The American Presidency. Clinton Rossiter.

The American Presidency
Clinton Rossiter
New York: Time Incorporated
1956/1963

Why read it? Thoughtful view of the powers and limitations of the American Presidency. Distinguishes between the American and British systems of government.

Sample Ideas from the book:

The President is the image of the American people. He is Chief Diplomat. He is the Chief Democrat or Republican. He is crisis manager ("Words at times of crisis are deeds"). Must make final decisions. Can influence legislature, but has no power over the legislature. Has to persuade federal agencies to carry out his policy. FDR on the Treasury Department; large, far flung, and ingrained in its practices but the State Department is worse and worse, still, is the Na-a-a-avy! The President is manager of prosperity. Must know the limits of his power and sense the possible or exhaust himself in trying to achieve the impossible.

Fixed term assures that the Presidency will not be parliamentary style government in which the Prime Minister can be dismissed at any time that the legislature takes of a vote of "No confidence." Lincoln raised the Presidency to supreme manager of crisis government. Vice-President, according to Thomas Marshall, VP of Woodrow Wilson, is similar to a "cataleptic fit"; conscious of everything going on but not part of it. Great Presidents set precedents for other Presidents to follow. Formula for failure: try to please everyone. Eisenhower let problems solve themselves.

The great President is as delighted with the challenges of the office as its privileges. Primaries make Presidential campaigns too long, exhausting and expensive. Widening gap between what people expect and what a President can produce. "The President must be careful not to rely too heavily on the briefings and opinions of his own staff, for he will soon find himself out of touch with harsh reality." "But Congress does not have the right, probably not constitutionally and certainly not morally, to take over effective control of any part of the executive branch---may inquire, expose, encourage, and warn, but it may not direct...." "While the vision of the nonpartisan President will always beckon us, it is fated to remain no more than a vision." "...manipulation of all the techniques that are available to him [the President] to mold opinion, goad Congress, and inspire public officials at all levels."

"My own list [of the gravest social problems] would begin with four--the crisis in race relations, the intolerable incidence of crime and delinquency, the lag in education, and the blight of our cities...."

Quote. Harry S. Truman: "The principal power of the President is to persuade people to do what they ought to do without persuasion."

Quote: "The Presidency is the answer to those who say democracies must fail because they can't decide or act promptly."