How to Get Rid of a President - by David Priess (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A vivid political history of the schemes, plots, maneuvers, and conspiracies that have attempted--successfully and not--to remove unwanted presidents
To limit executive power, the founding fathers created fixed presidential terms of four years, giving voters regular opportunities to remove their leaders. Even so, Americans have often resorted to more dramatic paths to disempower the chief executive. The American presidency has seen it all, from rejecting a sitting president's renomination bid and undermining their authority in office to the more drastic methods of impeachment, and, most brutal of all, assassination.
How to Get Rid of a President showcases the political dark arts in action: a stew of election dramas, national tragedies, and presidential departures mixed with party intrigue, personal betrayal, and backroom shenanigans. This briskly paced, darkly humorous voyage proves that while the pomp and circumstance of presidential elections might draw more attention, the way that presidents are removed teaches us much more about our political order.

Review Quotes

"Piquant studies of presidential woe.... A collection of colorful, slightly morbid vignettes that connoisseurs of political picaresque will relish."--Publishers Weekly

"A companionable history of U.S. presidents in crisis... Priess excels at making presidents look tragically human... Anyone distressed or appalled by today's rancorous clashes over presidential prerogative and power may take comfort from learning that the nation has weathered it all before."--Booklist, Starred Review

Getting rid of presidents was never as entertaining as it is in David Priess's hands. He barnstorms through more than two centuries of American history, showing all the ways-from impeachment to death-that presidents have either left office prematurely or just barely avoided doing so. Dramatic and instructive, his narrative has clear resonance for the present day as calls grow for President Trump's impeachment.--MaxBoot, Washington Post columnist and author of The Corrosion of Conservatism

Legal scholars, political scientists, and pundits have dissected various means of undermining and removing leaders, ranging from voting them out of office to impeaching them. Now, with How To Get Rid of a President, David Priess finally racks and stacks all of the methods, fair and foul, in an entertaining and approachable sweep of history.--BenjaminWittes, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution andeditor in chief of the Lawfare blog

The temptation to impeach a president can run high in a polarized political environment but is fraught with peril as David Priess meticulously demonstrates in this timely book that romps through American history to answer all the questions about removing an unfit president by non-electoral means that you were afraid to ask.--AmandaCarpenter, CNN contributor and author of GaslightingAmerica

With the objective eye of a former intelligence officer and an uncanny instinct for deep truths, David Priess paints a genuinely non-partisan portrait of presidential removals. The stories here are eerily relevant to today's headlines, but also disarmingly fun to read.--MichaelHayden, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and author of The Assault on Intelligence

About the Author

David Priess is author of the The President's Book of Secrets: The Untold Story of Intelligence Briefings to America's Presidents. He has a PhD in Political Science from Duke University and served at the CIA during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as an intelligence officer, manager, and daily intelligence briefer and at the State Department. Priess writes, speaks, and appears often on broadcast media about the presidency and national security.