Notice bibliographique
- Notice
Type(s) de contenu et mode(s) de consultation : Texte noté : sans médiation
Auteur(s) : Smith, David A. (1965-....)
Titre(s) : Cowboy presidents [Texte imprimé] : the frontier myth and U.S. politics since 1900 / David A. Smith
Publication : Norman : University of Oklahoma press, copyright 2021
Description matérielle : 1 vol. (X-277 p.) : ill. ; 23 cm
Note(s) : Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-263) and index
"Explores the deployment of the Frontier Myth by four US Presidents - Theodore Roosevelt,
Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush-and how a series of tragic events
caused the myth's shift from liberalism to conservatism during the 1960s and 70s"
; For an element so firmly fixed in American culture, the frontier myth is surprisingly
flexible. How else to explain its having taken two such different guises in the twentieth
century--the progressive, forward-looking politics of Rough Rider president Teddy
Roosevelt and the conservative, old-fashioned character and Cold War politics of Ronald
Reagan? This is the conundrum at the heart of Cowboy Presidents, which explores the
deployment and consequent transformation of the frontier myth by four U.S. presidents:
Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush. Behind the
shape-shifting of this myth, historian David A. Smith finds major events in American
and world history that have made various aspects of the "Old West" frontier more relevant,
and more useful, for promoting radically different political ideologies and agendas.
And these divergent adaptations of frontier symbolism have altered the frontier myth.
Theodore Roosevelt, with his vigorous pursuit of an activist federal government, helped
establish a version of the myth that today would be considered liberal. But, then,
Smith shows, a series of events from the Lyndon Johnson through Jimmy Carter presidencies
seemd to give the lie to the progressive frontier myth. In the wake of Vietnam, race
riots, and stagflation, the entire structure and popular representation of frontier
symbols and images in American politics shifted dramatically from left to right, and
from liberal to conservative, with profound implications for the history of American
thought and presidential politics--back cover
Sujet(s) : Présidents -- États-Unis -- 20e siècle
Turner, Hypothèse de
Mythe -- Aspect politique -- États-Unis -- 20e siècle
Culture politique -- États-Unis -- 20e siècle
Indice(s) Dewey :
973.910 922 (23e éd.) = Histoire - États-Unis - 1901-1953 - Biographie collective
Identifiants, prix et caractéristiques : ISBN 9780806191225 (br.)
Identifiant de la notice : ark:/12148/cb472573083
Notice n° :
FRBNF47257308
(notice reprise d'un réservoir extérieur)
Table des matières : Introduction: The frontier myth ; 1. Theodore Roosevelt : the first cowboy president's
progressive frontiers ; 2. Lyndon Baines Johnson's "showdowns for progress" ; 3.
Myth in a quagmire: Vietnam and LBJ's second presidency ; 4. The hinge: Ronald Reagan
and the conservative resurgence of the frontier myth ; 5. Reagan's policy frontiers
at home and abroad ; 6. George W. Bush: the War on Terror and the frontier myth
; Epilogue
