By the late 1960s, many educated Americans (novelist Updike has observed) had come to focus not on books but on "the art mu-seum, the symphony orchestra, the cinema, the educational TV band, the charming conversation-these were where the essences of culture condensed and could be supped." Today, to an extent not possible before World War 11, "a person who takes pride in being civilized may feel, at heart, that the written word, in its less casual forms, has nothing crucial to offer." M...
Stephen Hess
Twice I have served on White House staffs-at the end of one administration (1959-61) and at the beginning of another (1969). All presidencies, of course, are different. But one could hardly fail to observe differences that were exclusively a product of time. Beginnings and endings are different. There are differences of pace, attitude, objectives, and response, not only between adminis- trations but also within each one.
What follows is a composite portrait of a President over the...
Alexis de Tocqueville saw the American family, so different from the European, as an exemplar and bulwark of sober democracy.