Introduction

Abstract

Abstract Presidents are often dismissed as mere rhetoricians with little real influence on the nation’s economy, especially during the Gilded Age. This book contradicts such descriptions. In doing so, it also delivers valuable insights into leadership in the 21st century. In fact, the Gilded Age is important to us today precisely because its presidents seem so powerless. This book shows that, even in this unlikely period, presidents did affect national economic performance and that their success came from surprising sources. They could not control the economy directly, but decisive leadership could shape the environment in which the economy thrived or languished. Thus, this book also makes a larger argument about presidential leadership. It is an examination not of economic governance alone but of leadership quality overall. Its point is that we can learn a lot about the evolution of the modern presidency and the exercise of presidential power from the Gilded Age.