The Power of the Pressidency: Concepts and ControversyRobert S. Hirschfield The American presidency is the most powerful political office in the world. But this impressive statement serves only to raise a whole series of fundamental questions: What is the scope of presidential powers and what are its limits? Can the president use all the authority of his office or is that authority more formal than effective? Does the presidency have sufficient power to meet today's needs or do the problems of the modern age demand a more powerful executive? Is there a danger of dictatorship in the growth of political authority or will the presidency remain an office of constitutional democratic leadership? This book explores such questions by presenting a wide range of views on presidential power from a variety of sources: original supporters and opponents of the office; presidents themselves; Supreme Court decisions; and professional students of the presidency. |
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... reflect the different attitudes and approaches toward the Presidency that have emerged among students of the office since Vietnam and Watergate. In all, about forty percent of the material in this third edition is new. My hope is that ...
... reflect two essential facts about presidential power—that it cannot be precisely defined and that there are many different conceptions of its scope and limits. The power of the Presidency is a complex phenomenon. It cannot be determined ...
... reflected through institutions—Congress, interest groups, the media, economic enterprises, state and local governments ... reflect the national interest. The greatly expanded influence of the mass media—particularly television—in our ...
... reflected in Congress, as public criticism or hostility lead to legislative obduracy and opposition. If the new system of politics has compounded the Presidents difficulties with Congress, so have the internal legislative reforms of the ...
... reflect the ways in which the nation has traditionally tended to judge its Presidents and their presidencies: “strong” and “weak.” These categories are of course too simple, the standards of j udgment too varied, and the connotations of ...
Contents
in the event that the Congress should fail to act and | 112 |
Some Thoughts on the Presidency | 120 |
From The Ordeal of Power | 127 |
MidTerm Television Conversation | 136 |
Comments on the Presidency | 149 |
The Presidential Character | 367 |
The Limits of Presidential Power | 387 |
The Presidency and Its Paradoxes | 416 |
The Presidency in the 1980s | 433 |
Change and Continuity | 451 |
Presidents of the United States | 482 |
Index | 496 |
Other editions - View all
The Power of the Presidency: Concepts and Controversy Robert S. Hirschfield No preview available - 2017 |