270 pages ; 24 cm

This book explores the visual and material cultures of presidential commemoration--memorials and monuments, libraries and archives--and the problematic ways in which presidents themselves have largely taken over their own commemoration. The author sees these various commemorative sites as playing a key role in the construction of our collective political and cultural self-images and as another sign of our preoccupation with celebrity culture. Ultimately, he contends, these presidential temples reflect not only our civil religion but also the extraordinary expansion of executive authority--and presidential self-commemoration--since FDR

Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-258) and index

Introduction: The transformation of presidential commemoration -- Prologue: the words in the Lincoln Memorial -- A shift in commemoration: the Roosevelt Presidential Library -- The rhetoric of the replica: the Truman Library's Oval Office and Benton Mural -- Symbolic power, democratic access, and the imperial presidency: the Johnson Library -- Celebrity and power: the commemoration of first ladies -- Reinventing the presidential library: the new displays at the Truman Museum -- Conclusion: Presidential libraries and the final campaign

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