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The Struggle for Democracy

Twelfth Edition

Chapter 12

The Presidency

Learning Objectives

12.1 Trace the expansion of presidential power.

12.2 Identify the roles and responsibilities of the president.

12.3 Describe the organization and functions of the president’s advisors.

12.4 Analyze the conflict between the president and Congress.

12.5 Describe the relationship between the president and the American people.

Renewing Relations

President Obama announced in late 2014 that he would begin the process of renewing diplomatic relations with Cuba, which had been suspended for over five decades. He made good on that promise; the United States embassy reopened in Havana in 2015. Shortly after, the president visited Cuba to cement relations between the two nations. He is shown here with Cuban officials at the Jose Marti memorial in front of a depiction of revolutionary leader “Che” Guevara.

Should such an important change in American policy be left mostly in the hands of the president? If you think that Congress should play a larger role, how would such a change from traditional practice be possible given provisions in Article II that seem to lodge this power in the presidential office?

Journal 12.1: Renewing Relations

Learning Objective 12.1

Trace the expansion of presidential power.

The Expanding Presidency

The Framers’ Conception of the Presidency

The Dormant Presidency

The Twentieth Century Transformation

How Important Are Individual Presidents?

In this section we will learn how the presidency has expanded since the Founding Era.

The American presidency was initially fairly weak because the Framers were wary of a powerful executive. Only a few nineteenth-century presidents (among them Jefferson, Jackson, Polk, and Lincoln) made much of a mark.

In the twentieth century, however, as a result of the problems of industrialization, two world wars and the Cold War, and the Great Depression, presidential powers and resources expanded greatly. The presidency attained much of its modern shape during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency.

The constitutional bases of the expansion of presidential responsibilities and power lie in his roles as chief executive, commander-in-chief, and chief diplomat.

Additional sources of presidential expansion come from public expectations, legislative grants of power, and the office’s role as de facto legislative leader of the nation.

The Framers’ Conception of the Presidency

Article II of the Constitution lists limited duties and powers for the president

Commander in chief of armed forces

Appoint and solicit opinions of department heads

Recommend policy to Congress

Vague and flexible language permitted expansion of presidential powers

The Constitution briefly covers the Executive Branch in Article II.

When the framers decided that the president would be commander in chief of the armed forces, they could hardly have conceived of a standing army of over a million troops, and a nuclear arsenal capable of obliterating the world's major cities in minutes., nor that the president could (and would) send troops into armed conflict without a formal declaration of war.

Likewise, they could not have envisioned a federal bureaucracy of millions, a surprising number of which report directly to the president. Nor would they have foreseen that the president's policy agenda would come to dominate the Congressional schedule.

Washington Reviews the Troops

The presidency has grown in scale and responsibility since George Washington was president. As commander in chief of the armed forces, President Washington, here reviewing his troops during his first year in office, commanded an army of just over seven hundred soldiers and had little to do with affairs outside the United States. Today, the president commands a force of about 1.4 million active duty personnel stationed all over the world, with 1.1 million more in the reserves.

How have changes in the role of the president, in the scale of the presidential office’s responsibilities, affected the relative balance of power among the three branches of government?

Journal 12.2: Washington Reviews the Troops

How have changes in the role of the president, in the scale of the presidential office’s responsibilities, affected the relative balance of power among the three branches of government?

The Dormant Presidency

Dormancy structural factors

Simple farming economy preceded corporate-dominated economy

Dormancy era presidents

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Polk, Abraham Lincoln

Early presidents saw their role as seeing that laws passed by Congress were faithfully executed, and not much else. Presidents throughout the 19th century did little to expand the role.

In the 19th century, the United States was not yet a global economic and military power. The early American economy was based primarily on small-scale agriculture. This economy needed only limited government supervision at the federal level. However, once the economy became dominated by large corporations, the need for closer federal oversight grew exponentially, and with it grew the size of the government and the role of the president as chief executive.

After their escape from the rule of King George III, Americans distrusted executive leadership. But war-hero General Washington was so widely respected that he was able to establish the president's leadership in foreign affairs and domestic legislation.

Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the country with the Louisiana Purchase. Andrew Jackson ushered in a more democratic presidency as the franchise expanded and modern campaigning began. James Polk acquired more land for the nation by going to war with Mexico.

Abraham Lincoln employed an early and radical model of the unitary executive, utilizing expansive powers under the guise of wartime necessity.

The Twentieth Century Transformation (1 of 2)

Theodore Roosevelt

Progressive Era

Woodrow Wilson

World War I

Franklin Roosevelt

New Deal

John F. Kennedy

Television

Structural conditions began to change rapidly in the 20th century, facilitating a larger role for the president.

Theodore Roosevelt was a capable and active leader at a time when conditions were ripe for a more ambitious president. Industrialization had led to the growth of large corporations and trusts, which Roosevelt broke up to prevent monopolies. He also championed other Progressive Era social and regulatory reforms and expanded the national parks system.

World War I gave President Wilson the opportunity to expand the president's foreign policy role. He also shepherded through more federal legislation to regulate the new industrial economy and established the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Trade Commission.

The need for economic relief in the Great Depression was so extensive that the states could not provide it. For the first time, citizens looked to the federal government for remedies, and Franklin Roosevelt responded with a series of laws that collectively became known as the New Deal. These federal assistance programs vastly increased the size and scope of the federal government.

After World War II, the U.S. became a global military and economic superpower, making the president who presides over it arguably the most powerful individual in the world.

John F. Kennedy is known for being the first president to recognize the importance of television.

The Twentieth Century Transformation (2 of 2)

Ronald Reagan

George W. Bush

Barack Obama

Ronald Reagan was remarkably successful at using the power of the media to communicate directly to the American people to achieve his conservative goals.

George W. Bush expanded the powers of the presidency in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks.

Barack Obama, the nation’s first African American president, will likely be remembered for the passage of an economic stimulus that allowed the U.S. economy to weather the 2008 financial collapse and deep recession that followed better than any other rich democracy in the world and the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Teddy Roosevelt Greets the People

President Teddy Roosevelt, here exuberantly greeting crowds during one of his regular tours to different parts of the country, was extraordinarily popular and accessible during his time in office. On most Sundays when he was in Washington, for example, he would spend hours greeting ordinary citizens in the White House. He was a master at using this popularity and accessibility to enhance his influence over the political agenda in Washington and to get his way with Congress in a number of policy areas.

Assuming that all presidents since Teddy Roosevelt have tried to turn personal admiration and popularity into political power, why have some been more successful at it than others?

Journal 12.3: Teddy Roosevelt Greets the People

Assuming that all presidents since Teddy Roosevelt have tried to turn personal admiration and popularity into political power, why have some been more successful at it than others?

Building the Hoover Dam

Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal included a multitude of federal construction projects designed to create critical infrastructure and jobs during the crisis days of the Great Depression. Here workers help build the Boulder dam, later renamed the Hoover dam, on the Colorado River.

Would large-scale federal construction projects like those in place during the New Deal be a way to create more well-paid jobs in the United States today or should job creation be left primarily in the hands of the private sector?

Reagan and Gorbachev in Red Square

Ronald Reagan—whose foreign policies included a dramatic arms buildup followed by proposals to refashion the basic relationship between the United States and the Soviets—is often given credit for ending the Cold War and nurturing the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the photograph above, President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev enjoy the sun and meet people in Red Square.

How do world events shape a president’s popularity in the United States?

How Important Are Individual Presidents?

Do personal qualities or structural factors make a bold leader?

Presidential power increases during wartime

Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Bush

Increase in presidential power supported by other branches, public

It is a combination of a president's personality and character, and the economic and military crises which a president confronts in office that lead to expansion of presidential power.

The boldest moves by presidents to exercise increased powers have come during wartime.

Lincoln held a fracturing nation together during the Civil War. Both Wilson and Roosevelt had to respond to German aggression on the world stage, and large-scale war on foreign soil. George W. Bush had to confront an enemy that was not tied to a nation-state.

Presidential leadership has increased in response to the demands of the American people. Congress has passed laws that at least indirectly support the increase in presidential power. The courts have generally upheld the constitutionality of the expansion of presidential power, especially during wartime.

The War Leader

President George W. Bush imposed a strong national defense orientation on nearly every aspect of American foreign policy in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. As foreign policy leader and commander in chief, the president had sufficient tools to move the United States in this direction. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (left) and Vice President Richard Cheney (center) were strong advocates of such an orientation in foreign affairs.

Do you believe presidents should exercise such extensive national defense powers? What are the implications of such extensive powers for democracy in the United States?

Learning Objective 12.2

Identify the roles and responsibilities of the president.

The Powers and Roles of the President

Chief of State

Domestic Policy Leader

Chief Executive

Foreign Policy and Military Leader

Party Leader

In this section we will explore the many roles that the president must play, including that of chief of state, chief executive, domestic policy leader, foreign policy and military leader, and head of his political party.

Some of the president’s roles are formally described in the Constitution, but others have evolved through precedent, public expectations, and congressional actions.

Political Cartoon: The Founding

A political cartoon of the framers discussing executive power.

Chief of State

Symbol of national authority and unity

Ceremonial duties

Contrast with parliamentary democracies

Monarch and Prime Minister

The U.S. president is both the head of the government and the chief of state. In parliamentary democracies, such as those in Great Britain and Norway, the prime minister is the head of government and the monarch is the chief of state. The monarch has symbolic value as the embodiment of the state but no real political power. Since these roles are combined in the president, the incumbent can leverage political capital via the symbolic value of the chief of state role.

Domestic Policy Leader

Legislative leader

State of the Union

Budget Act of 1921

Leadership on major legislation

Manager of the economy

Change since Great Depression

Employment Act

Conservative presidents

The State of the Union address has been delivered to Congress as a speech since Wilson. Now televised to the nation, it is an opportunity for the president to lay out his legislative agenda.

The Budget Act of 1921 requires the president to present the annual budget to Congress. This represents a major shift in the locus of decision making on spending priorities.

Presidents must take the lead not only in proposing legislation but also in shaping it. President Obama proposed health care reform but left Congress to write the bill with little input, leading to a year-long partisan battle and a compromise bill that satisfied few.

Since the Great Depression presented economic challenges that the states could not mitigate on their own, Americans have looked to their president to fight economic downturns, prevent the collapse of major economic players, such as large investment banks and automakers, battle unemployment, and stimulate economic growth.

In 1946, Congress passed the Employment Act, which requires the president to present an annual report on the state of the economy, including recommendations for improving it.

The pressure for presidents to intervene in the economy is so great that even conservative presidents such as Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush were compelled to take steps to stimulate the economy and bail out sinking industries.

Chief Executive

See that laws are executed

Executive orders

Doctrine of the unitary executive

Control over bureaucracy is limited

The Constitution charges the president with the duty of seeing that federal agencies implement and enforce federal laws.

Presidents can effectively create law without Congress by issuing executive orders, which are directives to departments and agencies that carry the force of law. President Clinton set aside wilderness area from logging by executive order, and President Obama issued executive orders increasing fuel mileage requirements on cars and trucks. The use of executive orders is controversial because it bypasses the system of checks and balances and separation of powers.

Even more controversial is the doctrine of the unitary executive, revived during the Bush administration, which interprets the Constitution to vest the president with comprehensive powers to unilaterally control the federal bureaucracy without oversight from other federal branches.

As a practical matter, control of civil service employees and agency heads with their own agendas is difficult for presidents.

Close Call

The American destroyer USS Vesole escorts a Soviet cargo ship carrying nuclear missiles away from Cuba after President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev reached an agreement to end what came to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The two nuclear powers came very close to war, but the two leaders managed to pull back from the brink despite a number of advisors on each side urging military action.

Are we under as great a threat today as we were during the Cuban Missile Crisis for a nuclear exchange between the United States and another military superpower such as Russia or China? Or is this less of a threat than a nuclear device being set off in the US by a smaller country or a terrorist group?

Journal 12.4: Close Call

Are we under as great a threat today as we were during the Cuban Missile Crisis for a nuclear exchange between the United States and another military superpower such as Russia or China? Or is the greater threat that a nuclear device will be detonated within U.S. borders by a smaller country or by terrorists?

Foreign Policy and Military Leader

Foreign Policy Leader

Ambassadors

Diplomacy

Treaties

Executive agreements

Commander in Chief

Distinction between offensive and defensive war disappeared

Emergency powers

The Constitution gives both Congress and the president foreign policy roles but, as the United States has become a global superpower, the president's responsibilities have increased dramatically.

The Constitution gives the president the power to appoint ambassadors and to receive them. The president conducts foreign diplomacy, including the negotiation of treaties. Presidents have increasingly relied on executive agreements in lieu of treaties as these do not have to be ratified by the Senate.

The Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war but in their capacity as commander in chief of the armed forces, presidents can, and do, send troops into combat on foreign soil without a formal declaration of war by Congress.

The distinction between offensive and defensive war has disappeared; American forces are now sent into hostilities abroad, deployed by presidents without a formal declaration of war by Congress, in the name of defending the United States.

Wartime presidents such as Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Bush, have each invoked emergency powers to suspend civil liberties that are normally protected by the Constitution.

Outreach to the Muslim World

President Obama made reaching out to the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims one of the main priorities of his foreign policy agenda. When he visited Cairo in June 2009, he gave a historic and widely televised speech before Egypt’s parliament to assert that the United States and Muslims were not enemies. But presidents cannot always control events. Since Cairo, a democratically elected regime in Egypt has been upended by a military coup d’état that imposed a repressive regime that has stifled dissent and jailed the opposition.

We continue to give military aid to Egypt given our need for that country’s cooperation regarding terrorism, but such aid has not encouraged the development of democracy there. So what should be our foreign policy objectives in Egypt?

Journal 12.5: Outreach to the Muslim World

A Toast to a New Era

President Richard Nixon reestablished diplomatic relations with China in 1972. The two countries had been estranged since the Communists came to power in China in 1949 after defeating a long-time ally of the United States. The president did not require any action by Congress, the courts, or the American people to make this momentous change in policy, though most eventually welcomed it. Here, he joins a toast to the new era with Chinese foreign minister Zhou Enlai.

Is it a good idea in a democracy that the decision to enter diplomatic relations with other countries is solely in the hands of the president even though this is what the Framers intended when they wrote Article II of the Constitution? Would including Congress and the courts generate too much delay and too many complications into the conduct of foreign affairs?

Figure 12.1 Applying the Framework: Waging War by Drone Strike in Afghanistan

President Obama’s decision to use drones to attack terrorist networks in the tribal areas on the Afghanistan and Pakistan border from 2010 through 2012 as a way to help the American-backed regime in Afghanistan was done without asking permission from Congress or the American people. Like most other examples of presidential decision making, his action can be fully understood only by taking into account the relevant structural, political linkage, and governmental factors

Party Leader

Apparent contradiction

Partisan advantage vs. the public good

The president is leader of his political party, and seeks partisan advantage for them. Yet he is president of all Americans, regardless of party affiliation. How can this apparent contradiction be resolved?

Most presidents see their party's policy agenda and the public good as one and the same.

Presidents are notably unsuccessful in campaigning for their party's candidates in midterm elections.

Learning Objective 12.3

Describe the organization and functions of the president’s advisors.

The President’s Support System

The White House Staff

The Executive Office of the President

The Vice Presidency

The Cabinet

The job of the president has become so complex and the range of the office’s responsibilities so broad that the occupant needs a great deal of help carrying out his duties. The staff and agencies in the White House and the Executive Office Building that help him carry out his duties have grown to such an extent that they have come to be called the institutional presidency.

The White House Staff

Chief of staff

Competitive vs. hierarchical structure

National security adviser

Domestic policy adviser

Press secretary

Special assistants

Economic advisers

The chief of staff is the highest-ranking and closest adviser to the president. Some presidents employ a competitive structure for their advisers, with many advisers of equal rank reporting directly to the president. Other presidents prefer a hierarchical chain of command.

The national security adviser plays a prominent role in the administration, heading the National Security Council and briefing the president daily on security issues.

Most presidents utilize a domestic policy adviser to help coordinate their policy agenda.

Modern presidents have all hired a press secretary to interact with the media, and a variety of special assistants. President Obama convened a team of economic advisors to assist him with the financial crisis.

The Executive Office of the President

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Council of Economic Advisers (CEA)

National Security Council (NSC)

Intelligence Advisory Board (IAB)

The OMB prepares the president's annual budget. It also examines the budgetary implications of proposed bills and kills bills that are inconsistent with the administration's goals.

The CEA advises the president on economic policy. Its influence varies by administration.

The NSC plays a key role in advising the president on matters of national security. Its members include officials from the CIA, the State Department, and the Department of Defense.

The IAB works to prevent terrorist attacks but has been criticized for its limited effectiveness.

The Vice Presidency

Twelfth Amendment (1804)

Same ticket

Twenty-Fifth Amendment (1967)

Presidential succession

Increasing responsibility

Gore, Cheney, Biden

The Constitution originally provided that the presidential candidate who came in second place would become the vice president. This proved impractical for obvious reasons, and by 1804 the Twelfth Amendment had been ratified to prescribe that presidential and vice presidential candidates would run together on the same party ticket.

The Twenty-Fifth Amendment provides for the succession of the presidency in case of death, disability, or impeachment and allows the president to appoint a new vice president if the office should become vacant.

Throughout most presidential administrations, the vice president has had little to do but attend funerals and other state occasions not deemed important enough to warrant the president's presence. Recently, presidents have begun using their vice presidents in an advisory capacity.

A Uniquely Powerful Vice President

Richard Cheney is generally acknowledged to be the most engaged and influential vice president in American history, playing especially prominent roles in the development of doctrines and policies ranging from the use of American military power to the treatment of prisoners detained in the “war on terrorism” and the particulars of national energy policy.

Is it important to the nation and presidents that vice presidents play a central role in fashioning administration policies, or should vice presidents stay more in the background?

Journal 12.6: A Uniquely Powerful Vice President

Is it important to the nation and presidents that vice presidents play a central role in fashioning administration policies, or should vice presidents stay more in the background?

The Cabinet

Unofficial but traditional

Every president has one

Composition

Vice president

Heads of executive departments

Whomever the president wants

Utilization

President Washington convened the first cabinet and all presidents since have maintained the practice. Cabinets are not an official body; they are not mentioned in the Constitution. It makes sense for presidents to meet with their chief executives, the heads of important departments and agencies, but the federal bureaucracy is now so large and specialized that it makes little sense for presidents to hold full cabinet meetings anymore. Instead, presidents are more apt to meet individually with, for example, the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Learning Objective 12.4

Analyze the conflict between the president and Congress.

The President and Congress: Perpetual Tug-of-War

Conflict by Constitutional Design

What Makes a President Successful with Congress?

The tug of war between the president and Congress is an inherent part of the constitutional design of our government because of the separation of powers and checks and balances.

Presidents are the only nationally elected government officials, making their constituency much larger and more diverse than that of each member of Congress.

The public mood can be very different in midterm elections, when representatives and senators are elected but the president is not a candidate.

Conflict between the president and Congress is exacerbated in situations of divided government.

Conflict by Constitutional Design

Conflict is intentional

Checks and balances

Contrast with parliamentary systems

Shared powers

Divided government

Separate elections

Outcomes

Gridlock

The separation of powers and checks and balances established in the Constitution are designed to prevent tyranny. Because power is shared between the branches of government, conflict is inevitable.

Contrast our system with parliamentary systems in which there is no separation of powers between the legislative and executive functions. It is easier to pass legislation in parliamentary systems but American presidents have increased their legislative powers with signing statements, executive orders and agreements, and expansive war powers.

Checks and balances prevent either Congress or the president from getting their way all the time. The president nominates judges and ambassadors, for example, but the Senate must ratify them. Presidents can veto legislation, but Congress can override that veto.

At times when either or both chambers of Congress and the presidency are controlled by different parties, the potential for conflict is exacerbated. It is common for the president's party to lose seats in both houses after the midterm elections.

Members of Congress are disinclined to compromise on legislative issues with a president of a different party, sometimes favoring the advancement of their own party over the public good.

What Makes a President Successful with Congress?

Party and ideology

Foreign policy and national security issues

Vetoes

Popularity

Since party and ideology tend to coincide, a president has more success with a Congress controlled by his party. A president can have legislative success with slim majorities in both houses but a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate is needed when the opposition is particularly intractable, as was the case for President Obama in his first term, when his party lost control of both houses and the Democrats lost their 60-40 majority in the Senate.

Presidents have more success with Congress on foreign policy and national security issues because voters pay less attention to these issues than to domestic policy, and because Americans wish to appear united on the world stage. Also, presidents can act unilaterally to engage troops abroad, and rely on Congress to appropriate the funds later.

Presidential vetoes are rarely overridden by Congress, so presidents are likely to prevail when they veto legislation, a power they usually need to rely on only in situations of divided government.

Congressional support goes up and down for a president with his poll numbers. A popular president will have an easier time lining up votes in Congress and a president whose poll numbers are down will have difficulty finding votes even from members of his own party.

The Benghazi Committee Grills Hillary Clinton

Republicans in Congress—some genuinely concerned about security failures in the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012, but many more seeing a way to both criticize President Obama’s foreign policy and undermine the credibility of the likely 2016 presidential nominee of their Democratic Party opponents— spent days harshly grilling Obama’s former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in January 2015.

Has Congress gone about its oversight responsibilities in such a partisan way recently, whether Democrats or Republicans have been in control, that it damages the conduct of U.S. foreign policy? Or is it even more important today as presidents have increasingly used their unitary powers to bypass Congress on matters of foreign and national defense policies?

Journal 12.7: The Benghazi Committee Grills Hillary Clinton

Learning Objective 12.5

Describe the relationship between the president and the American people.

The President and the People: An Evolving Relationship

Getting Closer to the People

Leading Public Opinion

Responding to the Public

Presidential Popularity

The presidency has become a far more democratic office than the Framers envisioned. The people play a more important role in the election of the president, and research shows that presidents listen to public opinion and respond to it most of the time, though they sometimes do not.

Getting Closer to the People

Founders' visions: elite and distant

Increasing democratic accountability

Two-party system

Expanding franchise

Speaking to the public

The framers' conception of the presidency was not only limited in responsibility and leadership, as we have seen in this chapter, but also in public interaction. Not only were presidents not elected by the voters (who made up only a small fraction of society at that stage anyway), they were not expected to campaign for office or give speeches. As the two-party system developed, and the franchise expanded, presidents began both to campaign for office and to reach out directly to the public to garner support for their policy agendas once elected.

The advent of improved transportation and electronic media made it easier for the president to communicate directly with the people. Modern presidents are taking advantage of the Internet and social media to reach potential voters.

Leading Public Opinion

Using the media to communicate

Modern presidents use television to their advantage

Using the media to manipulate

Press releases

Leaks

Presidents employ communications specialists to help them convey their policy proposals to the public and frame them to sway public opinion in their favor.

Presidents are not always successful in getting public opinion in accord with their policy goals. They try to control what information reaches the public and how it is framed, or spun, but new media outlets are making it harder for them to control information.

Responding to the Public

Do presidents respond to public opinion?

Presidents seek reelection, party success

Polling operations provide presidents with useful information

Words, symbols key to selling program

Yes, presidents are responsive to public opinion. First-term presidents want to be reelected and second-term presidents want their own party to continue in power. Presidents want leverage in Congress to implement their policy agendas and they want support from the courts in upholding their laws and actions.

Modern presidents maintain polling organizations to keep close tabs on public opinion.

Public opinion can also be used to gauge how to frame policy initiatives to maximize public approval.

Figure 12.2 Trends in Presidential Job Approval, 1946–2016

NOTE: Rating for 2016 is through September 2016.

SOURCE: Data from Gallup Surveys (graph based on average job approval for each year through 2016).

Ratings of how well presidents are doing their jobs rise and fall in response to political, social, and economic events.

Presidential Popularity

Presidential job approval ratings

Approval affects influence

Approval ebbs and flows

Economy, foreign policy, stage of term determine approval

What factors determine presidential popularity? Presidential approval ebbs and flows with the strength of the economy, the success or failure of military endeavors, and the administration's response to natural disasters. Presidential approval usually peaks in the immediate aftermath of an election, and dips after this honeymoon period, although some presidents have seen their approval rise again in their second term.

Bad Economy, Poor Presidential Approval Ratings

A woman in New York City in late 2009 shops for bargains before yet another retail store closure. This scene was repeated in cities and towns across the country as the nation suffered through a deep recession and jobless recovery from late 2007 through 2012.

As is almost always the case, a bad economy, especially joblessness and declining disposable income, led to blows to public approval of presidents and their parties. Is this fair? Should we judge presidents mainly on the state of the economy, or are there other matters that are equally as important?

Journal 12.8: Bad Economy, Poor Presidential Approval Ratings

As is almost always the case, a bad economy, especially joblessness and declining disposable income, leads to blows to public approval of presidents and their parties. Is this fair? Should we judge presidents mainly on the state of the economy, or are there other matters that are equally as important?

Shared Writing (1 of 2)

In April 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt, on a trip to the American West, left his entourage and protectors behind and spent a day riding through the wilderness with an army officer in charge of Yellowstone National Park. A month later, he camped in Yosemite National Park for three nights with conservationist John Muir. Roosevelt was no neophyte in the wilderness. He spent much of his youth watching and categorizing birds, writing a major book on the subject before he entered Harvard. He spent years during his teen and adult life working in and around wilderness areas, switching off between being a cowboy, a big-game hunter, and a rancher. He even put in a stint as a marshal chasing outlaws through the badlands of North Dakota.

Roosevelt loved the wilderness and thrived in its solitude. He was moved and saddened when Muir described how much of the natural world was fast disappearing as the country was filling up. Convinced by Muir that action was required before a point of no return was reached, Roosevelt acted boldly on his return to Washington. At the end of his presidency, in 1909, Roosevelt had signed bills creating five new national parks; issued executive orders that created eighteen new national monuments, including the Grand Canyon; and set aside over 100 million acres of public land as national forests. Administered since 1916 by the National Park Service, the system of national parks in the United States is among the most appreciated accomplishments of the national government.

Shared Writing (2 of 2)

Think about the role of the federal government in the establishment and maintenance of the nation’s national parks.

Now construct a brief argument for or against this proposition: The National Park Service should allow private entities more opportunities to manage and protect national parklands. How would you defend your position to a fellow student? What would be your main line of argument? What evidence do you believe best supports your position?

Photo Credits

Page 323: Dennis Rivera/AP Images; 326: Washington Reviewing the Western Army at Fort Cumberland, Maryland. After 1795. Oil on canvas, 22 3/4 × 37 1/4 in. (57.8 × 94.6 cm). Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1963 (63.201.2)/The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource, New York; 328: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA [LC-USZ62-131913]; 329: Everett Collection Historical/Alamy Stock Photo; 330: IraSchwartz/ AP Images; 331: Ron Edmons/AP Images; 332: Paul Noth/The New Yorker Collection/The Cartoon Bank; 335: Carl Mydans/The LIFE Picture