President Without Precedent?

Apropos of let's say nothing in particular, I recently was drawn to a non-fiction book written by constitutional law professor Corey Brettschneider. Including the subtitle, the book has an unwieldy name. But from it, you might intuit why I was interested -- The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It.

This book presents ignominious slices of American history: details of presidents who pushed the power of their office, and in some cases pushed the country to the brink of collapse. More importantly, it recounts what was involved to pull the United States back from the brink.

First up is John Adams, whose monarchical view of the presidency led him to vicious attacks on the press, including prosecutions of anyone speaking critically of the office of the president (himself). Then, as you might expect from a book like this, we read about James Buchanan, who colluded with the Supreme Court to deny the basic personhood of black people. Next comes Andrew Johnson, who encouraged violence against his political opponents as he asserted authority above Congress. Skip ahead a few decades, and read about Woodrow Wilson's focused efforts to mainstream racial animus through expansion of bigoted laws. And of course, no book about U.S. presidents threatening democracy would be complete without a look at Richard Nixon, who contended that no action taken by a president could be illegal.

Corey Brettschneider's book provided me strange comfort. Current events may be unprecedented in my lifetime, but not without precedent, period. Strip the names out of my previous paragraph, and a reader might well think that it was about current events. It's not that reading this book made me think, "oh, the country has been here before, so we'll be fine," but it was a relief of sorts to see that we have been here before, and there were ways out.

The book presents the thesis (and I believe the correct one) that effective opposition to corrupt and captured governments comes from the outside. The three branches of American government do not have the final say on how the country's constitution is interpreted; the values of the document are ultimately up to "we the people" to decide. Brettschneider focuses on individuals and citizen groups who rose up to oppose these past presidents, in what he calls "constitutional constituencies."

The book highlights several truly impressing and inspiring historical figures -- especially Frederick Douglass (in the Buchanan and Johnson sections) and William Monroe Trotter (in the Woodrow Wilson section). The book does point out that a "constitutional constituency" need not be led by a singular figure like Douglass or Trotter. It cites the example of the grand jury against Richard Nixon, who collectively and (at the time) anonymously united in their view that a president can and should be held accountable for criminal acts. Yet Brettschneider also points out that this action was essentially thwarted by President Gerald Ford's pardon of Nixon -- and he further suggests that this thwarting of the will of "we the people" prevented the sort of full recovery that followed the actions of the other presidents chronicled in the book. The pardon of Nixon, the author argues, was the first step down a path that led to today.

And the book does touch on today. Or, at least, "today" at the time it was written. An epilogue touches on Donald Trump and the events of January 6, 2021. But given everything that's happened since then, given the extent to which today's attacks on democracy feel like "all five of the other attacks detailed in the book, all at once," it's a quite disheartening note to end the book on. Still, focus on the central message, and there is hope. Yes, the Supreme Court says that there is sweeping immunity for presidential lawlessness... but Brettschneider's entire point is that the people are the final arbiter on that.

In any case, the message that we've been here before (or, at least, "here-ish") is a good one for today, and this author does a good job delivering it. Even if you read The Presidents and the People purely for the history and not for "inspiration" or "advice," it's a solid read. You'll be reminded of the achievements of Frederick Douglass, and educated about those of William Monroe Trotter. You'll be persuaded that James Madison may have been the most underappreciated of the "Founding Father" presidents, and that Woodrow Wilson was actually far worse than is widely thought. I give the book a B+.