Chapter 12

THE PRESIDENT

The Reagan Revolution Reagan and the modern presidency

• The times were ripe for Ronald Reagan’s brand of leadership in the 1980s.

• Polls showed that people were eager for change.

• When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, he interpreted his landslide victory as a mandate to pursue sweeping changes.

Tax and budget proposals were given top priority in the proposals Reagan announced in his Program for Economic Recovery.•Reagan proposed the largest tax cut in

American history (directed mainly at upper-income groups and corporations.

•He proposed the steepest rise in defense spending in peacetime American history.

Democratic opposition looked formidable.• Controlled a large majority of seats in the House

of Representatives• Only a slim Republican majority in the Senate

The Reagan offensive —a skilled and shrewd deal maker• Cultivated friendly relations with members of

Congress from both parties• Worked to build up his popularity with the public• Exerted political pressure in conservative areas in

the South with Democratic members of Congress

Reaction• The administration’s tax bill passed easily in the

Senate (72-20) and received a majority of the votes in the House of Representatives.

• He was successful in the House primarily because of the support of southern conservative Democrats.

• Reagan got most of what he wanted in domestic budget cuts and the defense buildup.

• Politicians were impressed by the scale of Reagan’s electoral victory and by the height of his popularity.

Effects• The Reagan Revolution had profound

effects, not all of them positive.• Although some economic growth occurred,

the legacies of the 1980s also included:–A massive increase in the size of the

debt–Dramatic increases in the scale of

income and wealth inequality

• Despite the long-term problems, the Reagan Revolution was a huge political success.

• An understanding of the Reagan Revolution requires that we understand not just the personality, style, and effectiveness of Reagan as president but also the governmental, political, and structural contexts within which he operated (just as with other presidents).

The Expanding Presidency There has been an obvious increase in

presidential responsibilities, burdens, power, and impact since the nation’s founding.

The Founders’ conception of the office of president was much more limited than what we see in the modern presidency.

The vague language of the Constitution has been flexible enough to include the great expansion of the presidency that has occurred.

The Dormant Presidency Until the end of the nineteenth century,

the presidency conformed basically to the designs and intentions of the Founders.

The nation did not often require a very strong presidency prior to the twentieth century.

Structural changes since the end of the nineteenth century

The influence of early presidents

Twentieth-Century Transformation

The more enduring changes in the presidency came in the twentieth century when new structural conditions made an expanded presidency both possible and necessary.

The influence of twentieth-century presidents Impact of World War II on the growth of the

presidency All U.S. presidents since the time of Franklin

Roosevelt have administered a huge national state with large standing armed forces, nuclear weapons, and bases all around the world.

How important are individual presidents?•We cannot be sure to what extent

presidents themselves caused the great expansion of the scope of their office.

•The great upsurges in presidential power and activity were at least partially the results of forces at the structural level.

The Many Roles of the President Clinton Rossiter introduced the image of the

many “hats” that presidents wear simultaneously.• Chief of State• Commander in Chief• Joint Chief Legislator• Manager of the Economy• Chief Diplomat• Head of the Political Party

Each of the presidential functions or “hats” is demanding; together, they are overwhelming.

The President’s Staff and Cabinet

White House staff • Includes a number of key aides who

are the president’s closest and most trusted advisors

•The exact shape of the White House staff changes from one presidency to another and is used by different presidents in a variety of ways.

Executive Office of the President (EOP) —a group of permanent presidential staff organizations that perform specialized functions

Vice-Presidency —has no constitutional powers or duties except to serve as President of the Senate, a ceremonial function of no real power

The Cabinet —not mentioned in the Constitution, but all presidents have had one; the cabinet is a highly visible symbol of the executive branch, but presidents have usually not relied upon it as a decision making body

The President and the Bureaucracy

Presidents have significant controls with regard to the bureaucracy, but the president’s ability to give orders and to gain bureaucratic acquiescence is limited.

Many people erroneously assume that the president has firm control over the executive branch of government.

To a large extent, presidents must persuade other executive branch officials to take certain actions.

Richard Neustadt said that “presidential power is the power to persuade.”

The President and Congress: Perpetual Tug-of-War

Conflict by constitutional design•Our constitutional structure means that

presidents are limited and affected in what they can do by Congress.

•Congress reflects various political forces.

•The president and Congress are frequently in an adversarial relationship.

Relative influence of president and Congress• The uneven expansion of the presidency

has meant that there has been a shifting ascendancy of one branch over another.

• Cycles of congressional resurgence• With the Great Depression, the New Deal,

World War II and Franklin Roosevelt, the presidency gained ascendancy for over half a century.

• From Truman to Clinton

What makes a president successful with Congress?•Party and ideology•Foreign policy issues•Presidential vetoes•Presidential popularity•Legislative skills

The President and the People: An Evolving

Relationship The complicated relationships that exist

among the governmental units of the president, the executive branch as a whole, and Congress have a lot to do with various political forces.• Differing relationships can be seen in the ways in

which public opinion, political parties, and organized interests affect what they do differently.

• The special relationship that exists between the president and the general public

• Getting closer to the people

More Democratic Elections The system quickly evolved into a more

democratic one in which the people played a more direct role.

By 1880, the two-party system had begun to develop.

Early in the nineteenth century, state legislatures began to turn the power to choose presidential electors over to the people through direct election.

The base of suffrage broadened.

Going Public By the beginning of the twentieth century, the

presidency had undergone a basic transformation: presidents began to speak directly to the public.

Woodrow Wilson created a new constitutional theory advocating close connections between the president and the public.

All presidents now attempt to respond to public opinion, and all try to speak directly to the people about policy.

Contemporary presidents frequently go public by using television to bypass Congress and the press.

Using the Media Modern presidents have used

television to enhance their power to shape public opinion.

Leading public opinion Responding to the public Quiet influence Listening to the public

The Role of Presidential Popularity

The public’s influence works through presidential popularity or unpopularity.

Presidents have strong incentives to anticipate public reactions and to do things that will please the public

Interest Groups, Political Parties, and Social

Movements Interest groups

•Organized groups exert important kinds of influence on presidential policy.

•The question of which interest groups have a greater influence on policy depends partly upon which party controls the presidency.

Political parties•Changes in party control of the

presidency produce significant changes in policy.

•One result of party influence is that there are partisan cycles of presidential action, with different policies depending upon which party holds office.

Social movements• Social movements occasionally provide

other political-level influences on presidents.

• Mass demonstrations and protests may cause disruption that lead presidents to take actions in order to defuse them.

• Mass movements may produce changes in general public opinion that, in turn, affect presidents.

Structural Influences on the Presidency

We can speak of an enduring presidency as a presidency that does not merely fluctuate with the whims of whomever holds office but reflects the goals and preferences of the people, groups, and institutions that make up American society.

Like all other institutions of our national government, the presidency reflects influences at the political level and also structural influences.

The International System When the international system changes,

presidential policy tends to change. All U.S. presidents pursued a broadly similar

set of foreign policies from the end of World War II to the end of the Cold War.• Containment of Soviet influence• Solidification of the Western alliance• Encouragement of open economies• Opposition to leftist or nationalist

movements in the developing world

• U.S. foreign polices reflected the basic features of the international system, especially its bipolarity, with two superpowers.

• When the Soviet Union began to move in conciliatory directions and the Cold War ended, Presidents Reagan and Bush responded, despite their history of intense anti-Communism.

• The end of the Cold War gave President Clinton more flexibility to focus on domestic issues, while still pursuing free trade and other foreign economic policy aims.

The Economy All presidents must see that the economy grows

and flourishes. A healthy economy is essential for a president’s

popularity and his continuation in office. A strong economy is needed to generate tax

receipts to fund government programs and for maintaining social peace and stability.

A healthy economy requires that the main investors in the American economy continue to have confidence in the future, which tends to benefit presidential policies that favor such investors.

How Democratic Is the Presidency?

Determining how democratic the presidency is becomes an extremely difficult task, but the office is considerably more democratic than envisioned by the authors of the Constitution.