Presidential Studies Quarterly back issues from December 2004:
Borges's encyclopedia and classification in presidential studies.
Dec 01, 2004; ... In her 1990 address before the Presidency Research Group, Betty Glad argued that the alleged low status of presidential studies was based in large part upon a model of science used in theoretical physics. Instead, she contended, if research in botany and some other sciences were employed ...
Executive prerogative and the "good officer" in Thomas Jefferson's letter to John B. Colvin.
Dec 01, 2004; ... There are several scholarly understandings regarding the Constitution and the prerogative power (Arnhart 1979; Scigliano 1989; Sorenson 1989; Thomas 2000). Each understanding agrees that laws are imperfect with regard to the future and must therefore be pushed aside if required to preserve ...
Does presidential rhetoric matter? Priming and presidential approval.
Dec 01, 2004; ... Does presidential rhetoric affect presidential approval? Surprisingly, virtually no research has addressed this question--despite widespread recognition that presidents invest substantial resources to perfect their rhetoric (Edwards 2002), and clear evidence that approval fundamentally ...
The secular decline in presidential domestic policy making: an organizational perspective.
Dec 01, 2004; ... Domestic policy making has been an area that has received considerable scholarly attention by students of the American presidency. This has been true of bilateral activities involving other institutions whether it concerns legislation (e.g., Bond and Fleisher 1990; Edwards 1989; Peterson ...
The president as reformer: when do presidents initiate administrative reform through legislation?
Dec 01, 2004; ... The Bush administration's recent creation of a Department of Homeland Security has brought attention to executive reform. While massive reforms such as the formation of the Department of Homeland Security and the creation of the Department of Defense draw the most attention, presidential ...
Principled pragmatism: Abraham Lincoln's method of political analysis.
Dec 01, 2004; ... <Pre>"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending,we would then better judge what to do, and how to do it." --Opening lines of Abraham Lincoln's House Divided speech(Quoted in Basler 1953-1955, II, 461) </Pre> Many scholars have ably argued that ...
The contemporary presidency: presidents, lawmakers, and spies: intelligence accountability in the United States.
Dec 01, 2004; ... This article has two objectives. As a means for understanding the contemporary state of intelligence accountability, the first is to present a thumbnail sketch of executive-legislative relations in this policy domain since the end of the Second World War. The second is to examine the chief ...
Elections: tax cut versus lockbox: did the voters grasp the tradeoff in 2000?
Dec 01, 2004; ... The 2000 presidential election was consequential for many reasons, among them being that soon after his inauguration George W. Bush was able to carry out his campaign promise of a large tax cut for all taxpayers. Had the election turned out differently and Al Gore assumed the presidency, ...
The law: can you sue the White House? Opening the door for separation of powers immunity in Cheney v. District Court.
Dec 01, 2004; ... There is an old saying, "You can't sue city hall." The reference is that the executive is immune from lawsuits, so don't bother with litigation. It will just be a waste of time and resources. Cynics have interpreted executive immunity as an open invitation to secrecy, corruption, and abuse ...
Source material: sequestered from the court of history: the Kissinger transcripts.
Dec 01, 2004; ... On February 11, 2002, after nearly 30 years, Henry Kissinger agreed to release 20,000 pages of transcripts of his telephone diplomacy with foreign leaders made between 1969 and September 1973 when he was special assistant to the president for national security affairs in the Nixon ...
The Presidency, Congress, and Divided Government: a Postwar Assessment.(Book Review)
Dec 01, 2004; ... The Presidency, Congress, and Divided Government: A Postwar Assessment. By Richard S. Conley. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2003. pp. xi, 279 The Presidency, Congress, and Divided Government stands at the confluence of three rapidly rushing streams of research: ...
Executive Privilege: Presidential Power, Secrecy, and Accountability.(Book Review)
Dec 01, 2004; ... Executive Privilege: Presidential Power, Secrecy, and Accountability. 2d ed., rev. By Mark Rozell. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002. 222 pp. Mark Rozell's 1994 book, Executive Privilege, was widely read as an authoritative work on the subject. In fact, Rozell makes ...
The Character Factor: How We Judge America's Presidents.(Book Review)
Dec 01, 2004; ... The Character Factor: How We Judge America's Presidents. By James P. Pfiffner. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2004. 209 pp. James P. Pfiffner's useful and thought-provoking book deals with presidential lies, sex, and campaign promises. Why these topics? Consider ...
Polling to Govern: Public Opinion and Presidential Leadership.(Book Review)
Dec 01, 2004; ... Polling to Govern: Public Opinion and Presidential Leadership. By Diane J. Heith. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004. 194 pp. Over the last 15 years or so, the scholarly interest in examining the connection between public opinion and the presidency has increased ...
Jefferson Davis: Confederate President.(Book Review)
Dec 01, 2004; ... Jefferson Davis: Confederate President. By Herman Hattaway and Richard E. Beringer. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002. 542 pp. Until the second half of the twentieth century, Confederate president Jefferson Davis remained, surprisingly, a somewhat neglected subject ...
Uncommon Americans: the Lives and Legacies of Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover.(Book Review)
Dec 01, 2004; ... Uncommon Americans: The Lives and Legacies of Herbert and Lou Henri Hoover. Edited by Timothy Walch. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003. 314 pp. Because this is not my time period, I hesitated before taking on this review. Having worked my way through this splendid collection of ...
FDR, the Vatican, and the Roman Catholic Church in America, 1933-1945.(Book Review)
Dec 01, 2004; ... FDR, the Vatican, and the Roman Catholic Church in America, 1933-1945. Edited by David B. Woolner and Richard G. Kurial. New York: Palgrave, 2003. 295 pp. FDR, the Vatican, and the Roman Catholic Church in America, 1933-1945 succeeds on two separate levels. In the first place, ...
Another Such Victory: President Truman and the Cold War.(Book Review)
Dec 01, 2004; ... Another Such Victory: President Truman and the Cold War. By Arnold Offner. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002. 626 pp. Estimates of Harry Truman's foreign policy have tended, over the years, to become more and more flattering. When Truman left office in 1953, his ...
Jimmy Carter's Economy: Policy in an Age of Limits.(Book Review)
Dec 01, 2004; ... Jimmy Carter's Economy: Policy in an Age of Limits. By W. Carl Biven. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. 346 pp. It was once commonplace to refer to Jimmy Carter's presidency as "failed" or a "tragedy." Such depictions, however, ignore the many ...
The Reagan Presidency: Pragmatic Conservatism and Its Legacies.(Book Review)
Dec 01, 2004; ... The Reagan Presidency: Pragmatic Conservatism and Its Legacies. Edited by W. Elliot Brownlee and Hugh Davis Graham. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003. 404 pp. Although conservatives may not succeed in getting Ronald Reagan's image on Mount Rushmore, they have secured ...