The American Presidency: A Very Short Introduction

by Jones, Charles O.

• ISBN13: 9780195307016
• ISBN10: 0195307011
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-08-10
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The expansion of executive powers amid the war on terrorism has brought the presidency to the center of heated public debate. Now, in The American Presidency, presidential authority Charles O. Jones provides invaluable background to the current controversy, in a compact, reliable guide to theoffice of the chief executive. This marvelously concise survey is packed with information about the presidency, some of it quite surprising. We learn, for example, that the Founders adopted the word "president" over "governor" and other alternatives because it suggested a light hand, as in one who presides, rather thanrules. Indeed, the Constitutional Convention first agreed to a weak chief executive elected by congress for one seven-year term, later calling for independent election and separation of powers. Jones sheds much light on how assertive leaders, such as Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, and FDRenhanced the power of the presidency, and illuminating how such factors as philosophy (Reagan's anti-Communist conservatism), the legacy of previous presidencies (Jimmy Carter following Watergate), relations with Congress, and the impact of outside events have all influenced presidential authority.He also explores the rise of federal power and the dramatic expansion of federal agencies, showing how the president takes a direct hand in this vast bureaucracy, and he examines the political process of selecting presidents, from the days of deadlocked conventions to the rise of the primary afterWorld War II. "In 200 years," he writes, "the presidency had changed from that of a person--Washington followed by Adams, then Jefferson--to a presidential enterprise with a cast of thousands." Jones explains how this remarkable expansion has occurred and where it may lead in the future.

Author Biography

Charles O. Jones is Hawkins Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. His many books include The Presidency in a Separated System, Clinton and Congress, 1993-1996, and Passages to the Presidency.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
List of Illustrations	p. xiii
List of Tables	p. xiv
Inventing the Presidency	p. 1
The Presidency Finds Its Place	p. 24
Electing Presidents (and Other Ways To Occupy the Oval Office)	p. 43
Making and Remaking a Presidency	p. 69
Connecting to and Leading the Government	p. 87
Presidents at Work: Making Law and Doing Policy	p. 109
Reform, Change, and Prospects for the Future	p. 140
Appendix	p. 167
Index	p. 172
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.