President of the United States

I INTRODUCTION

George Washington

1789-1793, 1793-1797

Art Resource, NY

President of the United States, chief executive officer of the federal government, leader of the

executive branch, and the commander in chief of the armed forces. The president has the power to

make treaties with other nations, with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate. The

president also appoints, with Senate consent, diplomatic representatives, Supreme Court judges, and

many other officials.

Grover Cleveland

1885-1889, 1893-1897

Hulton Getty Picture Collection

The president and vice president are the only government officials in the United States elected by and

representing the entire nation. Although the president shares power with Congress and the judiciary,

he or she is the most powerful and important officeholder in the country. The president has no vote in

Congress but is the single largest source of legislative proposals that become law. As the principal

foreign policy maker, the president of the United States has become the world’s most important leader

in international affairs.

II TERM OF OFFICE AND QUALIFICATIONS

A Term of Office

The Constitution of the United States specifies a four-year presidential term. It originally said nothing

about how many terms a president could serve. But the precedent established by George Washington

limited his successors to two terms. Succession by a vice president after a president’s death provided

the opportunity to serve more than eight years without strictly violating the two-term rule. No

president tried to serve more than eight years in office until Republican Theodore Roosevelt. After

filling out three-and-a-half years of the term of President William McKinley following McKinley’s

assassination in 1901 and then serving four years in his own right (1905-1909), Roosevelt ran

unsuccessfully in 1912 for another four years.

The need for steady leadership during World War II (1939-1945) made it possible for Democrat

Franklin Delano Roosevelt to break the tradition by winning four successive elections between 1932

and 1944. In a reaction against Franklin Roosevelt’s extended presidency, in 1951 Congress and state

legislatures approved the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which limits a president to two elected

terms. The amendment also prohibits a person from running for election a second time if he or she

has already served more than two years of a term to which someone else had been elected.

B Presidential Qualifications and Salary

The Constitution requires presidents to be natural-born citizens of the United States who are at least

35 years of age and have resided in the United States for 14 years. As a tacit statement of America’s

commitment to democracy and equal opportunity, the Constitution gave any free white male citizen of

the country the opportunity to become president. All males gained the right to become president in

1870 when the 15th Amendment to the Constitution gave African Americans the right to vote. Women

were excluded from running for the office until 1920, when the 19th Amendment to the Constitution

gave them the right to vote.

The Constitution specifies that presidents receive compensation (salary and benefits) for their work,

and Congress sets the specific amount. The salary of presidents cannot be increased or diminished

during their term of office. Nor can the president receive additional payments from the federal

government or any of the states while in office. The Constitution also disallows presidents and other

federal officials from receiving any title of nobility, gift, payment, or official position from a king,

prince, or foreign state. All gifts to a president from foreign governments belong to the people of the

United States rather than the president.

Congress establishes presidential salaries. Originally, the president earned $25,000, and this was

doubled to $50,000 in 1873. In 1907 Congress added an annual $25,000 stipend for expenses

connected with the office. The president’s salary increased to $75,000 in 1909 and went up again to

$100,000 in 1949. At that time the expense allowance also increased to $90,000. In 1969 the salary

advanced to $200,000, with $100,000 budgeted for travel and another $50,000 for expenses. In 2001

the salary increased to $400,000 plus $50,000 for expenses. Because the president’s official duties

incur far more expenses than the expense budget can cover, agencies of the federal government often

assume responsibility for presidential events. The Department of Defense, for example, pays the cost

of having a military band perform at White House social functions and ceremonies.

For most of America’s history, retired presidents did not receive a pension. In 1958 Congress passed

the Former Presidents Act, which gave retired presidents a pension of $25,000 per year, an office, and

a staff. Congress has increased the pension several times. Former presidents now receive a pension

that is based on the annual salary of a cabinet secretary, which was $161,200 in 2001. Former

presidents have historically been given a generous allowance for office and staff. Beginning with

Democrat Bill Clinton, presidents (or their surviving widows or widowers) will receive funds for an

office and staff for four and one-half years after they leave office.

III ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY

The power of the presidency makes it the most sought-after position in American politics. The keen

competition for the post and high cost of waging an effective campaign limits the pool of candidates to

a select few. The Constitution originally provided for the election of the president and vice president

by the electoral college. Members of the electoral college, who are called electors, represent their

states by casting votes for two candidates, with the person receiving the greatest number of votes

becoming president and the second-place finisher, vice president. A tie vote in the 1800 election

between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr led to the enactment in 1804 of the 12th Amendment to

the Constitution, which provides that the electoral college use separate ballots, one for president and

one for vice president.

By the mid-19th century the votes of the electoral college had only symbolic importance. Electors from

each state simply followed the will of the voting majority by giving their votes to the candidate

receiving the most popular votes. However, in the electoral college system, it is possible for

candidates to win a majority of electoral votes, and therefore the presidency, without winning the

nationwide popular vote. This scenario has occurred three times in United States history: in 1876,

when Rutherford B. Hayes beat Samuel Tilden; in 1888, when Benjamin Harrison defeated Grover

Cleveland; and in 2000, when George W. Bush prevailed over Al Gore. Another president who lost the

popular vote was John Quincy Adams, who was elected in 1824 by the House of Representatives after

no candidate received a majority in the electoral college.

The president and vice president are the only public officials in the United States chosen in a

nationwide election, which takes place every four years. There are three major steps in a presidential

candidate’s journey toward the White House: primary elections, the party convention, and the

campaign for the general election between party nominees. After winning election the president takes

an oath of office on Inauguration Day. The long and expensive process from primary elections through

the general election weeds out most potential candidates.

A Primary Elections

Cuomo for President

Supporters of New York governor Mario Cuomo carry signs urging voters in the 1992 New Hampshire presidential

primary to write in his name on the ballot. Although Cuomo decided against running for president that year,

volunteers continued to campaign on his behalf. Cuomo received 4 percent of the votes in the Democratic primary,

far behind winner Paul Tsongas, a former United States senator.

Jacques M. Chenet/Corbis

Political parties choose their presidential nominees through primary elections and party caucuses

(meetings). In these state contests the major political parties—the Democrats and Republicans—select

delegates to attend their party conventions. Primary voters and caucus participants choose delegates

who will support their favored candidate at the convention. The party conventions, held in the summer

before the November general election, formally nominate the winner of the primaries and caucuses.

Would-be candidates crisscross the states that hold the earliest primaries, especially New Hampshire,

which holds the country’s first primary, usually in mid-February. Most contenders also wage

campaigns to win Iowa’s party caucuses, which are usually held in February as well. These states are

widely regarded as indicators of a candidate’s chances in the overall primary process and in the

general election. As a result, voters in the states with early primaries receive lavish attention from the

primary contenders and the news media. In most states, only a party’s registered voters can vote in

the party primary. Some states, however, have open primaries, which allow voters to wait until

Election Day to choose the party primary that they want to vote in. The expense and physical strain of

campaigning across the dispersed primary states winnows the field of candidates. Many drop out due

to lack of finances or after poor showings in the early contests.

B Party Conventions

National Convention, 1976

Georgia politician Jimmy Carter easily won the United States presidential nomination at the 1976 Democratic

National Convention. With Senator Walter Mondale as his running mate he narrowly won the general election

against Republican Gerald Ford the same year. Carter became the 39th president of the United States and served

from 1977 to 1981.

FPG International, LLC

Party conventions have historically been tense, dramatic events as candidates struggled to organize

enough delegate support to win the nomination. At the 1924 Democratic Convention, for example,

delegates voted more than 100 times before settling on a candidate. Because more states adopted the

primary system in the second half of the 20th century, most recent Democratic and Republican

conventions created little suspense over the selection of a candidate. Because the outcome is often

known in advance, the nominating conventions are usually symbolic affairs, serving to publicize the

party’s candidates and rally voter support in the months before the election.

Jimmy Carter with Walter Mondale

Jimmy Carter, first man from left, celebrates winning the presidential nomination at the Democratic National

Convention in 1976 with, from left, his wife, Rosalynn Carter; his vice-presidential running mate, Walter Mondale;

and Mondale’s wife, Joan Mondale. Elected in November 1976, Carter became the 39th president of the United

States in January 1977.

UPI/THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE/Courtesy of Gordon Skene Sound Collection. All rights reserved.

Regardless of whether the party’s choice is evident in advance, party conventions follow a carefully

scripted routine. Parties begin their conventions by writing a party platform that outlines their political

program for the country. Drafting the platform and winning the convention’s support of this document

marks an important milestone because it shows that the party has reached agreement between its

competing factions.

The 1968 Democratic Convention

In 1968 the Democratic Party held its national convention to nominate its presidential candidate in Chicago, Illinois.

Outside the convention, violence broke out between anti-Vietnam War protestors and the Chicago police. Although

many observers believed the police acted with excessive force, many others blamed the antiwar demonstrators for

the bloodshed.

BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc./National Geographic Society

After the platform has been approved by the convention, party leaders and invited guests make

speeches to the convention delegates. During the speeches and party ceremonies, the potential

candidates and their assistants roam through the convention to assess the strength of their support

and to try to sway a majority of delegates to vote for their nomination. If a candidate has been

particularly effective in the primary elections before the convention, he or she is likely to win the party

nomination on the first or second convention vote. If the leading contender fails to win a majority of

delegate votes and begins to lose votes on subsequent ballots, another contender may emerge as a

compromise candidate.

Political Convention Speech

The drama and pageantry of national political conventions are important elements of presidential election

campaigns in the United States. In this photo, Patrick Buchanan addresses the 1992 Republican Convention in

Houston, Texas.

Charles Krupa/AP/Wide World Photos

As soon as the candidate wins the convention’s nomination and gives his or her acceptance speech,

the candidate and party leaders try to repair the divisions that tend to emerge during the convention.

If the winning candidate has not already named his vice-presidential running mate, the choice is

announced at the convention. The candidate must try to establish an image as a national leader who

has experience in foreign and domestic affairs, and who is capable of attracting voter support in

critical states. Equally important, the candidate must raise millions of dollars to pay for campaign

costs, including funds for travel and an extensive network of campaign headquarters, but especially to

pay for television advertisements.

C Election Campaign

Campaign Buttons, 1964

These buttons are from the United States presidential campaign of 1964. The top button is for Republican Party

candidate Barry Goldwater. The bottom pin shows Democratic Party candidate Lyndon Johnson with his running

mate Hubert Humphrey.

Kathleen Hanzel/Culver Pictures

The campaign for the presidency traditionally begins in early September and ends on Election Day—

the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Candidates often complain about the length of

the campaign period, which can require grueling 20-hour days of speechmaking and traveling. The

candidates rely on party organizers to ensure support from loyal party followers, but it is equally

important for candidates to raise issues that appeal to undecided voters and those in opposing parties.

Most campaigns rely on national radio and television appearances and on press coverage to spread

their candidate’s message to the nation. Since the 1960 election, nationally televised debates between

presidential candidates have affected the outcome of most elections. Paid television advertisements

have become increasingly important, sending campaign costs soaring. In 1996 the presidential

campaigns of Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican Robert Dole spent a combined total of over $230

million, nearly half on television advertisements. In addition, the Republican and Democratic parties

spent a combined total of over $30 million on advertisements backing their candidates.

Campaign Buttons, 1980

These four pins are from the United States presidential election campaign of 1980. The large bottom-right pin

features the face of President Jimmy Carter, while the top-left pin features a photograph of Republican party

presidential nominee Ronald Reagan, left, with his wife Nancy Reagan. The smaller pins urge voters to elect U.S.

Senator Edward Kennedy, right, and U.S. Representative John B. Anderson, left, for president.

Kathleen Hanzel/The Gleeson Collection

Even as they spread campaign themes through national television and radio campaigns, the

candidates also make hundreds of speeches in cities and towns across the country to appeal to specific

groups of voters. Candidates make special attempts to curry favor in states with a large number of

electoral votes, such as California, New York, and Texas. Because the candidate who wins the greatest

number of popular votes in a state receives the entire electoral vote of that state, campaign

strategists try to craft a plan to win in key populous states and to avoid wasting campaign resources

on small or politically doubtful states.

D Election Day and Inauguration

John F. Kennedy's Inauguration

John F. Kennedy is pictured here taking the presidential oath of office during his inauguration in 1961. During his

1960 campaign for the presidency, Kennedy gained wide support after he capably addressed the country’s defense

and economic needs in four televised debates with Republican candidate Richard Nixon.

UPI/THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE/Courtesy of Gordon Skene Sound Collection. All rights reserved.

The nation usually knows who has won by the evening of Election Day or early the following morning.

The formal balloting of the electoral college, however, does not take place until the first Monday after

the second Wednesday of December, when the electors meet in each state. These results are

transmitted to the secretary of the Senate and are counted publicly before a joint session of Congress

on January 6. Under the original provisions of the Constitution, the president and vice president were

inaugurated on March 4 of the year following their election. In 1933 the 20th Amendment went into

effect, moving the inauguration date up to January 20. At the inaugural ceremony, the new president

recites an oath: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of

the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of

the United States.”

E Who Becomes President

Although the Constitution specifies few qualifications for the presidency, as a practical matter the

office is closed to most Americans. Today, a candidate who hopes to win the White House must have

tens of millions of dollars and substantial political muscle if he or she hopes to make it through the

arduous ordeal of presidential elections. The election process has changed through the course of

American history, but the challenge has always been difficult, narrowing the field of viable candidates

to a select few. The strongest contenders are usually former vice presidents, prominent senators, and

governors of populous states, such as New York and California. Other strong candidates have come

from the military, served as governors of small states, or otherwise distinguished themselves in

remarkable ways. Nearly all serious candidates have enjoyed the backing of a major political party,

although third-party candidates have made significant showings in a few elections. Ross Perot, for

example, won 19 percent of the vote on the Reform Party ticket in the 1992 race, one of the strongest

third-party showings in the 20th century. All successful presidential candidates have been men, and all

but Democrat John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, were Protestant. An African American has never received a

major party nomination, although Jesse Jackson’s relatively strong candidacies in 1984 and 1988

helped shape the debates in the Democratic primaries. No woman has ever made a bid for the White

House. Geraldine Ferraro was the only woman who has run on a national ticket, winning the

Democratic vice-presidential nomination in 1984.

IV PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION

Presidents can be removed from office only through death, resignation, an inability to discharge the

powers and duties of their office, or by congressional impeachment and conviction on charges of

treason, bribery, or other serious crimes. To impeach a president, the Constitution requires a majority

of the House of Representatives to vote to send articles of impeachment (written charges) against a

president to the Senate. The Senate must conduct a trial of the president. After the trial, a two-thirds

majority vote of the Senate is required to convict and remove a president from office. Congress rarely

undertakes impeachment proceedings against presidents. Both presidential impeachment trials in

American history—against Andrew Johnson in 1867 and against Bill Clinton in 1999—resulted in votes

to acquit by the Senate.

Only one president has resigned, Richard Nixon in 1974, when the House Judiciary Committee

prepared articles of impeachment for his crimes and misdemeanors in the Watergate scandal. Eight

presidents have died in office: William Henry Harrison (1841), Zachary Taylor (1850), Abraham

Lincoln (assassinated 1865), James A. Garfield (assassinated 1881), William McKinley (assassinated

1901), Warren G. Harding (1923), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1945), and John F. Kennedy (assassinated

1963).

The order of succession upon the demise, removal, resignation, or incapacity of a president has been

changed four times in the country’s history. Under the Constitution, the vice president is the

undisputed successor to the president. But should both the president and vice president be unable to

govern, Congress mandated in 1792 that the president pro tempore (temporary president) of the

Senate or the Speaker of the House, in that order, succeed to the presidency, but only for the purpose

of ordering a new election. In 1886 Congress changed the succession rules so that if both the

presidency and vice presidency were vacant, the secretary of state and then other Cabinet members

in their order of seniority would become president. In 1947 Congress again changed the order of

succession and this order remains in effect today: the Speaker of the House, followed by the Senate’s

president pro tem, the secretary of state, and then other members of the Cabinet assume the

presidency if there is no president or vice president. In 1967 the 25th Amendment to the Constitution

described the conditions under which the vice president could temporarily replace an incapacitated

president.

V RESPONSIBILITIES AND POWERS

Ford Pardons Nixon

On September 8, 1974, United States President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, who had resigned as

president earlier that year while Congress considered impeachment proceedings against him for illegal activities

involving members of his staff. The Constitution of the United States gives the president the power to pardon

people for crimes, but most presidents use the power sparingly.

Courtesy Gordon Skene Sound Collection. All rights reserved./UPI/CORBIS-BETTMANN

In the more than two centuries since the presidency was established, the responsibilities and powers

of the office have grown to a point where they almost exceed the capacity of any one individual to

manage them. The fact that so few presidents have been elected to two terms—only 15 out of 41

men—and that only 12 have served two full terms shows how difficult the job can be.

The Constitution requires the president to discharge the duties of the office and preserve, protect, and

defend the Constitution of the United States. The president is also responsible for the execution of the

laws of the United States. In domestic affairs, this means anything from implementing economic,

social, and regulatory measures passed by Congress to acting as commander in chief to quell disorder

or suppress insurrection. Presidents shape the country’s judicial affairs by appointing federal judges.

They influence the country’s domestic, economic, political, and social life by proposing legislation,

calling Congress into special session, and vetoing laws passed by Congress that they consider

destructive to the national well-being. As commander in chief of the military, the president is also

empowered to repel foreign invasion and to fight wars overseas. In times of overwhelming public

danger, the president can declare martial law, when the courts are not open or cannot function freely.

The Constitution also gives the president the power to grant pardons and reprieves in criminal cases.

This power does not require congressional approval, but it cannot be used in cases of impeachment.

In addition to these formal duties, the president is the country’s chief educator who sets standards of

taste and culture, using the White House, in Theodore Roosevelt’s words, as a “bully pulpit” to assert

moral authority. Presidents are also the leaders of their political party, and they try to advance its

agenda.

A Legislative and Judicial Responsibilities

Johnson Signs Civil Rights Bill

Lyndon Johnson’s years of experience in Congress gave him an edge in pushing through his legislative proposals.

Here Johnson signs the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which banned racial discrimination in public accommodations and by

employers, unions, and voting registrars. The passage of the act over the objections of Southern senators was one

of Johnson’s greatest achievements.

UPI/Corbis

The president proposes much of the legislation that Congress approves. The president’s power to veto

(reject) legislation also serves as a strong influence on the legislative process. Because it takes a two-

thirds vote of both the House and the Senate to override a presidential veto, Congress often modifies

pending legislation to suit the president’s preferences. Aside from the role in proposing and vetoing

laws, the president exercises important legislative authority by issuing executive orders that have the

force of law. The president also supervises the implementation of laws by directing administrative

agencies, such as the Department of Justice and the Department of Agriculture.

The president appoints federal judges, subject to the approval of the Senate. In addition, the

president assumes important judicial and law enforcement powers through executive agencies. The

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) gathers evidence against perpetrators of federal crimes and the

Justice Department seeks indictments and convictions in the courts against wrongdoers. Agencies such

as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the

Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) act as

quasi-judicial bodies by holding hearings, issuing regulations, and adjudicating disputes.

B Economic Authority

The president exerts substantial influence on the economic life of the nation through budgetary and

taxing proposals. The president’s decisions to increase and reduce budgets and to cut or raise taxes in

conjunction with Congress affect the entire country, from the largest corporations to the individual

taxpayer. Presidential decisions early in the country’s history to contribute federal funds to road and

canal projects helped boost the nation’s economic development, and federal spending continues to

drive growth in many areas. The president’s ability to shape tariffs on imports affects the thousands of

businesses that buy and sell goods to other countries. A president’s power to regulate industries

through the enforcement of safety requirements and environmental regulations affects nearly every

workplace in America. The executive branch employs millions of workers, including clerks,

investigators, lawyers, and others, and their pay rates help set a standard of living for millions of

other citizens.

C Foreign Policy

The president is the chief diplomat of the United States. The Constitution gives the president the

power to negotiate treaties and appoint diplomatic representatives with the advice and consent of the

Senate. The president also has the power to negotiate executive agreements with foreign countries

that have the force and effect of law but do not require congressional approval. The president has the

discretion to give official recognition to foreign governments. Democrat Woodrow Wilson, for example,

refused to recognize the government of Mexico in 1913 because it had come to power through

violence.

D Military Leadership

Declaration of War Against Japan

On December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt

addressed a joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Japan. Roosevelt called December

7 “a date which will live in infamy.”

Courtesy of Gordon Skene Sound Collection. All rights reserved./UPI/THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE

As commander in chief of the armed forces, the president has the power to formulate and direct

military strategy and actions in times of war and peace. As the country’s principal military

commander, the president is responsible for the nation’s security and the safety of its citizens.

Although the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war, historically the president has had

nearly total freedom to send troops into combat. In the second half of the 19th century, many

presidents sent U.S. forces into Latin American countries to defend American business interests. Harry

Truman made a much more substantial commitment of American soldiers in 1950 when he decided to

fight the Korean War (1950-1953). A series of presidents—Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy,

Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon—waged war in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war from

Congress (see Vietnam War). Since the establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in

1947, nearly every president has used executive power to order the agency to conduct covert military

operations abroad.

E Appointive Powers

Subject to confirmation by a majority of the Senate, the president appoints the members of the

Cabinet, the heads of independent federal agencies, and a large number of the administrative

personnel of the federal executive departments and agencies. The president also appoints federal

judges, including the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States; many federal employees;

and the diplomatic representatives of the United States. The president also commissions, subject to

congressional confirmation, all officers of the armed forces.

The appointive powers of presidents include the freedom to spend substantial sums of money to

facilitate their administration of the government and the exercise of their constitutional powers.

Franklin Roosevelt, for example, authorized the Manhattan Project—a massive federal project to build

an atomic bomb during World War II. Since the end of World War II, presidents have used their

budgetary authority to support the CIA’s secret projects.

VI THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH

A Administrative Organization

Executive Branch of Government

The President leads the executive branch of government, which comprises 15 departments and a number of

different offices and councils, as shown in this chart, as well as independent agencies. The president selects people

for the White House staff, but only nominates the heads of departments and agencies, who then must be approved

by the Senate.

© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

The president leads the executive branch of the federal government, although he or she delegates

much of this authority. The executive branch consists of 15 departments: agriculture, commerce,

defense, education, energy, health and human services, homeland security, housing and urban

development, interior, justice, labor, state, transportation, treasury, and veterans affairs.

The president also directs numerous independent agencies. These include the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Export-Import Bank,

Farm Credit Administration, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Deposit Insurance

Corporation (FDIC), Federal Election Commission, Federal Maritime Commission, Federal Reserve

System, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), General Services Administration, National Aeronautics and

Space Administration (NASA), National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, National Labor

Relations Board, National Science Foundation, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Small

Business Administration, Tennessee Valley Authority, United States Information Agency, and the

Postal Service.

B Executive Supervision

The president formally supervises more than 4,000 employees of the executive branch but delegates

nearly all of this authority to staff members. The president’s executive office consists of several

divisions, including the White House Office, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Council

of Economic Advisers, and the National Security Council. Through the personnel of the White House

Office, often called the White House staff, the president maintains communication with Congress,

heads of the executive departments and agencies, and the media. The president relies on the OMB to

help prepare the federal budget and to supervise federal spending. Similarly, the president turns to his

Council of Economic Advisers to research and write an annual economic report for submission to

Congress, and to help assess the state of the economy and recommend economic policies.

C Party Responsibilities

Presidents lead their political party. A popular president often uses this power to campaign for the

party’s congressional candidates. The president’s vote-winning ability enables the candidates to use

this leverage to demand support for their own legislative programs. In addition, popular presidents

can sometimes use their national support to win control of Congress for their party. A president whose

party has majority control of both houses of Congress stands in a much stronger position to make

legislative gains than a president contending with a hostile Congress dominated by the opposition

party.

VII THE LIFE OF THE PRESIDENT

A president’s life is unlike anything experienced by any other American. Even before radio and

television made a president’s every move the object of media attention, presidents have always been

under close public scrutiny. They have faced fierce partisan attacks by opposing politicians and

journalists exercising the American traditions of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Thomas

Jefferson may have best caught what it means to be president when he described the office as “a

splendid misery.”

A Life in the White House

A White-House Marriage

In 1886 President Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom, the daughter of his former law partner. The ceremony

took place in the White House.

Culver Pictures

The White House is the president’s office, but it is also the president’s home. Presidents live in the

White House with their spouse and children and entertain guests there, formally and informally. John

and Abigail Adams became the first residents of the presidential mansion in 1800. The building had no

furniture, and the lack of stairways or firewood made life even more uncomfortable. Although the

residence became a more congenial place to live during the next 14 years, it wasn’t until 1817 that

the mansion took on its modern form, after repairs following fires set by the British in the War of 1812

(1812-1815). The white paint used to hide the marks of these fires fixed the name of the structure in

the popular mind as the White House.

Original White House

United States President John Adams and his family were the first to live in the White House in Washington, D.C.,

pictured here as it looked about that time. They moved there in November 1800. But the name White House did

not become official until 1901, when United States President Theodore Roosevelt had the name engraved on his

stationery.

Culver Pictures

Over the years, the White House has been filled with children and relatives of the first family (the

president’s family). Lavish weddings, refurbishing projects, and official ceremonies keep the White

House in the minds of Americans. The daughter of James Monroe, the country’s fifth president, was

married at the White House in 1820, the first presidential child to be married in the mansion. The

Monroes also redecorated the White House with elegant French furniture, setting a standard for all

future presidents and their spouses to emulate. In 1886 Grover Cleveland wedded Frances Folsom, the

first marriage of a president in the White House. During the terms of Theodore Roosevelt, Harry

Truman, and John F. Kennedy, the White House was substantially renovated, but always with an eye

to preserving its history. In the early 1960s Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of John F. Kennedy, restored

the mansion to its early 19th-century elegance. When the work was completed in 1962, 46 million

Americans tuned in to watch her conduct a televised tour of the remodeled White House.

B First Family

Eleanor Roosevelt

Niece of one United States president and wife of another, Eleanor Roosevelt won distinction for her humanitarian

work for underprivileged and minority groups. A delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, Roosevelt

helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Hulton Deutsch

Most presidents have tried to shield their families from the barrage of public curiosity that diminishes

their privacy, but with limited success. Many presidents, realizing how important their symbolic role is,

tried to convert public interest in the first family’s private life into a political asset.

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton, an established lawyer and activist for children’s rights, gained national attention after her

husband, Bill Clinton, was elected president of the United States in 1992. Clinton greatly expanded the traditional

role of first lady. In 2000, while first lady, she was elected to the United States Senate from New York.

The White House

Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president, and First Lady Julia Dent Grant opened their lives to the new

national magazines. The Grant children, particularly 14-year-old daughter Ellen, popularly known as

Nellie, commanded popular attention. Nellie’s marriage at the mansion in 1874 was the social event of

the season. Edith Carow Roosevelt, wife of President Theodore Roosevelt, institutionalized the role of

the first lady and the first family. She hired her own specialized staff, which put out regular news

releases on the first family’s dinner parties, family meals, children’s activities, and familial closeness.

Franklin Roosevelt also gained appreciably from the activities of Eleanor Roosevelt, whose compassion

for the disadvantaged in the midst of the economic hard times of the Great Depression made her one

of the most influential first ladies in the country’s history. No first family in modern times received

more public attention than the Kennedys. Jacqueline Kennedy’s elegance as a hostess and John

Kennedy’s handsome appearance and attractive style almost made the Kennedys, including their two

children, Caroline and John, Jr., into a royal family. After her husband’s assassination in 1963,

Jacqueline Kennedy consciously contributed to the image of royalty through an interview with the

journalist Theodore White, who described the Kennedy household and administration as “Camelot.”

C Security and the Secret Service

The Secret Service protects the president, vice president, and their families. Dozens of uniformed

Secret Service officers and plainclothes special agents guard the president and the president’s family

at the White House. In addition, a large contingent of special agents organize security when the

president travels. Other Secret Service agents monitor the president’s mail and investigate threats to

the president’s life.

Presidents did not have Secret Service protection until the 20th century. The need for professional

bodyguards for the president was demonstrated by the ease with which assassins were able to kill

Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James A. Garfield in 1881, and William McKinley in 1901. But even with a

Secret Service devoted to guarding presidents, assassins were able to stage attacks on Franklin

Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. In 1968 Democratic

presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was killed by an assassin. George Wallace, a Democratic

presidential candidate in 1972, suffered an attack that left him paralyzed. The only 20th-century

president to be killed by an assassin was John F. Kennedy, which suggests that the Secret Service is

an effective force. Nevertheless, the challenge of assuring a president’s safety is as great as ever,

especially in an era when presidents travel so widely and are exposed to great numbers of people on

an almost daily basis.

VIII HISTORY OF PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP

More than three dozen presidents have led the United States, but most historians rate only a few as

especially noteworthy. Most of the country’s notable presidents earned their place in history by leading

the country through major crises or wars. Others are best known for the scandals that clouded their

administrations. A few, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt, stand

as legends in American history because of their pivotal roles in shaping the country’s political

foundations.

A George Washington

George Washington

On April 30, 1789, 57-year-old George Washington took the oath of office as the first president of the United

States. After Washington took the oath on the portico at Federal Hall in New York City, thousands of citizens

cheered and 13 cannons fired a salute. Inside, Washington delivered his inaugural address in the Senate

Chambers. Excerpt recited by an actor.

Art Resource, NY/(p) 1992 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

As the first president, George Washington understood that his every action would set a precedent for

future administrations and that his mistakes could doom the young United States. Since the

Constitution describes the role of the president in just five paragraphs, Washington knew that the

success of the presidency would depend in large measure on how he defined the role for his

successors. He described his dilemma as “entering upon an unexplored field, enveloped on every side

with clouds and darkness.”

Washington succeeded in setting a dignified yet unpretentious tone for the presidency. In an effort to

establish the importance of the office without making it aloof from the people, Washington rejected

John Adams’s suggestion that the president be called, “His Highness, the President of the United

States, and Protector of Their Liberties.” Instead Washington settled for the term, “Mr. President,”

which he felt struck a proper balance between the authority of the president and the democratic

character of the country.

At a more substantive level, Washington saw the need to establish the primacy of the federal

government over the states. In 1794, for example, Washington dispatched troops to western

Pennsylvania to put down a rebellion against a federal whiskey tax, demonstrating the supremacy of

federal law and the authority of the president (see Whiskey Rebellion). Washington also tried to assert

the authority of the presidency over Congress. When making treaties with foreign countries, for

example, he established the rule that presidents seek the advice and consent of the Senate not before

or during negotiations, but only after a treaty had been made.

B Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence, a principal leader in the American

Revolution, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson is also regarded as a great political thinker and

diplomat. The U.S. doubled its area in 1803 when he bought territory west of the Mississippi called the Louisiana

Purchase. Recited by an actor.

Hulton Deutsch/(p) 1992 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Thomas Jefferson’s election in 1800 marked the first time that an incumbent party lost the White

House. The election was marked by bitter conflict between the major political parties of the day, the

Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists. Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, won the presidency

based on the strength of his party, but he sought to minimize the country’s partisan conflicts.

Jefferson declared in his first inaugural address in 1801, “We are all republicans—we are all

federalists,” meaning that party attachment was secondary to national identity.

At the same time, however, Jefferson used the presidency to champion a legislative agenda that

reflected the Democratic-Republican view of the national interest. Through his domination of his

party’s congressional caucus, which then controlled the principal legislative committees in Congress,

Jefferson won passage of economic measures that decentralized power and favored the agricultural

and rural areas over industrial and urban interests. Jefferson’s successful legislative initiative

established the principle that the president could be both party leader and the country’s chief

executive.

Jefferson’s most dramatic action was the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which added more than

2,100,000 sq km (more than 800,000 sq mi) of land to the United States. Jefferson had no

constitutional authority to buy the territory from France, but he saw landholding and farming as

essential to the country’s future. Jefferson called the purchase “an act beyond the Constitution,” but

Congress eventually appropriated funds and approved the land deal. Jefferson’s vision of a larger,

more prosperous country, joined with his political pragmatism to produce an act of exceptional

presidential leadership. The bold decision to push forward with the Louisiana Purchase demonstrated

that presidential power went beyond the narrowly worded passages in the Constitution, and that the

authority of the office depends in part on the person in power.

C Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Unlike previous

presidents, Jackson was born into a poor family. His election to the presidency shifted the balance of power in the

country from wealthy, East Coast interests to those of the farmers and small-business owners in the West.

Jackson’s political policies, which courted the general public rather than the wealthy, later became known as

Jacksonian Democracy. This excerpt (recited by an actor) comes from a speech by Jackson.

Culver Pictures/(p) 1992 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Andrew Jackson’s term as president from 1829 to 1837 reshaped American political life. He

successfully pushed for a more democratic political process, and he asserted the supremacy of the

federal government over the states. With Jackson’s administration, national political parties took

control of the selection of presidential candidates, marking the end of congressional control of the

process. Jackson stood at the head of the new Democratic Party, and his election ushered in the era of

modern political parties.

As president, Jackson generated widespread popular support by fighting the Bank of the United

States, an institution identified with privileged interests. Jackson spoke for aspiring businessmen,

farmers, and urban workers, rather than the well-to-do. His veto blocking the recharter of the bank in

1832 struck a chord with these constituencies and helped assure his reelection later in the year. He

called the bank a privileged monopoly and pledged his opposition to the “prostitution of our

government to the advancement of the few at the expense of the many.”

Jackson also asserted the authority of the federal government and the president over the states.

South Carolina claimed that states could nullify federal laws at their own discretion and refused to

collect a federally mandated tariff. Fearing for the integrity of the country, Jackson fought South

Carolina’s stance, forcing the state to compromise on the tariff and to dispense with the nullification

doctrine.

Another landmark in Jackson’s administration came in 1832 when the president defied an explicit

order of the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote a majority opinion barring Georgia from

removing the Cherokee Indians from the state. Jackson supported Georgia’s effort to remove the

Indians and reportedly said, “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” Jackson

secured congressional funding for the massive removal program, which forced 18,000 to 20,000

Native Americans to move west, taking the lives of about 4,000 along the way. His defiance of the

Supreme Court’s ruling on the issue showed that the Constitution’s formal separation of powers would

not in itself rein in a determined president.

D Abraham Lincoln

President Lincoln

Soon after Abraham Lincoln's election as president of the United States, seven Southern states seceded from the

Union because they feared that Lincoln would abolish slavery. Four more states had followed by the time Lincoln

delivered his first inaugural address on March 4, 1861. This recording of his 1861 inaugural address is recited by an

actor.

(p) 1992 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved./Archive Photos

Some historians rank Abraham Lincoln as the country’s greatest president. Lincoln’s term of office

from 1861 to 1865 rested on his conviction that he needed to stop the South from seceding and to

preserve republican government, as “the last best hope of mankind.” Southern states seceded from

the United States in 1860 and 1861, leading to the Civil War (1861-1865), the greatest crisis in the

nation’s history. Lincoln reacted by exerting his presidential authority to the fullest measure.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

In a series of seven debates in 1858, Abraham Lincoln challenged United States Senator Stephen Douglas’s support

of a law allowing slavery in free territory. Lincoln lost his bid for Douglas’s Senate seat, but the debates helped

pave the road to the presidency.

CORBIS-BETTMANN

Without congressional sanction, he increased the armed forces beyond the limits established by law,

and spent millions of dollars for which no congressional appropriations had been made. Lincoln also

emancipated the slaves in the rebellious Southern states and issued presidential decrees to begin

Reconstruction—the process of rebuilding the south’s tattered political and economic system. Most

disturbing to some of his critics, he suspended the right of habeas corpus—the right against arbitrary

imprisonment. Lincoln justified many of his actions as a legitimate exercise of his powers as

commander in chief of the armed forces, and declared that he was motivated by the necessity of

preserving the Constitution. He said: “I felt that measures, otherwise unconstitutional, might become

lawful by becoming indispensable to the preservation of the Constitution through the preservation of

the nation.”

Lincoln’s prescription for presidential effectiveness was to avoid inflexible positions. As he told

Congress in an annual message, “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.

The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so

we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our

country.” His Emancipation Proclamation of September 1862, which declared slaves in rebel areas to

be free, was a case in point. He saw “no constitutional or legal justification, except as a military

measure,” for the proclamation. But that was enough for him. Lincoln’s presidency marked one of the

most aggressive presidential seizures of power in American history, but his actions also illustrated the

importance of strong leadership in times of national crisis.

E Early 20th Century

For 35 years after Lincoln, assertive congressional leaders took prominence over the presidency. When

Republican Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency in 1901, he was determined to use the power

and prominence of the office as a “bully pulpit” to achieve his domestic and foreign policy objectives.

Through swift action and bold statements, Roosevelt restored the presidency to its former stature. He

interpreted the Constitution loosely, to do “many things not previously done by the president and the

heads of departments. I did not usurp power,” he said, “but I did greatly broaden the use of executive

power.”

In domestic affairs, Roosevelt championed the Progressive Movement, which aimed at breaking up

concentrations of economic and political power that undermined democracy and equality of

opportunity. Roosevelt’s commitment to racial equality led him to invite American educator Booker T.

Washington to dinner at the White House in October 1901, the first time an African American had

dined at the executive mansion. Southern newspapers lambasted Roosevelt, suggesting that the

invitation would lead other African Americans to expect social equality. Washington’s visit to the White

House cost Roosevelt political support in the South, but he still maneuvered an impressive legislative

agenda through Congress. Roosevelt pressed Congress to regulate railroads, the food and drug

industries, and to increase environmental protections. The success of his domestic program, which he

termed a Square Deal, made him the most popular president between Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt.

In foreign affairs, Roosevelt argued that it was best to “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” He

advocated a diplomatic policy, in other words, that remained open to compromise, but that was

ultimately backed by military force. He bolstered the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy, and used the

threat of force to zealously defend American interests in Alaska, Asia, and Latin America. Determined

to create a canal joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in Latin America, Roosevelt supported a

revolution in Colombia in 1903 to obtain the necessary land. Colombia ceded the territory to Panama,

and Roosevelt immediately directed construction of the Panama Canal, which became United States

property. Roosevelt asserted American dominance in global affairs through many other initiatives,

including his successful mediation of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

After Roosevelt, Democrat Woodrow Wilson was the next president to make a major mark on the

office. Winning election in 1912, Wilson continued to expand presidential power and influence in the

United States and abroad. Wilson said before assuming the presidency, “The President is at liberty,

both in law and conscience, to be as big a man as he can. His capacity will set the limit.”

Wilson had considerable capacity. His domestic policy agenda, which he called the New Freedom,

included progressive reforms that greatly expanded the role of the federal government. Many of the

reforms remained in place generations later. He created the Federal Reserve System to govern banks,

for example, and the system still follows principles established during his presidency. Wilson

advocated regulations to ensure that one company or group of companies did not monopolize an

entire industry, resulting in the establishment of the Federal Trade Commission in 1914. Following the

end of World War I (1914-1918), Wilson led the effort to avoid new wars through the League of

Nations. Although the league ultimately failed, in his efforts to build support for the organization

Wilson elaborated a vision of international consultation and negotiation that remains a global ideal.

F Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

As the only United States president elected to four terms, Franklin Delano Roosevelt guided the nation for 12

years, through the Great Depression and World War II. Roosevelt initiated a series of programs, termed the New

Deal, to help bring the U.S. back to prosperity. Although he was crippled by polio at age 39, he continued his

political career, which spanned 35 years. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, less than three months after he began

his fourth term.

Courtesy of Gordon Skene Sound Collection. All rights reserved./National Portrait Gallery/Art Resource, NY

Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt steered the nation out of the Great Depression and through World

War II, and he held the presidency longer than anyone in history. Roosevelt’s New Deal, a wide-

ranging program of social welfare policies, made an indelible mark on American society and earned

him a place as one of the 20th century’s most influential presidents. Roosevelt came to office in 1933,

in the midst of the worst economic crisis in the country’s history. Like Abraham Lincoln, he felt

compelled to fashion new means of dealing with unprecedented events. As part of the New Deal,

Roosevelt pushed for legislation to create scores of new agencies to confront the economic crisis: the

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Rural Electrification

Administration, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the National Labor Relations

Board. Roosevelt also prodded Congress to create the Social Security Administration to provide old-

age pensions, and he pushed for an unemployment insurance system to support the millions of people

without jobs. Under Roosevelt’s leadership, the government built a network of agencies and programs

to ensure that the poor, unemployed, and aged could live with dignity and self-respect. “Better the

occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity,” Roosevelt said in 1936, “than the

constant omission of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.”

Roosevelt at Work

United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945) first achieved national attention when he gave a

rousing speech at the Democratic Party’s 1924 national convention. Roosevelt is heard here giving one of his

“fireside chats,” informal speeches he regularly delivered to the nation by radio.

Courtesy Gordon Skene Sound Collection. All rights reserved./Globe Photos, Inc.

Most Americans loved Roosevelt, voting him to an unprecedented four terms as president. Much of his

success rested on his charismatic leadership—his ability to give people hope and renewed confidence

in the American system of government. Roosevelt spoke directly to the public through frequent radio

addresses. These “fireside chats” brought his warm, reassuring personality into millions of homes and

made him an anchor in national life through the Depression and World War II. After he died in 1945,

someone told his wife, “I miss the way your husband used to talk to me about my government.”

Roosevelt’s leadership in foreign affairs was just as important to the nation. Remembering Woodrow

Wilson’s failure to sustain public backing for involvement in the League of Nations, Roosevelt took care

to build domestic support for his diplomatic initiatives. This approach accounts for his success in

leading the country into World War II. His attention to the worries and fears of Americans also helped

him maintain support for his military strategy during the war, and then for abandoning American

isolationism in favor of involvement in the United Nations and a larger role in global affairs.

G Mass Media Shapes the Presidency

Before radio and television became commonplace, most Americans never heard a president’s voice or

had more than a photograph to judge his appearance. Since the 1930s, however, when Franklin

Roosevelt began using the radio to reach millions of Americans, the mass media, especially television,

has shaped presidential power and public understanding of government. Since the 1950s, television

has influenced the outcome of presidential elections and served as a powerful resource for presidents

to mobilize public opinion. President Dwight Eisenhower discovered the pitfalls of this powerful

medium in 1960 when he spoke at a press conference after the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics

(USSR) shot down a CIA U-2 spy plane in Soviet airspace. The State Department initially denied that

the plane was on a spy mission. But when Soviet officials captured the pilot, his downed aircraft, and

surveillance cameras, the State Department was forced to acknowledge that the plane was on a spy

mission approved by Eisenhower. Eisenhower then went on television to explain the deception to a

disillusioned public. Eisenhower also sent CIA operatives to topple the governments of Iran in 1953

and Guatemala in 1954. The success of Eisenhower’s secret CIA missions established the spy agency

as one of the most tempting foreign policy tools available to future presidents.

H John F. Kennedy

Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

On November 22, 1963, President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy made a campaign visit to Dallas, Texas. Enthusiastic

crowds greeted them as their motorcade made its way toward downtown Dallas. Near the Texas School Book

Depository three shots were fired, mortally injuring the president. Later that day Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson

was sworn in as president. A state funeral for President Kennedy was held on November 25, 1963. President

Kennedy’s young son, John F. Kennedy, Jr., saluted the carriage containing his father’s casket as the funeral

procession passed by.

Archive Films

Democrat John F. Kennedy’s demeanor in televised debates helped him win a razor-thin victory over

Republican Richard Nixon in the 1960 election. People who heard the first Kennedy-Nixon debate on

the radio thought that Nixon had won. But the much larger television audience gave Kennedy the

edge. Kennedy appeared more at ease and more assured than Nixon, and his confident manner made

him seem more presidential. Kennedy’s showing in the debate and his subsequent election victory

signaled the growing importance of style over substance, or at least that voters were paying more

attention to how candidates looked than to what they said.

Kennedy served 1,000 days in the White House, ending with his shocking assassination in Dallas,

Texas, in November 1963. Kennedy’s intelligence and youthful charm had breathed new hope into the

country. Many Americans felt inspired by his promises of a government that would emphasize racial

equality and economic opportunity at home and democracy abroad. Much of his domestic agenda

remained unfulfilled at the time of his death. A host of initiatives, including federal aid to education,

Medicare (health insurance for the elderly), a major tax cut to fuel economic expansion, a war on

poverty, and, most of all, civil rights, were issues on their way to being enacted in a likely Kennedy

second term. These measures were finally enacted following Democrat Lyndon Johnson’s landslide

victory over Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964, but there seems little doubt that had he lived,

Kennedy would have gotten them through Congress.

Nixon-Kennedy Debate

Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy faced Republican candidate Richard Nixon in four nationally

televised debates during the 1960 United States presidential campaign. Kennedy was widely regarded as the

winner of the debates, which helped him win the presidency.

Library of Congress/CORBIS-BETTMANN

Kennedy’s leadership in foreign affairs proved more decisive. Leading the country at the height of the

Cold War, he promised to “pay any price” and “meet any challenge” to assure United States national

security and freedom around the globe. Although he initially stumbled in the Bay of Pigs fiasco, when

a CIA-sponsored invasion of Cuba to topple Fidel Castro’s regime failed, he soon showed himself to be

an effective foreign policy leader. Kennedy demonstrated his diplomatic skill during the 1962 Cuban

Missile Crisis, during which the United States and the USSR nearly went to nuclear war over the

placement of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Through resolute negotiation and a limited display of

force, Kennedy persuaded Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to abort plans to use Cuba as a missile

base. Kennedy’s subsequent agreement to a nuclear test ban treaty with Moscow opened the way to

improved relations and a lessening of tensions with America’s most formidable Communist adversary.

Kennedy’s most significant foreign policy blunder came in his 1961 decision to send thousands of U.S.

soldiers to Vietnam, sending the country along a path toward military defeat overseas and political

turmoil at home.

I Lyndon Johnson, the Great Society, and Vietnam

Lyndon Baines Johnson

Lyndon Johnson announces to the nation that he will not seek reelection to the presidency in 1968. Despite

Johnson’s success in winning congressional approval of his legislative program, by 1968 growing public unrest over

the Vietnam War had sharply eroded his popular support.

Courtesy Gordon Skene Sound Collection. All rights reserved./UPI/THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE

Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency in 1963, as the country and the world reeled in horror at

Kennedy’s assassination. He resolved to complete Kennedy’s legislative agenda, and his success in

this mission made him perhaps the greatest presidential legislator in the country’s history. Johnson

termed his program the Great Society, and his achievements in civil rights, voting rights, easing

poverty, and other measures between 1964 and 1969 rivaled and eclipsed Franklin Roosevelt’s New

Deal. Johnson’s Great Society agenda included initiatives that touched the lives of all Americans, such

as Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education, immigration reform, environmental and consumer

protections, the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the

Department of Transportation (DOT). The Great Society also created the National Endowments for the

Arts and the Humanities, food stamps, Head Start, and Model Cities, and implemented many other

reforms. Subsequent presidents and congresses challenged many of Johnson’s Great Society

programs. But most remained in place, serving as a safety net for disadvantaged Americans, and as

federal commitments to housing, education, and other programs cherished by middle-class Americans.

Johnson’s stumbling leadership in foreign relations, especially in Vietnam, overshadowed his effective

leadership in domestic affairs. Inheriting commitments from the Eisenhower and Kennedy

administrations to Vietnam, Johnson felt compelled to continue American involvement in Indochina.

Communist forces gained the upper hand in 1964 and 1965, raising the prospect of the collapse of the

friendly government in Saigon. Johnson decided to expand U.S. commitments in the Vietnam War

(1959-1975). In August 1964, after North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked U.S. destroyers in the

Tonkin Gulf, Johnson won passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution from Congress, which gave him

sweeping authority to commit U.S. forces to defend South Vietnam. In 1965 he launched a systematic

bombing campaign against North Vietnam in February, and in July he began expanding the ground

war. By the time he left office, the United States had more than 500,000 troops in Vietnam. Despite

all this firepower and the sacrifice of more than 30,000 American lives, by 1968 the war was

stalemated and Johnson, now a highly unpopular president, announced that he would not run again

for president.

J Richard Nixon and the Watergate Scandal

Republican Richard Nixon took advantage of popular discontent with the Vietnam stalemate to defeat

Democrat Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 campaign. Declaring that he had a secret plan to end the

conflict, Nixon beat Humphrey by seven-tenths of 1 percent, winning 43.4 percent of the popular vote.

George Wallace, a conservative third-party candidate exploiting anger over domestic turmoil, won 14

percent.

Nixon’s first term is a study in pragmatic political leadership. Coming to office with a reputation as a

staunch conservative, Nixon catered to public eagerness for environmental protection by creating the

Environmental Protection Agency. Despite his conservative credentials, Nixon showed no reluctance to

use the government to interfere in the economy in 1971 when he imposed wage and price controls to

stem inflation (rising prices). Nixon showed himself equally flexible on proposals for national health

insurance and welfare reform, portraying himself as a political moderate willing to push for an

expanded role for government in addressing major domestic problems. To stem America’s persistent

racial turmoil, Nixon ordered government agencies to institute affirmative action policies, under which

minorities would receive special consideration in hiring.

In foreign affairs he proved to be even more pragmatic, putting aside a reputation for unbending

anticommunism to establish relations with China in 1972 and promote détente (lessening of tensions)

with the Soviet Union. Although the Vietnam War continued until 1975, Nixon negotiated a settlement

that withdrew U.S. troops in 1973, bringing an end to American involvement in the unpopular war.

Only Nixon’s political habits tripped him up. A politician with a reputation for cutting corners, Nixon

and his advisers could not resist reelection plans in 1972 that broke the law. Nixon and his staff

planned a burglary of the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington,

D.C. A scandal, which quickly became known as Watergate, erupted when the burglars were caught

and linked to the White House. The revelations of the burglary, joined with subsequent secret efforts

to cover up the crime, led to investigations of the White House in 1973 and 1974. The discovery of a

Nixon taping system, which had recorded conversations demonstrating Nixon’s role in the scandal,

forced his resignation from office in August 1974, making him the first president ever to resign. A

talented political leader with strong ideas of America’s role overseas, Nixon was destroyed by

character flaws that left the presidency in its weakest position since Andrew Johnson had been

impeached. Although the Supreme Court and Congress proved effective checks on Nixon’s abuses of

power, the Watergate scandal cast doubt on the integrity of the presidency and shook public

confidence in government.

K Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan was elected president of the United States in 1980 and again in 1984. In his campaigns for office,

Reagan stressed themes of self-reliance, traditional values, family, and patriotism. He was also a strong opponent

of Communism. He launched a global crusade against governments that he believed were influenced by the USSR.

Reagan is heard here speaking on Communism in a speech he delivered in 1983.

Hulton Deutsch/Courtesy Gordon Skene Sound Collection. All rights reserved.

Republican Gerald Ford and Democrat Jimmy Carter, Nixon’s immediate successors, failed to

reestablish presidential authority. For the remainder of the 1970s Congress eclipsed the presidency as

the focus of national politics. Ford, under a cloud because of his decision to pardon Nixon, lost the

election of 1976 to Carter after only two years and three months in office. Republican Ronald Reagan

won the presidency in 1980, after Carter failed to free Americans held hostage in Iran and to solve a

shortage of gasoline and other energy sources.

Negotiations with Gorbachev

United States President Ronald Reagan, center, and Vice President George Bush, left, met with Soviet leader

Mikhail Gorbachev in New York City in 1988. Reagan and Gorbachev had agreed to some arms reductions. But

Reagan’s support of a “Star Wars” nuclear defense system for the United States was a sore point in negotiations

with Gorbachev.

Corbis

Reagan restored the influence of the presidency to what it had essentially been in the 1950s and early

1960s. He also rejuvenated the Republican Party, which had been under a cloud since the Watergate

scandal.

Iran Hostage Crisis

Iranian militants escorted a blindfolded American hostage in Tehrān, Iran, in November 1979. Opposed to Western

influences, the militants stormed the United States embassy in Tehrān and took 66 Americans hostage. The

situation represented a crisis for United States President Jimmy Carter, who was unable to negotiate their release.

Corbis

A charming, fatherly personality with clear ideas about what he wanted to do as president, Reagan

reestablished a measure of public trust and confidence in the White House. At the start of his term the

worst recession since the Great Depression called into question Reagan’s policy of lower taxes and

higher defense spending. The tax cuts favored wealthy Americans, and Reagan hoped the benefits

would “trickle down” to the middle class and the poor. The initial failure of these policies led a majority

of Americans to say that they did not want Reagan to run for a second term. When the economy

began to boom in 1984, however, Reagan won a landslide victory over Walter Mondale, Carter’s vice

president, who had declared himself in favor of a tax increase to reduce annual deficits of over $100

billion. The deficits continued to mount under Reagan, but the expansion of the U.S. economy

contributed to his popularity and reputation for effectiveness.

George Bush and Dan Quayle

George Bush, vice president under Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1989, ran for the United States presidency against

Democratic contender Michael Dukakis in 1988. Bush defeated Dukakis after making campaign promises of not

raising taxes and committing to develop a “kinder, gentler” America. Shown here at the 1988 Republican National

Convention are, left to right, Barbara Bush; Vice President and Republican presidential candidate George Bush;

Senator Dan Quayle from Indiana, Bush’s vice-presidential running mate; and Marilyn Quayle.

UPI/THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE

Reagan made strong use of television. His background as an actor gave him unusual poise before

television cameras, and his speechwriters had a knack for choosing memorable phrases. In 1985, for

example, he warned that he would veto any tax increase, daring Congress to submit such legislation:

“Go ahead, make my day!” Reagan borrowed the line from trigger-happy movie detective Dirty Harry,

and the tough talk spoke to many Americans fed up with taxes. Reagan’s ability to convey his political

views in clear, catchy terms led some to nickname him The Great Communicator.

In addition to the strength of the economy in the mid-1980s and Reagan’s strong speaking skills, his

popularity as president rested on developments in the Cold War. He began his first term by describing

the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.” He vowed to defy the USSR, and he initially shunned the idea of

holding summit talks with Soviet leaders as most Cold War-era presidents had. When Mikhail

Gorbachev became the top Soviet leader in 1985, however, and introduced radical policy changes that

departed from traditional Soviet economic and political ideas, Reagan agreed to meet with him.

Holding four summit conferences from 1985 to 1988, Reagan and Gorbachev presided over dramatic

changes in Soviet-American relations, including unprecedented arms control agreements. By the time

Reagan left office in 1989, it was clear that Communism was a dying system in the Soviet Union and

that the United States had prevailed in the Cold War.

Reagan’s continuing popularity at the end of his term made it easy for his vice president, George

Bush, to win the 1988 election. Bush’s one term was notable for the search for a new grand design in

foreign policy to replace traditional Cold War assumptions. His successful leadership in the Persian Gulf

War against Iraq in 1991 briefly sent his public approval ratings soaring to 88 percent. But a recession

swelled the ranks of the unemployed in 1992, and Bush seemed unable to solve the domestic

economic crisis. Democrat Bill Clinton promised to take swift action to improve the economy, and he

won a narrow victory against Bush and independent candidate Ross Perot.

L Bill Clinton

Democrat Bill Clinton failed to achieve his major domestic and foreign policy initiatives in his first term

as president. Congressional leaders torpedoed Clinton’s far-reaching proposal for national health-care

reform, undermining his public support. The collapse of his health-care program also led to Republican

majorities in both houses of Congress in 1994, marking the first time since 1946 that the Republicans

controlled the House of Representatives. During the next two years Clinton attacked conservative

congressional proposals that alienated a majority of Americans and reestablished himself as an

acceptable, if not highly popular, president.

In 1996, with the economy booming and the Republican Party nominating 72-year-old Robert Dole for

president, the much younger Clinton became the first Democrat to win reelection to the White House

since Franklin Roosevelt. Clinton’s reelection made him only the fifth president, after Woodrow Wilson,

Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan, to achieve that distinction in the 20th

century. Growing personal income and continuing business growth in 1997 and into 1998 increased

government tax receipts, making it possible in 1998 for Clinton to propose the first balanced federal

budget since 1969. Despite financial and economic problems besetting Japan, South Korea, Indonesia,

Thailand, and Brazil, the U.S. economy was strong, with unemployment levels of less than 5 percent

and inflation at less than 2 percent. The U.S. stock market continued to boom, reaching

unprecedented highs.

In January 1998 independent counsel Kenneth Starr began investigating allegations that Clinton had

lied under oath to conceal a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. In a

September 1998 report to Congress, Starr charged Clinton with obstruction of justice, lying under

oath (perjury) witness tampering, and abuse of power. The House of Representatives voted on four

articles of impeachment against Clinton in December 1998. The House approved two articles that

accused Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Despite the scandal, the public continued to support Clinton and the Democratic Party. In 1998

congressional elections, Democratic candidates made surprising gains in the House of Representatives

and maintained equal numbers in the Senate. It was the first time since 1934 that an incumbent

president’s party had made gains in a midterm election. Following a monthlong trial, the Senate

rejected both articles of impeachment in February 1999. Both Senate votes fell considerably short of

the two-thirds majority required for a conviction.

M George W. Bush

September 11 Attacks

On September 11, 2001, a team of 19 hijackers on suicide missions carried out the deadliest terrorist attack in

United States history, killing more than 3,000 people. This slide show, consisting of photographs and sound clips,

documents the September 11 attacks and their aftermath.

© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

The 2000 presidential election between Clinton’s vice president, Al Gore, and Texas governor George

W. Bush, a Republican and the son of former president George Bush, was one of the closest and most

disputed elections in United States history. The morning after Election Day dawned with Florida’s

results too close to call, leaving both candidates short of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the

presidency. After a mandatory machine recount showed Bush winning the state by mere hundreds of

votes out of some 6 million cast, Gore requested hand recounts of ballots in four heavily Democratic

counties. A five-week legal battle ensued, during which state and federal courts considered a

misleading ballot design, challenges to the manual recounts underway, and other election

irregularities. On December 12 the Supreme Court of the United States effectively sealed Bush’s

victory by ruling against further manual recounts (see Disputed Presidential Election of 2000). Bush

became the first presidential candidate since Benjamin Harrison in 1888 to win the electoral vote—and

thus the presidency—but lose the popular vote. Gore won the popular vote by more than 500,000

votes out of more than 105 million cast. Bush also was the first son of a president to win the White

House since John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, became president in 1825.

Bush’s victory marked the first time in nearly 50 years that Republicans controlled the White House

and both houses of Congress. In the first months of his administration, Bush advocated a $1.6-trillion

tax cut over ten years to return some of the federal surplus to taxpayers and stimulate a slowing

economy. He largely achieved this goal in mid-2001, when Congress passed a $1.35-trillion tax cut.

Around this same time, however, Bush suffered a setback when Senator James Jeffords of Vermont, a

Republican, announced he would become an independent. Jeffords’s decision shifted the balance of

power in the Senate to the Democrats.

Just eight months into his presidency, Bush and the nation faced a terrible new challenge. On

September 11, 2001, terrorists crashed hijacked commercial jetliners into the twin towers of the

World Trade Center, in New York City, and the Pentagon, outside Washington, D.C. (see September 11

Attacks). The coordinated terrorist strike destroyed the World Trade Center and killed about 3,000

people. United States authorities soon identified the al-Qaeda terrorist network of Saudi exile Osama

bin Laden as the group responsible for the attack. Bush declared that destroying al-Qaeda and

preventing future terrorist attacks would be the top priorities of his administration. In the following

months, a U.S.-led coalition force launched a military offensive in Afghanistan, where bin Laden and

al-Qaeda were based. Congress also passed, and Bush signed, antiterrorism legislation that

significantly expanded the federal government’s surveillance powers.

A strong showing by Republicans in the 2002 midterm elections—fueled in part by Bush’s high

approval ratings—enabled them to recapture control of the Senate. Combined with an enlarged

Republican majority in the House, the achievement enabled Bush to more easily enact his legislative

agenda. He secured another round of tax cuts and got Congress to pass a controversial prescription

drug benefit for senior citizens.

In 2002 the Bush administration turned its attention to Iraq, claiming that the country supported

terrorist organizations and that it illegally possessed weapons of mass destruction. Although Iraq

agreed to the return of United Nations (UN) weapons inspectors, U.S. authorities charged that Iraq

was not cooperating fully and was hiding banned weapons. In March 2003, despite opposition from

some members of the UN Security Council, a U.S.-led military coalition invaded Iraq with the goals of

destroying the country’s banned weapons and deposing Iraq’s authoritarian president, Saddam

Hussein. By mid-April the Bush administration declared that Hussein’s regime was no longer in control

of the country. See also U.S.-Iraq War.

Deposing the Hussein regime did not bring an end to the fighting, however. A violent insurgency

continued to claim the lives of American soldiers, and by the end of 2005 more than 2,000 U.S. troops

had been killed in Iraq. More troops were killed after Bush declared an end to major combat in May

2003 than were killed during the invasion itself.

President Bush faced criticism for failing to plan adequately for the transition to a new Iraqi regime.

The original reason for the invasion also came under a cloud. A U.S. weapons inspection team, known

as the Iraqi Survey Group led by David Kay, failed to find any of the weapons of mass destruction

alleged by the Bush administration. In January 2004 Kay resigned from the group, saying “we were all

wrong, probably” about the existence of such weapons.

The Iraq war was part of a radical shift in U.S. foreign policy. President Bush became the first U.S.

president to articulate a strategy of “preventive war” in which he asserted the right to launch a war to

“confront the worst threats before they emerge.” Since the end of World War II (1939-1945),

American presidents were guided by a strategy of deterrence and containment to protect national

security. President Bush believed that such a strategy was inadequate in a period when terrorists,

protected by other countries, could launch surprise attacks on the United States.

As Bush sought reelection in 2004, he faced a mounting deficit, an uneven economic recovery marked

by an overall loss of jobs, and increasing criticism for his handling of Iraq. Despite these setbacks,

Bush won a second term as president, fending off a challenge from Democratic Senator John Kerry in

an election marked by the highest voter turnout in more than three decades. In addition to narrowly

winning the electoral vote, Bush won the popular vote by a margin of 51 percent to Kerry’s 48

percent. Bush drew much of his support from voters who endorsed his conservative views on social

issues, such as opposition to abortion and gay marriage, and from those who felt he could best protect

the country from terrorism.

Contributed By:

Robert Dallek