Presidential Power in the United States

Constraints on Presidential Power

Franklin Delano RooseveltBecause of the vast array of presidential roles and responsibilities, coupled with a conspicuous presence on the national and international scene, political analysts have tended to place great emphasis on the president’s powers. Some have even spoken of the “the imperial presidency,” referring to the expanded role of the office that Franklin D. Roosevelt maintained during his term.
One of the first sobering realities a new president discovers is an inherited bureaucratic structure which is difficult to manage and slow to change direction. Power to appoint extends only to some 3,000 people out of a civilian government work force of more than three million, most of whom are protected in their jobs by Civil Service regulations.

The president finds that the machinery of government operates pretty much independently of presidential interventions, has done so through earlier administrations, and will continue to do so in the future. New presidents are immediately confronted with a backlog of decisions from the outgoing administration on issues that are often complex and unfamiliar. They inherit a budget formulated and enacted into law long before they came to office, as well as major spending programs (such as veterans’ benefits, Social Security payments and Medicare for the elderly), which are mandated by law and not subject to influence. In foreign affairs, presidents must conform with treaties and informal agreements negotiated by their predecessors.

President John F. KennedyThe happy euphoria of the post-election “honeymoon” quickly dissipates, and the new president discovers that Congress has become less cooperative and the media more critical. The president is forced to build at least temporary alliances among diverse, often antagonistic interests — economic, geographic, ethnic and ideological. Compromises with Congress must be struck if any legislation is to be adopted. “It is very easy to defeat a bill in Congress,” lamented President John F. Kennedy. “It is much more difficult to pass one.”

Despite these burdensome constraints, few presidents have turned down the chance to run for a second term of office. Every president achieves at least some of his legislative goals and prevents by veto the enactment of other laws he believes not to be in the nation’s best interests. The president’s authority in the conduct of war and peace, including the negotiation of treaties, is substantial. Moreover, the president can use his unique position to articulate ideas and advocate policies, which then have a better chance of entering the public consciousness than those held by his political rivals. When a president raises an issue, it inevitably becomes subject to public debate. A president’s power and influence may be limited, but they are also greater than those of any other American, in or out of office. (1)

Resources

See Also

• Executive Branch

Congressional Power; The Constitution; Department of Defense; Department of State; Militarism; Nuclear Strategy and Diplomacy; Party Politics; Power Politics; Presidential Advisers; Summit Conferences.

Congress of the United States; Constitution of the United States; Executive Privilege; Japanese American Evacuation Cases; Separation of Powers.

Further Reading (Books)

Abbott, Philip. Strong Presidents: A Theory of Leadership. Knoxville, Tenn., 1996.

Adler, David Gray. “The President’s War-Making Power.” In Thomas E. Cronin, ed. Inventing the American Presidency. Lawrence, Kans., 1969.

“The Constitution and Presidential Warmaking: The Enduring Debate.” Political Science Quarterly 103 (spring 1988): 1_36.

Ambrose, Stephen E. “The Presidency and Foreign Policy.” Foreign Affairs 70 (winter 1992): 120_137.

Bailey, Thomas A. Presidential Greatness: The Image and the Man from George Washington to the Present. New York 1966. Readable and provocative.

The Pugnacious Presidents: White House Warriors on Parade. New York, 1980.

Berger, Raoul. “The Presidential Monopoly of Foreign Affairs.” Michigan Law Review 71 (November 1972): 1_58.

Bledsoe, W. Craig, et al. Powers of the Presidency. 2d ed. Washington, D.C., 1997.

Cheever, Daniel S., and H. Field Haviland, Jr. American Foreign Policy and the Separation of Powers. Cambridge, Mass., 1952.

Corwin, Edward S. The President’s Control of Foreign Relations. Princeton, N.J., 1917.

Corwin, Edward S., et al. The President: Office and Powers, 1787_1984, History and Analysis of Practice and Opinion. 5th rev. ed. New York, 1984. Corwin’s books are the pioneering works on the subject. They are still valuable for their scholarship and analyses.

DeConde, Alexander. Presidential Machismo: Executive Authority, Military Intervention, and Foreign Relations. Boston, 2000. Covers in greater detail, with documentation and an extensive bibliography, much of the subject and interpretations in this essay.

Eagleton, Thomas F. War and Presidential Power: A Chronicle of Congressional Surrender. New York, 1974.

Fisher, Louis. Presidential War Power. Lawrence, Kans., 1995. Both of Fisher’s books are scholarly, authoritative, and important sources.

Further Reading (Books 2)

Constitutional Conflicts Between Congress and the President. 4th ed. Lawrence, Kans., 1997.

Franck, Thomas M., ed. The Tethered Presidency: Congressional Restraints on Executive Power. New York, 1981.

Friedman, David S. “Waging War Against Checks and Balances: The Claim of an Unlimited Presidential War Power.” St. John’s Law Review 57 (winter 1983): 213_273.

Glennon, Michael J. “Can the President Do No Wrong?” American Journal of International Law 80 (October 1986): 923_930.

Goldsmith, William M. The Growth of Presidential Power: A Documented History. 3 vols. New York, 1974. A collection of documents with commentary.

Graber, Doris A. Public Opinion, the President, and Foreign Policy: Four Case Studies from the Formative Years. New York, 1968. Covers the early national era.

Henkin, Louis. Foreign Affairs and the United States Constitution. 2d ed. New York, 1996. A scholarly and perceptive mainstay in the field.

Lehman, John F. Making War: The 200-Year-Old Battle Between the President and Congress over How America Goes to War. New York, 1991. A readable popular account.

Levy, Leonard W., and Louis Fisher, eds. Encyclopedia of the American Presidency. 4 vols. New York, 1994.

McDonald, Forrest. The American Presidency: An Intellectual History. Lawrence, Kans., 1994.

Marks, Frederick W., III. Independence on Trial: Foreign Affairs and the Making of the Constitution. Baton Rouge, La., 1973.

May, Ernest R., ed. The Ultimate Decision: The President as Commander in Chief. New York, 1960. Essays on selected presidents and their influence.

Mullen, William F. Presidential Power and Politics. New York, 1976.

Murray, Robert K., and Tim H. Blessing. Greatness in the White House: Rating the Presidents. 2d ed. University Park, Pa., 1994.

Neustadt, Richard E. Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents: Politics and Leadership from Roosevelt to Reagan. Rev. ed. New York, 1990. An influential study that stresses the power of persuasion.

Rakove, Jack N. Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution. New York, 1996. The chapter “Creating the Presidency” is particularly rewarding.

Riccards, Michael P. The Ferocious Engine of Democracy: A History of the American Presidency. 2 vols. Lanham, Md., 1995.

Further Reading (Articles)

Robinson, Edgar Eugene, Alexander DeConde, Raymond G. O’Connor, and Martin B. Travis, Jr. Powers of the President in Foreign Affairs, 1945_1965. San Francisco, 1966.

Rose, Gary L. The American Presidency Under Siege. Albany, N.Y., 1997.

Rourke, John T. Presidential Wars and American Democracy: Rally ‘Round the Chief. New York, 1993.

Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. The Imperial Presidency. Boston, 1973. Scholarly, insightful, and gracefully written, this book is a fundamental read.

Shenkman, Richard. Presidential Ambition: How the Presidents Gained Power, Kept Power, and Got Things Done. New York, 1999. A readable popular account.

Skowronek, Stephen. The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to George Bush. Cambridge, Mass., 1993.

Smith, J. Malcolm, and Stephen Jurika, Jr. The President and National Security: His Role as Commander-in-Chief. Dubuque, Iowa, 1972.

Thomas, Ann Van Wynen, and A. J. Thomas, Jr. The War-Making Powers of the President: Constitutional and International Law Aspects. Dallas, Tex., 1982.

Warburg, Gerald F. Conflict and Consensus: The Struggle Between Congress and the President over Foreign Policymaking. New York, 1989.

Wildavsky, Aaron. The Beleaguered Presidency. New Brunswick, N.J., 1991.

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