The Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office Discussion with Sean Wilentz and Jeremy Suri at NYHistorical Soc

Last night, for those not interested in adding to the inflated TV ratings for the 1st State of the Union Address by the president or for those interested in the topical topic 'The Rise & Fall of America's Highest Office' the NY Historical Society maintained an exciting & enlightening discussion between moderator Sean Wilentz & guest apeaker/author Jeremy Suri.  Wilentz is a Prof. of American History at Princeton.  Wilentz is a distinguished historian and author.  He's received a Bancroft Prize, Pulitzer Prize & Grammy Award for Best Album Notes.  Note, as a moderator, he needed to moderate his participation in the discussion.  He tended to pontificate rather than elicit comments from key speaker, Jeremy Suri.  Suri is the author of the just released "The Impossible Presidency:  The Rise & Fall of America's Highest Office."  Suri is Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the Univ. of TX.  I also ask the Pres. of NY Historical Soc. not to read aloud the titles, accomplishments & honors of the guest speakers as we have the information & the 50 minutes allotted should be better put to use.  Interestingly, the main point Suri so cogently made clear is the Presidency has been doomed for failure since the end of WWII when Presidents began assuming too much responsibilities throughout the world.  The US became a world leader when other nations were floundering from the devastations suffered from the War.  Suri stated going forward after WWII, US Presidents spread their resources too thin and did not devise clear plans to prioritize or initiate directives for infrastructures at home.  The arguments were not in support of isolationism as the man in the White House would have it. Rather, the 2 most important imperatives for the presidency are 1) to act as a unifying figure for the country (clearly not Trump's modus operandi).  And, 2) to act as the omnipotent advocate for the common citizen.  (Again, this is clearly not the agenda of the maniac in the White House.)  The President should act as a pillar of virtue in representing our nation. (Strike three - hey ho Trump has got to go).  Points of interest from the evening included Andrew Jackson's assessment as a supreme leader despite the heinous genocide of the Native Indians because he was acting in the best interests of the white populist.  I didn't know Jackson attempted to eliminate the electoral college.  Other Presidents deserving of merit:  George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.  Pres. Lincoln was a major turning point in our nation's history because he fought to end slavery to allow for the expansion & enterprise of poor white citizens placed at a major economic disadvantage in a system that allowed for free labor through abhorrent abuse of African Americans for slave labor.