Francis Preston Blair's life spanned the administrations of the first eighteen United States presidents; Blair played political roles of varying degrees of importance in the last twelve of those administrations. The most significant position Blair ever actually held was editorship of the Washington(D.C.) Globe during the Jackson-Van Buren-Harrison-Tyler administrations. But his position in his contemporaries' minds was more important, if less tangible. Indeed, Blair's political acumen and involvement were such that he has been called the most influential journalist of his time. During Andrew Jackson's two terms as president, Blair used his newspaper to advance Jackson's policies, to give the cue to other Jacksonian editors on positions they should take, to "whip into line" any recalcitrant party members, and to provide copy to the nation's Jacksonian press as a means of "reflecting" and cementing grass roots support for the administration. At a time in American history...