"A Human Being Lives Here" : Philip Roth on Scandals and the Presidency

Whether it is the glorified Administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt or the object of spite, satire and scorn Richard Nixon, the actual downfall of Bill Clinton or the imagined cruelty of a President Lindbergh, Philip Roth has constantly commented on American Presidents, past and present. He set either out "to destroy the protective armor of ‘dignity' that shields anyone in an office as high and powerful as the Presidency" (Reading Myself and Others, 40) or let Nathan Zuckerman revile those who did not realize that even at the White House we will find only a human being. This paper explores the many Presidencies that inspired Roth's fiction and discusses how Roth's approach can also shape a political scientist's understanding of a Presidency's cultural and societal significance. In particular, it analyses how Roth captures a Presidency's impact on individual lives. Moreover, it discusses Roth's statements on presidential politics in interviews and essays, and how these have been received in the media.