Presidential Evaluation 1. “Savior” school Omnipotent and benevolent (“modern” presidency) Presidential strength and ambition would serve the national interest. “Presidential influence contributes to the energy of the government and to the viability of public policy … What is good for the country is good for the president, and vice versa.” (Richard Neustadt) Example presidents?

Three Schools of Presidential Evaluation 2. “Satan” school Strength in the presidency harmful than helpful to the nation James Barber’s psychological approach to a source of presidential pathology “active-negative” character  trying to maximize power but born of a deep-seated and psychologically unhealthy need to dominate others Example presidents?

Three Schools of Presidential Evaluation 3. “Samson” school The unusually weak administrations of ______ and ________ Just like Samson who transgressed and had his strength cut away a large and growing gap between what presidents can do and what they are expected to do (“expectation gap”) The office’s constitutional dependence on other political institutions Political parties had grown too weak to help (1960s-70s)

Three Schools of Presidential Evaluation Three Schools of Presidential Evaluation By the way, which school is missing? Presidential Power Political Consequence Savior model strong good Satan model dangerous Samson model weak bad

How are Presidents actually Judged? Arthur Schlesinger Sr.’s 1948 survey of historians on the grade of each president “great” “near great” “average” “below average” &“failure” Does evaluation of presidents change over time? Not much, but some exceptions Truman (↑) and Eisenhower (↓) Do scholars and citizens employ different evaluation standards? What standards would you use when you evaluate presidents?

Ratings of Presidential Performance WSJ Survey in 2000 C-SPAN 2009 Survey http://legacy.c-span.org/PresidentialSurvey/presidential- leadership-survey.aspx Leadership Characteristics (C-SPAN) Public Persuasion Crisis Leadership Economic Management Moral Authority International Relations Administrative Skills Relations with Congress Vision/Setting An Agenda Pursued Equal Justice For All Performance within Context of Times

C-SPAN 2009 Survey (Top 1st through 25th)

C-SPAN 2009 Survey (26th through 42nd)

Presidential Evaluation: Some Questions I. Do great crises encourage great presidential performance? Do great times make for great leadership or great leaders make great times? Madison, Pierce, Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Hoover vs. Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, Truman Skowronek’s “Political Time” Presidency: “Has Obama called for united America too soon to make politics of reconstruction?”

Presidential Evaluation: Some Questions II. A bias in favor of assertive and energetic presidents? John Quincy Adams, Coolidge, Taft suffer in this context How is an energetic president different from an imperial presidency?  LBJ, Nixon, and George W. Bush (?)

Presidential Evaluation: Some Questions III. Performance in office vs. Achievements over a life-time? Grant: a great general but a weak president Madison: a superb constitutional architect yet an average president Hoover: successful cabinet member but far less successful as a president Carter: a Nobel Prize winner, yet low marks for his presidency

Presidential Evaluation: Some Questions IV. Can we objectively compare presidents from different eras? Leadership is truly contextual. Seldom are different presidents facing with the same situations. (Ex) Jefferson and Polk praised for adding vast areas to the territory of the United States, yet recent presidents cannot duplicate those feats.

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