PRESIDENTS VERSUS CONGRESS

Lindop does his able best to show how important relationships between the branches of government can be in determining the country's course. Some of the most interesting facts here aren't widely known: Even Washington, elected unopposed, faced substantial opposition to a treaty with Britain and invoked ``executive privilege'' to defend his position; Eisenhower took an unusually courageous stand against a constitutional amendment supported by his own party. Other examples are more familiar—Jackson and the Bank of the US; Franklin Roosevelt's ``Court-Packing''; Johnson and Vietnam; Reagan and Iran-Contra. Without overburdening his narrative with detail, Lindop gives just enough of the maneuvers politicians went through in each case to portray the political climate. A model of effective constitutional history. Endnotes; further reading; index. (Nonfiction. 14+)