He has written for the Independent and BBC History Magazine, and appeared on BBC Radio 4 and a television documentary on JFK.