American Polity by Serow

Readings for Mar 01

 

#32 by Richard Neustadt; Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents (p215)

  • Presidential power is the power to persuade
    • Simply giving orders and expecting results will not work
    • Persuasive power is more than charm or sound argument
    • The president has power through those who need or fear his acts
    • Persuasion is like a give-and-take relationship
  • “[The constitution] created a government of separated institutions sharing powers … not a gov of ‘separated powers’”
  • Nominating process of congressman and presidents assures the separation of power despite party links
  • Reliance on others knowledge
    • If he relies on only one, there is a great burden
    • If he ignores some details, that burden is even greater
    • If he consents to secrecy too “he courts deep trouble”
  • Presidential challenges
    • Economic, environmental, and security issues give the Pres less reason to devote time to foreign relations
    • Cold War can be viewed as an era of stability, authority, and glamour
    • Modern time make the Presidency tougher because
      • Both foreign and domestic spheres require attention
      • Nuclear forces losing power
      • US economy losing some of its clout

 

 

#33 by Arthur Schlesinger; Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents (p221)

  • Imperial Presidency grew at first for a reason but then just kept growing
    • Foreign policy most helped the imperial presidency grow – presidents can now declare war, essentially
      • War-making power assumed by Pres due to Congressional abdication and Pres usurping
    • Doctrine and emotion have centralized foreign policy power into the President’s powers
    • Decay of the traditional party system – split ticket voting became common by the 70s
      • Factors to the decline:
        • Political organizations lost many functions
        • Waning of immigration (deprives cities of clientele)
        • New Deal programs had overtaken city’s welfare role
        • Electronic revolution
          • Television
          • Computer
    • Cuban Missile Crisis is proof of Imperial Presidency
      • Such an acute emergency that unilateral executive decision was needed though
      • This unique situation should have been an exception but instead became a rule because it fulfilled:
        • Romantic ideal of a strong Presidency
        • Prophecy of a split-second nuclear-age Presidential decision
      •  
  • Imperial Presidency: Nixon (bad)
    • Confined himself to a single information system (everything went through his head of staff)
      • Roosevelt and Kennedy both had other sources in addition to official ones
    • Tried to make the office more elaborate (ceremonial trumpets, etc)
    • Used federal money to enhance his private estates
    • Spoke of a “New American Revolution” in the ’71 State of the Union – wanted not power to the people, but power to the presidency
    • Very secretive which seemed to promise the government three advantages:
      • Power to withhold – allow independent executive judgment on policy
      • Power to leak – tell the people only what the government wanted them to hear
      • Power to lie – used by many:
        • Eisenhower concealed CIA operations against nations around the world
        • Kennedy – Bay of Pigs and enlarged American involvement in Vietnam
        • Johnson misrepresented the situation in Vietnam
  • Watergate – a symptom of all the secrecy and lying surrounding the growing Imperial Presidency
    • Central issue was presidential power, not the theft itself
  • Corruption seems to appear in 50 years cycles (which would make the next occur around 2023)