Do presidents matter for America's economic performance? The Gilded Age presidents of the late nineteenth century seem like weak and forgettable leaders, but they hold the key to answering this question precisely because of their supposed impotence. In Presidential Leadership in Feeble Times, Mark Zachary Taylor tells the story of three decades of Gilded Age economic upheaval with a focus on presidential leadership--why did some presidents crash and burn, while others prospered? Neither education nor experience mattered much. Nor did brains, personal ethics, or party affiliation. Instead, Taylor finds that a president's effectiveness as an economic leader flows primarily from their vision for the country and their leadership style.
