This course is an examination of the political and constitutional development of the office of president from Reconstruction to the present. It looks first at the dramatic decline of the authority and prestige of the presidency in the late 19^th Century and resurgence of the Presidency during the Progressive period at which time the two themes that come to dominate the modern presidency first come to the fore: the president as domestic steward and the president as leader of a great power. It then examines FDR as the seminal figure in the actual establishment of the modern presidency. The course will then examine all the post-FDR presidents with special attention to LBJ and Reagan. It will conclude with a look at the contemporary presidency and the particular challenge posed for it by the War on Terror.