Hail to the Chief: The Making and Unmaking of American Presidents.

• Author: Ornstein, Norman J.

By Robert Dalleck Hyperion, $22.95

What makes a good president good, and a lousy president lousy? Bill Clinton has certainly been thinking about this question as he contemplates a second term. In an interview with The Washington Post, he talked about the fact that most great presidents, like Lincoln, Wilson, and FDR, developed their reputations conquering crises like great wars or depressions; only a few, like Teddy Roosevelt, managed to show greatness without that kind of challenge.

As a student of history, Clinton will welcome historian Robert Dallek's new book, which surveys all 41 American presidents to examine the qualities that made and unmade their reputations. Dallek identifies five characteristics common to successful presidents--vision, pragmatism, consensus, charisma, and trust--and looks at each one in terms of presidents who have had them and presidents who have not. While many of the superstars in presidential history earned their acclaim for their responses to crises, he says, "Some of our most successful presidents were those who converted relatively lesser dangers into political capital. Moreover, they did not allow themselves to be overwhelmed by unanticipated problems, but rather seized upon them as opportunities to lead the nation through a time of troubles." As examples, he cites Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase, Andrew Jackson's role in democratizing American politics, and JFK's handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dallek argues that virtually every successful president has not only articulated a larger vision, but coupled it with pragmatism--an understanding that political accomplishments often require flexible means. "Pragmatists without vision are seen as opportunists," he writes. "Pragmatists with vision are seen as statesmen, or at the very least, good politicians." Yet even successful presidents with vision and pragmatism have made huge mistakes--Wilson with the Treaty of Versailles, FDR with courtpacking...