With my students, I always have to sell my subject because I know when you're 19, 20 years old, you've got other things on your mind besides American history. What I have to do is make this as compelling as possible. — H. W. Brands Copy Share Image
I certainly don't think that the heirs of the American Revolution were a particularly noble class. — H. W. Brands Copy Share
The Republican Party has moved substantially to the right of where Reagan was. — H. W. Brands Copy Share
Reagan gave essentially the same speech from the beginning to the end of his political career, which was always, 'The American people are great,… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
Presidents are evaluated not by what they did by the stroke of their own pen; it's what they persuade Congress to do. — H. W. Brands Copy Share
In the business arena, the standard rules of morality don't apply. What we're really looking for is efficiency. It doesn't do anyone any good… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
There is a certain kind of sobering, civilizing effect that being president imposes on people. There is a certain kind of dignity with which… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
The Founders were anything but demigods to themselves and their contemporaries, who recognized full well that the experiment in self-government had only begun. — H. W. Brands Copy Share
The American political system is based on the president taking the initiative and Congress responding. With President Trump, it's been the opposite. — H. W. Brands Copy Share
The president was not the most important political player in the 19th century. Besides Jefferson at the beginning, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, the… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
The shelf life of a seventh-year State of the Union address is about five minutes. Presidents can propose stuff. They're probably not likely to… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
When you look at the development of the American presidency, you see that the presidents who have had the greatest impact are the ones… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
With my students, I always have to sell my subject because I know when you're 19, 20 years old, you've got other things on… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
I'm the farthest thing from a bibliophile. I purge my collection regularly: If I haven't read a book in a couple of years, I… — H. W. Brands Copy Share
