The Myth of the Imperial Presidency
Title | The Myth of the Imperial Presidency PDF eBook |
Author | Dino P. Christenson |
Publisher | University of Chicago Press |
Total Pages | 295 |
Release | 2020-07-13 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 022670436X |
Throughout American history, presidents have shown a startling power to act independently of Congress and the courts. On their own initiative, presidents have taken the country to war, abolished slavery, shielded undocumented immigrants from deportation, declared a national emergency at the border, and more, leading many to decry the rise of an imperial presidency. But given the steep barriers that usually prevent Congress and the courts from formally checking unilateral power, what stops presidents from going it alone even more aggressively? The answer, Dino P. Christenson and Doulas L. Kriner argue, lies in the power of public opinion. With robust empirical data and compelling case studies, the authors reveal the extent to which domestic public opinion limits executive might. Presidents are emboldened to pursue their own agendas when they enjoy strong public support, and constrained when they don’t, since unilateral action risks inciting political pushback, jeopardizing future initiatives, and further eroding their political capital. Although few Americans instinctively recoil against unilateralism, Congress and the courts can sway the public’s view via their criticism of unilateral policies. Thus, other branches can still check the executive branch through political means. As long as presidents are concerned with public opinion, Christenson and Kriner contend that fears of an imperial presidency are overblown.
Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential Leadership
Title | Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential Leadership PDF eBook |
Author | Roger D. Launius |
Publisher | University of Illinois Press |
Total Pages | 276 |
Release | 1997 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | 9780252066320 |
Setting the tone for the collection, NASA chief historian Roger D. Launius and Howard McCurdy maintain that the nation's presidency had become imperial by the mid-1970s and that supporters of the space program had grown to find relief in such a presidency, which they believed could help them obtain greater political support and funding. Subsequent chapters explore the roles and political leadership, vis-à-vis government policy, of presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan.
Power and Constraint: The Accountable Presidency After 9/11
Title | Power and Constraint: The Accountable Presidency After 9/11 PDF eBook |
Author | Jack Goldsmith |
Publisher | W. W. Norton & Company |
Total Pages | 337 |
Release | 2012-03-12 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 0393083519 |
The surprising truth behind Barack Obama's decision to continue many of his predecessor's counterterrorism policies. Conventional wisdom holds that 9/11 sounded the death knell for presidential accountability. In fact, the opposite is true. The novel powers that our post-9/11 commanders in chief assumed—endless detentions, military commissions, state secrets, broad surveillance, and more—are the culmination of a two-century expansion of presidential authority. But these new powers have been met with thousands of barely visible legal and political constraints—enforced by congressional committees, government lawyers, courts, and the media—that have transformed our unprecedentedly powerful presidency into one that is also unprecedentedly accountable. These constraints are the key to understanding why Obama continued the Bush counterterrorism program, and in this light, the events of the last decade should be seen as a victory, not a failure, of American constitutional government. We have actually preserved the framers’ original idea of a balanced constitution, despite the vast increase in presidential power made necessary by this age of permanent emergency.
The Myth of the Modern Presidency
Title | The Myth of the Modern Presidency PDF eBook |
Author | David K. Nichols |
Publisher | Penn State Press |
Total Pages | 192 |
Release | 2010-11-01 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | 0271039752 |
The idea that a radical transformation of the Presidency took place during the FDR administration has become one of the most widely accepted tenets of contemporary scholarship. According to this view, the Constitutional Presidency was a product of the Founders' fear of arbitrary power. Only with the development of a popular extra-Constitutional Presidency did the powerful "modern Presidency" emerge. David K. Nichols argues to the contrary that the "modern Presidency" was not created by FDR. What happened during FDR's administration was a transformation in the size and scope of the national government, rather than a transformation of the Presidency in its relations to the Constitution or the other branches of government. Nichols demonstrates that the essential elements of the modern Presidency have been found throughout our history, although often less obvious in an era where the functions of the national government as a whole were restricted. Claiming that we have failed to fully appreciate the character of the Constitutional Presidency, Nichols shows that the potential for the modern Presidency was created in the Constitution itself. He analyzes three essential aspects of the modern Presidency--the President's role in the budgetary process, the President's role as chief executive, and the War Powers Act--that are logical outgrowths of the decisions made at the Constitutional Convention. Nichols concludes that it is the authors of the American Constitution, not the English or European philosophers, who provide the most satisfactory reconciliation of executive power and limited popular government. It is the authors of the Constitution who created the modern Presidency.
The Imperial Presidency
Title | The Imperial Presidency PDF eBook |
Author | Arthur Meier Schlesinger |
Publisher | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
Total Pages | 630 |
Release | 2004 |
Genre | Executive power |
ISBN | 9780618420018 |
Publisher Description
Imperial from the Beginning
Title | Imperial from the Beginning PDF eBook |
Author | Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash |
Publisher | Yale University Press |
Total Pages | 465 |
Release | 2015-01-01 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN | 0300194560 |
Eminent scholar Saikrishna Prakash offers the first truly comprehensive study of the original American presidency. Drawing from a vast range of sources both well known and obscure, this volume reconstructs the powers and duties of the nation's chief executive at the Constitution's founding. Among other subjects, Prakash examines the term and structure of the office of the president, as well as the president's power as constitutional executor of the law, authority in foreign policy, role as commander in chief, level of control during emergencies, and relationship with the Congress, the courts, and the states. This ambitious and even-handed analysis counters numerous misconceptions about the presidency and fairly demonstrates that the office was seen as monarchical from its inception.
Tear Down This Myth
Title | Tear Down This Myth PDF eBook |
Author | Will Bunch |
Publisher | Simon and Schuster |
Total Pages | 304 |
Release | 2010-02-02 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 1416597638 |
Challenges popular conceptions about the 40th president's administration and legacy, arguing that subsequent presidents and conservative policymakers have exploited the country's misunderstandings of Reagan's achievements to promote risky agendas. Reprint.