A kind of low-tax,low-service,high economic stratification brand of Southern economic conservatism. He delves into the family history and alliances,from Yale to Skull and Bones and in some cases to the O.S.S. Mr.Philips fulfills that ambition in this book. As America-and the world-holds its breath for the 2004 presidential election, American Dynasty explains how it happened and what it all means.'įrom the Preface of his book Kevin Philips says-'My original ambition was to identify and explain the Bush-related transformation of the U.S.presidency into an increasingly dynastic office,a change with profound consequences for the American Republic,given the factors of family bias,domestic special interests,and foreign grudges that the Bushes,father and son,brought into the White House.' In their ambition, the Bushes ultimately reinvented themselves with brilliant timing, twisting and turning from silver spoon Yankees to born-again evangelical Texans. By uncovering relationships and connecting facts with new clarity, Phillips comes to a stunning conclusion: The Bush family has systematically used its financial and social empire-its 'aristocracy'-to gain the White House, thereby subverting the very core of American democracy. In this devastating book, onetime Republican strategist Phillips reveals how four generations of Bushes have ascended the ladder of national power since World War One, becoming entrenched within the American establishment-Yale, Wall Street, the Senate, the CIA, the vice presidency, and the presidency-through a recurrent flair for old-boy networking, national security involvement, and political deception. They, after all, had led a revolution against a succession of royal Georges. This popular lack of acquaintance-nurtured by gauzy imagery of Maine summer cottages, gray-haired national grandmothers, July Fourth sparklers, and cowboy boots-has let national politics create a dynasticized presidency that would have horrified America's founding fathers. 'A biting analysis of the Bush family's rise to power from one of today's premier political observers The Bushes are the family nobody really knows, says Kevin Phillips.

American dynasty kevin phillips