Understanding the Presidency

by Pfiffner, James P.; Davidson, Roger H.

• ISBN13: 9780321089861
• ISBN10: 0321089863
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: Longman

Summary

The selections in this reader were chosen with two aims in mind: (1) to provide a historical perspective, so often neglected in similar texts, that explains how the events of the past two centuries led us to where we are today, and (2) to present the most important current issues that are shaping the Bush administration and the presidency. This collection of readings offers students a combination of "classic" scholarly analyses, the best of current scholarship, and engaging insights into the nature of the contemporary presidency.

Table of Contents

Asterisk denotes new or updated section.

1. Constitutional Origins of the Presidency.

The Creation of the Presidency, Charles C. Thatch, Jr.
James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, James Madison.
Federalist No. 69, Alexander Hamilton.
Federalist No. 70, Alexander Hamilton.
To the Citizens of the State of New York, George Clinton.

2. Historical Perspectives on the Presidency.

The Strict Constructionist Presidency, William Howard Taft.
The Stewardship Presidency, Theodore Roosevelt.
The Public Presidency, Woodrow Wilson.
The Prerogative Presidency, Abraham Lincoln.
Toward a Modern Presidency, Fred I. Greenstein.
Presidency in the Political Order, Stephen Skoronek.

3. Selecting Presidents: Campaigns, Elections, and Mandates.

*Revaluating the Electoral College, James P. Pfiffner.
The Rules Do Matter: Post-Reform Presidential Nominating Politics, Elaine Ciulla Kamark and Kenneth M. Goldstein.
Follow the Money: Clinton, Campaign Finance, and Reform, Clyde Wilcox.
Party Favors, Robert B. Reich.
*The 2000 Presidential Election, Gerald M. Pomper.
The Myth of Presidential Mandate, Robert A. Dahl.
*The Permanent Campaign, Hugh Heclo.

4. The Public Presidency: Press, Media, and Public Approval.

The Press and the Presidency, Mark J. Rozell.
Spin Control in the White House, John Anthony Maltese.
The Presidential Pulpit: Bully or Baloney?, George C. Edwards III.
Public Opinion Polls: The New Referendum, Paul Brace and Barbara Hinckley.
Presidential Impeachment Politics, Richard M. Pious.

5. The Institutional Presidency.

The White House Staff, The President's Committee on Administrative Management (Brownlow Committee).
The President's Cabinet, Ronald C. Moe.
Locked in the Cabinet, Robert B. Reich.
The Changing Presidential Office, Hugh Heclo.
Can the President Manage the Government?, James P Pfiffner.
Bureaucracy in the American Constitutional Order, Francis E. Rourke.
*Presidential Appointments and the Office of Presidential Personnel, Bradley Patterson and James Pfiffner.

6. The Separation of Powers.

Presidential Relations with Congress, Roger H. Davidson.
*“The Disappearing Political Center,” Sarah A. Binder.
The Presidency in a Separated System, Charles O. Jones.
Is the Separation of Powers Obsolete?, Robert J. Spitzer.
Judicial Control of the Presidency: Stability and Change, Robert Dudley.

7. Domestic Policy Leadership.

The Hundred Days, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
The Power to Persuade, Richard Neustadt.
The Presidency and Domestic Policy: The Civil Rights Act of 1964, Robert D. Loevy.
Presidential Management of the Economy, Donald F. Kettl.

8. Commander-in-Chief and National Security.

Invitation to Struggle: The President, Congress, and National Security, Louis Fisher.
*The Demise of the War Clause, David Mervin.
(Iran-Contra) What Was Wrong, Report of the President's Special Review Board.
Making Foreign Policy: President and Congress, Thomas E. Mann.

9. Evaluating Presidents: Greatness and Abuse of Power.

Watergate: Implications for Responsible Government, Frederick C. Mosher.
“Three Crises of Character in the Modern Presidency,” James P. Pfiffner.
Being Liked and Being President, Paul Brace and Barbara Hinkley.
“If Men Were Angels...: Presidential Leadership and Accountability,” Thomas Cronin and Michael Genovese.
*“The Transformation of the Bush Presidency: The Limits of Political Capital,” James P. Pfiffner.