The Psychological Assessment of Presidential Candidates

In today's "trial by media" election campaigns, do you have to be crazy to run for higher office? Looking back over the past 25 years, Stanley Renshon provides the first comprehensive account of how the issue of character has come to dominate presidential campaigns. He traces two related but distinctive approaches to a candidate's psychology: mental health and character. Drawing on his clinical and political science training, Renshon has devised a theory which will allow the public to better evaluate the personal and leadership qualities of presidential candidates.

Looking back over the past 25 years, Stanley Renshon explores how the issue of character has come to dominate presidential campaigns. Drawing on his clinical and political science training, Renshon has devised a theory which allows the public to evaluate the qualities of presidential candidates.

Introduction: Does the President's Character Still Matter?; I: ? Part I The Concept of Psychological Suitability; 1: ? The Psychological Suitability of Presidents in an Era of Doubt; 2: ? Assessing the Psychological Suitability of Presidential Candidates: Ethical and Theoretical Dilemmas; II: ? PART V Assessing the Psychological Health of Presidential Candidates; 3: ? Psychological Health and Presidential Performance: A Foundation for the Assessment of Psychological Suitability?; 4: ? Is the Psychological Impairment of Presidents Still a Relevant Concern?; 5: ? Assessment at a Distance: A Cautionary Case Study of the 1964 Presidential Campaign; 6: ? Psychological Health in the 1972 Presidential Election: The Case of Thomas F. Eagleton; III: ? Part III Character and Presidential Performance: Theory and Assessment; 7: ? Toward a Framework for Analyzing Presidential Performance: Some Observations on a Theory of Character; 8: ? Toward a Theory of Character and Presidential Performance; 9: ? Character and Judgment in the 1988 Presidential Campaign: A Case Study of Gary Hart; 10: ? Bill Clinton as a Presidential Candidate: What Did the Public Learn?; 11: ? William J. Clinton as President: Some Implications of Character for Presidential Performance; IV: ? Part IV Assessing Psychological Suitability: The Role of the Press and Presidential Campaigns; 12: ? The Private Lives of Public Officials: Observations, Dilemmas, and Guidelines; 13: ? Election Campaigns as a Tool for Assessing the Psychological Suitability of Presidential Candidates; V: ? PART V Assessing Psychological Suitability: Some Applications; 14: ? Asking the Right Questions of Presidential Candidates: Some Suggestions and Guidelines; 15: ? Conclusion: The Good Enough President

Stanley A. Renshon is Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York and developer and coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Program in the Psychology of Political Behavior at the CUNY Graduate School. He is a certified psychoanalyst and author of several volumes, including High Hopes: The Clinton Presidency and the Politics of Ambition (Routledge, 1998).