As the campaigns for the 2000 presidential election draw to a close, AEI and the Brookings Institution are proud to publish two books addressing the process of moving from the campaign trail into the Oval Office.

The first of the two, Preparing to Be President: The Memos of Richard E. Neustadt, provides historical examples of how a new administration takes shape as well as critical insights into what happens behind the scenes between Election Day and inauguration.

Forty years after the publication of Presidential Power, the classic political science study of the presidency, its author, Richard E. Neustadt, has gathered some of his most influential writings into this new book. Preparing to Be President includes Neustadt’s memos to presidential candidates, presidents-elect, presidents, and their advisers about how to make a smooth transition into office.

In 1960, Neustadt was serving as an adviser to Sen. Henry M. Jackson’s Subcommittee on National Policy Machinery when Jackson, who was also the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, asked him to write a memo for Sen. John F. Kennedy on the transition tasks Kennedy would encounter should he be elected president. After reading the memo, Kennedy requested more, thus establishing Neustadt as a transition adviser. Neustadt would later compose memos for Ronald Reagan, Michael Dukakis, and Bill Clinton.

In addition to the previously unpublished memos of the person Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., calls "our most brilliant commentator on the Presidency," Preparing to Be President presents new essays by Neustadt and volume editor Charles O. Jones. Neustadt’s essay, "Advising the Advisers," explains how he came to write the memos and looks at modern day transitions and the hazards a transition adviser might encounter. Jones includes an essay interpreting the memos and their present-day relevance as well as a bibliographical essay comparing Neustadt’s memos to transition memos written by others.

Richard E. Neustadt is the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government Emeritus at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Charles O. Jones is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The second publication, The Permanent Campaign and Its Future, is a compilation of essays edited by Norman J. Ornstein of AEI and Thomas E. Mann of the Brookings Institution. The book examines "permanent campaign," which contributor Hugh Heclo defines as "a nonstop process seeking to manipulate sources of public approval to engage in the act of governing itself." Individual chapters consider its origin, impact on politics and policy, glorification of pollsters, and consequences for other government branches.

We live in an age in which the line between campaigning and governing has become blurred, when pollsters are consulted on nearly every matter of policy, and when the old congressional comity has given way to roll call votes designed to frame campaign commercials. Campaign consultants move without pause from the campaign trail to work for the victorious elected officials and help to shape their policy messages and frame issues for advantage in the next campaign.

In The Permanent Campaign and Its Future, eleven prominent political scientists attempt to make sense of the permanent campaign, to understand how and why it has evolved, to weigh its consequences for our ability to govern ourselves effectively, and to consider whether steps might be taken to ameliorate its more damaging effects. In publishing these essays, the essay writers seek to make a substantive contribution to understanding a critically important feature of contemporary American politics.

To order Preparing to Be President: The Memos of Richard E. Neustadt and The Permanent Campaign and Its Future, call 1.800.937.5557.