Literature and the American Presidency

We are accustomed to engaging the American presidency as a public office approached through the prism of government, political science, and the like. This course studies the presidency through a literary lens, focusing on four presidents and three literary genres: epistolography (J. Adams and Jefferson), biography (Washington) and literary analysis (Lincoln). We will also study on video the inaugurals and farewells of more recent presidents and, finally, examine non-traditional literary forms, such as pamphlets, songs, posters, broadsides, graphics, newspapers, magazines, and original documents from various presidential elections.