This institute will examine those presidents in history who scholars and the American people have considered great leaders—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. We will consider both the leadership qualities and historical circumstances that have made presidential greatness possible. In probing the personal and historical dimensions of great presidential leadership, we will also compare previous democracies' fear of greatness with the pride Americans seem to take in their great leaders.

Faculty: Sidney M. Milkis is James Hart Chair of politics at the University of Virginia. He is the author or co-author of Presidential Greatness, The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776-2002, The President and the Parties, and the forthcoming American Government: Balancing Rights and Democracy. Marc Landy is professor of political science at Boston College and is co-author of Presidential Greatness and American Government: Balancing Rights and Democracy.