"Combining normative judgments about the scope of presidential action and approval of what is done produces a fourfold typology of Presidents since 1933. Two very different kinds of Presidents can be deemed desirable. Positive judgments of the leadership of Franklin Roosevelt thus assume a favorable assessment of the New Deal. The conservative ideal is the President as careful guardian, doing a limited number of things that are obligations of the Oval Office and refraining from actions that expand the role of government".

"A President can be deemed unsatisfactory for carrying leadership too far, or not carrying it far enough. An Imperial President is a leader inasmuch as he has an expansive view of what the White House should do. But if a President directs government in ways that are regarded as undesirable, such as the Vietnam war, or even illegal, such as Watergate, this is considered an abuse of power. An imperiled President is undesirable because his intentions are limited, and his achievements are few and undesirable. The Presidency is imperiled because the President interprets his role in so limited a fashion that he refuses to act when he has the capacity to do so....".

"Roosevelt became the model for the postmodern President because nearly all scholars writing on the subject approve of his policy goals and the way in which he expanded the role of the Oval Office in the pursuit of these ends".

"By accepting the global commitments inherited from Roosevelt and Truman, Eisenhower confirmed that there would be no return to the traditional role of do-nothing President. But by limiting his role to that of a careful guardian, Eisenhower took half a step back from the activist conception of leadership. This approach to the Presidency did not appeal to many scholars".

"John F. Kennedy campaigned for the Presidency by proclaiming that he would restore leadership to the White House...Kennedy's call for leadership from the White House was supported by Richard Neustadt's influential 1960 study Presidential Power, which Kennedy read before entering the Oval Office.... Contrary to his rhetoric, for much of his period in office Kennedy was careful and cautious....President Kennedy was much readier to act expansively in the international arena, invoking all the powers specified in the Constitution and some that are not, thus paving the way for what has become known as the Imperial Presidency".

"The Nixon Presidency showed that Republicans as well as Democrats could take an expansive view of the White House. President Nixon's concentration on foreign policy meant that he was able to invoke broader powers than a President could claim in domestic policy....In the Watergate break-in, the President overstretched his claim to power..".

"A full-blown indictment of the Imperial Presidency was published by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr....Schlesinger used the phrase "Imperial Presidency" to describe the President's claim that his broad powers as commander-in-chief could justify almost anything that the White House sought to do".

"Some writers believe that the President can use his media visibility to develop support for Imperial actions taken without constitutional authority. Theodore Lowi argues that the Presidency has become a "plebiscitary office," meaning that the President can manipulate public opinion through the mass media so that "the masses give their noisy consent to every course of action'."

"...Ford declared that the problem was not that of an Imperial Presidency but the opposite, "an imperiled Presidency".


What Do You Think?
Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, apparently your assessment of the presidency is as well! For Rose, the "assessor" can be you, me, the public, the President, a justice on the Supreme Court, etc.! While your views may change during the remainder of the semester, answer the following questions:

1) Do you believe in an expansive or limited view of the scope of the Presidency? (Ie., do you tend to like activist presidents?). Why or why not?