We say we want authenticity in a president, but how much are we really entitled to know, and who gets to draw that line? Historian David Greenberg joins host Gil Troy to examine how the presidency has become, in part, a public relations performance shaped by evolving media, shifting expectations, and the public’s growing appetite for access. From George Washington’s measured gravitas to Barack Obama’s strategic self-presentation, Greenberg and Troy trace how image, communications, mass media, and executive control have defined, and sometimes distorted, the office.

In an age of nonstop coverage, viral speculation, and questions about presidential health and candor, this episode asks: where’s the line between necessary transparency and the illusion of total access? How have changing norms around privacy and scrutiny reshaped what we expect and want in a president? What gets lost in a democracy when we expect presidents to be both powerful leaders and fully public figures? And what do we lose when the performance overtakes the substance?

This is a conversation about the high-stakes theater of leadership, and how every president, whatever their ideology, must navigate the conflicting demands of democracy, power, and public life.

To read the texts and learn more about the manuscripts discussed in this episode, visit:

Signed Photograph of Pres. Ronald Reagan at 1987 Speech Demanding, “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!”

Chapters

(0:00) Opening

(0:26) Introduction: The Art of Presidential Leadership

(1:38) Guest Introduction: David Greenberg

(1:41) Nixon’s Shadow and the Power of Presidential Image

(4:05) Public vs. Private: The Blurred Lines of the Presidency

(6:56) Privacy, Press, and Democratic Tensions

(8:05) Image, Character, and the Leadership Paradox

(11:15) Spin and the Language of Politics

(15:17) The Founding Vision and the Presidency’s Design

(18:05) The Presidency’s Shift from Congress to Executive Power

(20:19) George Washington’s Legacy and Presidential Restraint

(23:59) Communicating Unity in the Early Republic

(25:40) Coolidge and the Power of Persona

(27:15) Jefferson’s Burden and the Glorious Cost of Power

(30:38) Leadership, Compromise, and Real-World Politics

(36:49) The Expanding Scope of Presidential Responsibility

(41:16) Institutions, Infrastructure, and Executive Complexity

(44:41) The Personal Toll of the Presidency

(53:58) What Makes a Great President?

(56:02) Summary

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Production by docyourstory 

Music by Adam Weingrod

The show is produced by The Shapell Manuscript Foundation. To learn more about the foundation and discover the manuscript collection visit: www.shapell.org