POS 4413 The Presidency Spring 2006 Richard S. Conley, Ph.D. Department of Political Science University of Florida 309 Anderson Hall Tel. 352-392-0262 x 297 Email: rconley@polisci.ufl.edu Web: http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/rconley Office Hours: Tuesday, 10:30-11:45; 12:45-2:45; Thursday, 10:30-11:45, and by appointment This course is best described as an introduction to applied theory. The objective is to evaluate theories of the modern presidency in the American constitutional system and apply them systematically to the institution and the individuals who have occupied the Oval Office. The course begins with an overview of formal and informal presidential power, followed by theories covering presidential elections, the growth of the presidency as an institution, public approval, presidential relations with the media, the legislative presidency and relations with Congress, and domestic and foreign policy. In the latter third of the course we will then apply these theories to individual presidents spanning Truman-George W. Bush, using case studies and empirical evidence to evaluate select topics of modern presidents leadership. Books: Edwards, George C., and Stephen J. Wayne. 2006. Presidential Leadership: Policy and Policy Making, seventh edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson. Edwards, George C. (ed). 2006. Readings in Presidential Politics. Belmont, CA: Thomson. Gregg, Gary L. (ed). 2005. Thinking about the Presidency. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Watson, Robert P., and David A Freeman (eds). 2005. Debating the Presidency. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt. Select journal articles available electronically from Library West.
Determinants of Final Grade: Attendance 10% Participation 10% Quizzes 10% Paper 1 20% [Due Thursday, 2 March] Paper 2 25% [Due Tuesday, 28 March] Paper 3 25% [Due Tuesday, 25 April] Attendance/Participation: Attendance for this course is mandatory. This means that you expected to come to class on time each meeting and to have read the assigned material in advance. This is a 3-unit course that meets 100 minutes on Tuesdays and 50 minutes on Thursdays. If you cannot commit to being in class on a regular basis, you should not enroll in this course. Attendance will be taken in each session of the course beginning the second week of courses. The computation of the attendance grade is as follows: The number of times you attend the course will be divided by the number of meetings for the semester (28), weighted by Tuesdays (i.e., missing Tuesday counts essentially as a double absence). Do not bring excuses for weddings, travel plans, early plans for Spring Break travel, etc. If there is an extreme emergency situation that requires an extended absence you should consult Professor Conley in confidence during office hours or after class. Participation in the course is inextricably linked to attendance. In other words, you cannot participate in the classroom discussions if you are not in attendance. Since much of our time in the course will involve discussion and interaction concerning assigned readings, you are expected to come to class having read the materials, ready to ask questions, and prepared to engage in critical analysis. If you cannot commit to this requirement, you should not enroll in this course. Quizzes: Quizzes in the course will be announced and unannounced and will typically cover readings assigned for the class meeting. Questions will typically be short-answer and are meant to show knowledge of basic themes of the readings. A Note on Films in the Course: In the last third of the class, we will see a number of films on individual presidents. The objective of these films is to complement the course readings. The films are not optional in terms of attendance and may be the subject of quizzes. The films come from Professor Conley s personal collection and are not available for viewing outside the classroom.
Written Assignments: 1) Review of journal article on the presidency; 2) Expanded analysis of a topical debate from the Watson reader. 3) Leadership essay on a specific president. You will be required to complete three writing assignments this semester. The first will be a 4-5 page review essay (excluding references) of a recent article in a presidency-related academic journal. The goal of this assignment is to introduce you to current research on the presidency, including methodological and theoretical debates among some of the nation's top presidency scholars. You must select a full-length article (not a review essay or research note) published within the past three years from one of the following journals: Presidential Studies Quarterly, Congress and the Presidency, or White House Studies (all three journals are available in Library West, and are accessible electronically). In your review of the article, you must assess the methodological approach and findings of the author(s). This is not a book report you must do more than just report on the content of the article. You must develop a solid argument and provide a critical analysis on the strengths and weaknesses of the research. This essay should be typed, double-spaced, with appropriate citations. The second assignment will be a 5 page paper (excluding bibliography) that is an expansion of the analysis of one of the debates in the Watson reader. Students should begin by looking at the For Further Reading sections of the pro and con for the topic, and then complete research as appropriate. Students are expected to integrate course material as appropriate.. Internet sources are not sufficient; journal articles, biographies, book chapters from edited volumes, and other scholarly sources are expected. The third writing assignment will be a 5-page essay (excluding bibliography) in which you will define presidential leadership based on a specific event in one presidential administration. The goal of this paper is to answer the basic question: How did this particular event/policy shape this presidency? In doing so, you should clearly define presidential leadership (what it is and why it is important), and based on this particular event/policy, assess this president's leadership ability. What kind of leader was this president, and did he succeed or fail, in your opinion, in dealing with this particular issue? You must integrate material from the course readings in addition to outside sources. Internet sources are not sufficient; journal articles, biographies, book chapters from edited volumes, and other scholarly sources are expected. You must select one of the following topics: Truman Aid to Greece/Turkey (Truman Doctrine); Marshall Plan; 1948 Campaign. Eisenhower 1956 Suez Canal Crisis; Little Rock, 1957; Francis Gary Powers incident, 1960; Farewell Speech ( military-industrial complex), 1961. Kennedy Cuban Missile Crisis Johnson The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution; Voting Rights Act of 1965 Nixon Visit to China; visit to Soviet Union; price control legislation Ford Pardon of Richard Nixon; Mayaguez incident Carter Camp David Accords; Malaise Speech. Reagan First-Year Legislative Agenda; Iran/Contra; Invasion of Grenada
H.W. Bush Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990; Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm Clinton Budget Showdown, 1995/96; Welfare Reform; Impeachment G.W. Bush 9/11; War in Afghanistan; War in Iraq; Creation of the Department of Homeland Security Due dates for the assignments are fixed. Late papers will not be accepted. Emailing papers to Professor Conley is not acceptable, nor is turning the papers in to office staff in the Political Science Department after the deadline. Never leave assignments under Professor Conley s door; he is not responsible for any assignments slipped under his office door (the cleaning people usually will discard them). All written work should be double-spaced and done in standard, 12-point font. Proper citations are always required (see instructions below). Proper use of English is also expected; assignments with spelling/grammatical/syntactical errors will be marked lower. Use of the first-person and the active voice in your work is acceptable and encouraged rather than the use of the passive voice. General Criteria for Grading Students who get top grades (A, B+) generally: --Turn in high-quality written work which reflects careful research, good planning, wellconceived arguments, originality, clarity of thought, and integration of course material, where appropriate. They stay within stated page limits. Their bibliographies are solid and their footnotes carefully used. Their final product is typed and readable. Written work submitted is in nearly flawless English grammar and spelling. --Complete all assigned readings on time, and reflect this in their exams, written work, and class participation. They review carefully and productively. --Attend class regularly. --Participate actively and enthusiastically in class discussions. They ask questions on a regular basis, and their ideas are original and stimulating. They challenge the conventional wisdom. They summarize each author s principal argument and their reaction to it when discussing the course material. Students who get middle grades (B, C+) generally: --Turn in acceptable written work with no serious deficiencies in writing. They meet deadlines generally. Their work is readable and typed. --Attend class, complete the assigned readings and participate in class discussions, asking occasional questions.
Students who get low and failing grades (C, D, E) generally: --Do not turn in their assigned work, or turn it in late with penalty. Their work is of poor quality and shows inadequate research, documentation, thought, and originality. It is poorly presented (untidy and/or handwritten rather than typed). --Complete only part of the required readings. --Do not attend class and avoid participation. When called upon, they are obviously not familiar with the material. They ask no questions and accept new ideas and opinions without challenging them. Academic Integrity and Plagiarism Plagiarism (using someone else s ideas without giving him proper credit) is a serious offense. Students are expected to comply with the University of Florida s Student Code of Conduct. Questions should be directed to the Dean of Students Office, Judicial Affairs. The written assignments for this class are to be your own work. Discussing your ideas or general approach with me, other students or faculty, revising your work in response to a colleague s criticism, or using words or ideas from a text or another source with proper attribution or referencing is acceptable, and is, in fact, an important aspect of intellectual discourse. Plagiarism and other forms of dishonesty, including the failure to cite proper references, are unacceptable at all times. Cheating on examinations and plagiarism are violations of the academic honesty standards of the University of Florida, will have a serious effect upon your grade in this course, and will be referred to the appropriate University authorities for disciplinary action. Students with Handicaps or Special Needs If there is any reason why you require special physical accommodation for the examinations or during our time in class, please see me in confidence as soon as possible at the beginning of the course. Every effort will be made to accommodate your needs within the guidelines set forth by the University. Creating a Dynamic and Rewarding Classroom Atmosphere Much of our class time will be spent in discussion. It is therefore important that you bring your ideas and questions to class with you and share them with others. I will strive for an atmosphere in which every student participates and receives constructive and respectful response of me and other students. Through this interaction, you will strengthen your critical skills and heighten your enjoyment of the literature and we will learn from each other. Office Hours I keep regular office hours to ensure that I am available to assist you. I encourage you to consult with me on course readings, assignments, or any problems you may be having with the course. You may also reach me via email or by leaving a message on my office phone.
Readings Schedule Tuesday, 10 January > Presidency & the Founding Course introduction Thursday, 12 January > Historical Origins Gregg, Readings 1-8; Edwards/Wayne, Ch. 1. Tuesday, 17 January > Presidential Elections Edwards/Wayne, Chs. 2-3; Edwards, Ch. 2. Thursday, 19 January > Presidential Elections Watson/Freeman, Debates 6-8; Gregg, Readings 28-29. Tuesday, 24 January > Public Presidency Edwards/Wayne, Ch. 4; Gregg, Readings 31-33. Thursday, 26 January > Public Presidency Watson, Debate 18; Edwards, Ch. 7. Tuesday, 31 January > Media Relations Edwards/Wayne, Ch. 5; Edwards, Chs. 8-9. Thursday, 2 February > Media Relations Watson, Debates 10, 16. Tuesday, 7 February > Institutional Presidency/Executive Branch Edwards/Wayne, Chs. 6-7, 9, 15; Edwards, Ch. 4. Thursday, 9 February > Institutional Presidency/Executive Branch Gregg, Readings 9, 10, 13; Watson, Debate 12; Edwards, Ch. 12. Tuesday, 14 February > Congressional Relations Edwards/Wayne, Ch. 10; Gregg, Readings 14-15; Edwards, Chs. 3, 11.
Thursday, 16 February > Congressional Relations Gregg, Reading 16; Watson, Debates 11, 14. Tuesday, 21 February > Judicial Relations Edwards/Wayne, Ch. 11; Edwards, Ch. 13. Thursday, 23 February > Judicial Relations Gregg, Reading 17; Watson, Debate 13. Tuesday, 28 February > Domestic & Economic Policymaking Edwards/Wayne, Chs. 12-13. Thursday, 2 March > Foreign & National Security Policy Edwards/Wayne, Ch. 14. Tuesday, 7 March > Foreign & National Security Policy Edwards, Ch. 5, 10; Gregg, Readings 19-23. Thursday, 9 March > Foreign & National Security Policy Watson, Debates 3, 4, 15. Tuesday, 14 March/Thursday 16 March NO CLASS/SPRING BREAK Tuesday, 21 March > Psychological Presidency Edwards/Wayne, Ch. 8; Gregg, Reading 39; Edwards, Ch. 6. Thursday, 23 March > Psychological Presidency Watson, Debate 17 Tuesday, 28 March > Leadership Evaluation Gregg, Readings 36-38; Edwards, Ch. 1.
Thursday, 30 March > Truman Robert H. Ferrell, Truman s Place in History. Reviews in American History (18), No. 1 (March 1990), pp. 1-9. Samuel Kernell, The Truman Doctrine Speech: A Case Study of the Dynamics of Presidential Opinion Leadership. Social Science History (1), No. 1 (1976), pp. 20-44. Charles A. Lofgren, Mr. Truman s War: A Debate and Its Aftermath. The Review of Politics (31), No. 2 (1969), pp. 223-241. Tuesday, 4 April > Eisenhower/Kennedy Mary S. McAuliffe, Eisenhower, the President. The Journal of American History 68, No. 3 (1981), pp. 625-632. Fred I. Greenstein, Eisenhower as an Activist President: A Look at New Evidence. Political Science Quarterly 94, No. 4 (1979), pp. 575-599. Richard E. Neustadt, Kennedy in the Presidency: A Premature Appraisal. Political Science Quarterly 79, No. 3 (1964), pp. 321-334. Thursday, 6 April > Johnson Doris Kearns, Lyndon Johnson's Political Personality. Political Science Quarterly 91, No. 3 (1976), pp. 385-409. Tuesday, 11 April > Nixon/Ford James David Barber, The Nixon Brush with Tyranny. Political Science Quarterly 92, No. 4 (1977), pp. 581-605. Mark J. Rozell, Executive Privilege in the Ford Administration: Prudence in the Exercise of Presidential Power. Presidential Studies Quarterly 28 No. 2 (1998): pp286-299. Thursday, 13 April > Carter Charles O. Jones, Carter and Congress: From the Outside In. British Journal of Political Science 15, No. 3 (1985), pp. 269-298. John Whiteclay Chambers, Jimmy Carter's Public Policy Ex-Presidency. Political Science Quarterly 113, No. 3 (1998), pp. 405-425.
Tuesday, 18 April > Reagan/Bush John Kenneth White, How Should Political Science Judge Ronald Reagan? Polity 22, No. 4 (1990), pp. 701-715. Barbara Sinclair, Agenda Control and Policy Success: Ronald Reagan and the 97th House. Legislative Studies Quarterly 10, No. 3 (1985), pp. 291-314. Paul Brace and Barbara Hinckley, George Bush and the Costs of High Popularity: A General Model with a Current Application. PS: Political Science and Politics 26, No. 3 (1993), pp. 501-506. Kerry Mullins and Aaron Wildavsky, The Procedural Presidency of George Bush. Political Science Quarterly 107, No. 1 (1992), pp. 31-62. Thursday, 20 April > Clinton Richard M. Pious, The Paradox of Clinton Winning and the Presidency Losing. Political Science Quarterly 114, No. 4 (1999), pp. 569-593. Fred I. Greenstein, There He Goes Again: The Alternating Political Style of Bill Clinton. PS: Political Science and Politics 31, No. 2 (1998), pp. 178-181. Tuesday, 25 April > George W. Bush Fred I. Greenstein, George W. Bush and the Ghosts of Presidents Past. PS: Political Science and Politics 34, No. 1 (2001), pp. 77-80. Robert Jervis, Why the Bush Doctrine Cannot Be Sustained. Political Science Quarterly 120, No. 3 (2005): p351-378. Patrick J. Haney, Foreign-policy Advising: Models and Mysteries from the Bush Administration. Presidential Studies Quarterly 35 No. 2 (2005): p289-303.
Appendix 1 Citations for written work: All written work for this course must contain proper references. Proper referencing is critical for exemplary analytical writing. Students who fail to properly cite references will receive lower evaluations of their work. The general rule for citations is that any material that is not common knowledge should be referenced, in addition to specific citations to direct quotations and specialized commentary/works/etc. Do not plagiarize (see reference in the syllabus on academic dishonesty). The Library West web page offers excerpts of the Chicago Manual of Style that you may find helpful for common questions about proper referencing (http://web.uflib.ufl.edu). Footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical references in text (with an accompanying bibliography at the end of the paper) are ALL acceptable. However, you must choose one style and keep to it throughout your work. Footnotes place the reference at the bottom of the page; endnotes place the reference at the end of the paper; both styles are easily employed using common word processing software such as WordPerfect or Microsoft Word and will automatically number your references. Examples of footnote/endnote references: Books: 1 Richard S. Conley, The Presidency, Congress, and Divided Government: A Postwar Assessment (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2002), p. 10. 2 John S. Jackson and William Crotty, The Politics of Presidential Selection, second edition (New York: Longman, 2001), pp. 100-02. Journal articles: 3 Richard S. Conley, Presidential Influence and Minority Party Liaison on Veto Overrides: New Evidence from the Ford Presidency. American Politics Research, Volume 30, No. 1 (January 2002), pp. 34-65. 4 Walter J. Stone, Lonna Rae Atkeson, and Ronald B. Rapoport, Turning On or Turning Off? Mobilization and Demobilization Effects of Presidential Nomination Campaigns. American Journal of Political Science 36 (1992): 665-91. Articles in edited volumes (make sure you cite the author of the article first, then the editor(s): 5 Richard S. Conley, Congress, The Presidency, Information Technology, and the Internet: Policy Entrepreneurship at Both Ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. In Congress and the Internet, edited by James Thurber and Colton Campbell (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Real Politics Series, 2002), pp. 135-160.
6 Thomas E. Patterson, Out of Order: Game and Governing. In Understanding the Presidency, second edition, edited by James Pfiffner and Roger H. Davidson (New York: Longman, 2000), pp. 70-77. Newspaper articles: 7 Robert Schlesinger, N.H. Gets to Keep Its Prime Position; New DNC Plan Makes Allowance, Boston Globe, January 20, 2002, p. A13. Articles on the Internet/Web Pages: 8 Public Citizen, How the Presidential Public Financing Program Works, <http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/documents/how_pub_fi_works.pdf>, accessed 9/11/03. 9 Associated Press Wire, McCain Revels in Decisive Win, Bush Looks Down the Road, Tuesday, February 1, 2000. <http://www.primarymonitor.com/news/stories/aej_2100mccainreax.shtml>, accessed 9/14/2003. 10 Karlyn Bowman, Vote of Confidence, The Public Perspective (March/April 2002). <http://www.aeipoliticalcorner.org/kb%20articles/kb02marchapril.pdf>, accessed 9/18/2003. Parenthetical referencing: If you choose parenthetical (in-text) referencing, you might have the following paragraph you have written (text is from R.S. Conley, George Bush and the 102nd Congress: The Impact of Public and Private Veto Threats on Policy Outcomes, Presidential Studies Quarterly 33 (December 2003): Changing institutional and electoral dynamics in Congress in the last several decades have placed greater limitations on presidents ability to influence roll-call outcomes. Presidents floor success rates have been a casualty of the interaction of split-party control of the presidency and Congress, or divided government, with heightened intraparty cohesion on Capitol Hill (Fleisher and Bond 2000). Recent presidents who have confronted assertive opposition majorities in Congress have adapted to these conditions by turning to a powerful tool in the bargaining process: the veto. Although critics may contend that frequent use of the veto is difficult to reconcile with the Neustadtian imperative to govern by persuasion (McKay 1994, p. 449), presidents veto success was exceptional in the closing decade of the twentieth century. President George Bush sustained twenty-eight of the twenty-nine regular vetoes he cast from 1989-92. Similarly, only one of William Clinton s thirty-six regular vetoes was successfully challenged in Congress from 1995-2000. At the end of the article you would give the full reference of the in-text citations. The references should be in alphabetical order by last name of the author:
References Fleisher, Richard and Jon R. Bond. 2000. Partisanship and the President s Quest for Votes on the Floor of Congress. In Polarized Politics: Congress and the President in a Partisan Era, edited by Jon R. Bond and Richard Fleisher. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly. McKay, David. 1994. Divided and Governed? Recent Research on Divided Government in the United States. British Journal of Political Science 24: 517-34.