Shaping an Office
A matter of style. Different presidents have had different management styles. Franklin Roosevelt cultivated ambiguity and delegated the same job to multiple appointees; Dwight Eisenhower set up a military-type staff that vetted each issue methodically. Clinton was seldom on time and rewrote speeches at the last minute; George W. Bush tends to show up early and keep to schedule.
The presidency brings out hidden strengths and hidden weaknesses. Polk and Truman came to the presidency as little-known and cranky partisans. But each showed determination and creativity, Polk in winning the Mexican War and expanding the nation to the Pacific, Truman in clinching victory in World War II and challenging the Soviet Union. James Buchanan and Hoover came to the presidency after distinguished public careers. But neither could handle the crises handed him: Buchanan could not settle the issue of slavery in the territories, and Hoover could not end the Great Depression.
Americans have come to expect a lot of their presidents, more perhaps than any man can deliver. We say that the president runs the country, but in practice, presidents have trouble running large parts of the government. We hold the president responsible for the economy, even though he has few economic levers at his command. We expect the commander in chief to lead us to victory in war, and then we complain when we think he is micromanaging the military.
And we tend to think of the president as the personification of the nation he leads. Few other democracies combine the position of head of government and head of state. We do, and some of the bitterness of our politics--the divisions over the Civil War, the class warfare of the Depression, the "values" politics of today--springs from the conviction of many Americans that this or that president does not really represent their country. Yet as we look back at our presidents, we see them less as partisan politicians than as national leaders, who in different ways have helped develop the strengths and virtues of our nation.
advertisement
