Thread by @BrooksDSimpson

I'm teaching my presidency course, with today's topic being the sources of presidential power and influence, including the theme of crisis management and turning every crisis into a "war."

I also reflect on how my initial images of presidential leadership were forged during the years of LBJ and Nixon, two men who labored in the highly stylized shadow of JFK. I was the kid who watched conventions and followed politics when I was ten.

During the summer of 1973 I watched the Watergate hearings every day. Every day. That was reality TV before there was reality TV, because it was reality, even if at time it was often surreal.

I draw on those memories in teaching my course (I also drew on them when I met @JohnWDean many years later in the first of several encounters). I also now write about presidents, the art of politics, and decision-making.

I often try to imagine what the past was like for those who were experiencing it as their present.

I wonder what the future will make of 2020 and the state of the American polity and the presidency.

I wonder if future versions of me will be harsh or kind in judging us.

And, since it is now the fashion to link everything to #HamiltonMusical ... this seems appropriate ...