PREFACE TO THE<br > SENTRY EDITION<br > W xNow almost everything about Presidents， I suggest<br > in these pages， but far too little about tile Presidency. That<br > paradox has not changed markedly during the eight years<br > since this book was written -- four years of Lyndon Johnson<br > and almost four of Richard Nixon. We have had a super-<br >~ abundance of information about the man in tile oval office，<br > his wife， daughters， sons-in-law， his daily routine， moods，<br >i entertainments， travels. But we know all too little about the<br > vast gray executive establishment that expands， proliferates，<br > and partially devours the decision-making apparatus of the<br > rest of the government， hehind tile pleasantly deceptive "low<br > profile" of the White House.<br > Perhaps it was not surprising that tile executive office<br > should become bigger and more institutionalized during<br > Johnson s full term in the White House. Liberal Democratic<br > Presidents are expected to he "strong" chief executives; John-<br > son had a huge agenda of domestic and foreign policy goals;<br > and in any event the momentum of tile Roosevelt， Truman，<br > and Kennedy Administrations could be expected to put pres-<br > sure on and dilate the executive bureaucracy. The test would<br > come when a Republican entered the White House with the<br > aim not only of curbing big government ill general but of<br > curtailing the "unbridled executive power" that good Re-<br > publicans are taught from tile cradle to abhor.<br > President Nixon faced and- from a conservative Repub-<br >