The Paradoxes of the American Presidency - Softcover

Cronin, Thomas E.; Genovese, Michael A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195116933 ISBN 13: 9780195116939

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1998

Synopsis

What exactly do Americans want from their president? A strong and innovative leader or someone who primarily listens to the will of the people? A programmatic party leader or a pragmatic bipartisan coalition-builder? A president who exercises power forcefully or someone who establishes consensus before doing anything? In their provocative new book, The Paradoxes of the American Presidency, Cronin and Genovese suggest Americans want the president to be both a leader and a follower, partisan and bipartisan, innovative and conservative.
Cronin and Genovese explore the complex institution of the American Presidency by viewing it as a series of paradoxes which shape and define the office. The authors look at the clashing expectations and contrarian demands placed upon the president, offering students the opportunity to begin to understand the dilemma faced by all incumbents -- how to bring leadership into a separated system where expectations far exceed the resources and power available to the incumbent. The authors focus on the various relationships all presidents must develop if they are to lead successfully -- relations between the president and Congress, the public, and the courts; the managerial side of the executive branch; the new roles of the cabinet, Vice President, and president's spouse; the vagaries of the selection process; and the inherent contradictions of leadership in a democratic system. Written in a lively, engaging style, this comprehensive, interpretive work represents the collaboration of two highly respected presidential scholars. This is a major end-of-the-century treatment of one of Americas most important political institutions.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas E. Cronin, President, Whitman College. Michael A. Genovese, Professor of Political Science and Director, Institute for Leadership Studies, Loyola Marymount University.

From Kirkus Reviews

Americans' paradoxical views of the presidency are explored by two political scientists. Cronin (The State of the Presidency, not reviewed, etc.) and Genovese (The Presidential Dilemma, not reviewed, etc.) focus on the contradictory yearning of Americans to have a leader who is both ``one of the people'' and someone far removed from identification with the masses. This paradox is less daunting when the president possesses the political genius and natural affability of a Lincoln or an FDR, but it does pose a problem when, say, someone lacking the common touch, like Richard Nixon, is in office. Less paradoxical perhaps is the issue of the Electoral College, which the authors address and for which they offer a solution: the National Bonus Plan, in which the ``winner takes all'' system would be supplanted by a bonus for the popular vote-winner to ensure that the electoral and popular majorities are never different, as has been the case four times in the nation's history. But while the National Bonus Plan is presented at some length, other approaches to streamlining the presidency are given little consideration, e.g., the six-year, nonrenewable term (labeled ``nonsense'' by the authors) and a move to a more parliamentary style of government in which the president would be subject to no-confidence votes and would therefore be more easily removed in the case of a scandal. Cronin and Genovese, while they present a mass of detail about the presidency and our ideas and expectations concerning it, occasionally weaken their arguments by dismissing too many alternatives without making a solid case against them. Still, their scholarship is thorough, and their book makes good introductory reading on our conflicted feelings about the nation's highest office. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0195116933
• ISBN 13: 9780195116939
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448