Unit 6
Chapter 9, Section 3
STYLES OF LEADERSHIP
MR. YOUNG
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
Essential Questions
 What
leadership style
and leadership
quality do you
think is best for
a President?
I Can:
 Analysis and Explain different leadership qualities
and skills each President will perform
 Compare and Contrast the different styles of
Presidential Leadership
 Determine if Executive Privilege is something that
should or should not be offered to a President
Increased Responsibility
 The founders anticipated
that Congress, not the
president, would lead the
nation
1. Demonstrated
leadership by
introducing bold new
Ideas
2. Lead by responding to
crises, problems, or
opportunites as they
occur
Crises Videos
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMiqEUBux3o
Bush’s 9/11 Video
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEjXjfxoNXM
Regan Challenger Speech
Leadership Qualities and Skills
1) Understanding the Public
 Understanding the
people is necessary to
gain and hold their
support
 When a president is
popular, presidential
proposals and policies
are better received by
Congress
 Failure to understand the
public can be disastrous
2) Ability to Communicate
Successful presidents
must be able to
communicate
effectively, to explain
their polices clearly,
and to present their
ideas in a way that
inspires public
support.
Communication Videos
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bNJOdJJ0zg&f
eature=fvst
Roosevelt Pearl Harbor Speech
3) Sense of Timing
 A successful president
must know when the
time is right to introduce
a new policy or to make a
key decision as well as
when to delay doing so.
 Skillful presidents often
use their assistants or
cabinet secretaries to test
a position on a
controversial issue.
Sense of Timing Video
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoPu1UIBkBc
Reagan/Mondale Debate
4) Openness to New Ideas
 Good leadership
also requires the
capacity to be
flexible and open to
new ideas
 This may mean
engaging in
informal give-andtake sessions with
their advisors
5) Ability to Compromise
A Successful President
must be willing to
compromise to pass
legislation
Presidents who will not
compromise risk
accomplishing nothing
A tragic example is
Woodrow Wilson
6) Political Courage
 A successful leader
must have political
courage
 To be great leaders,
president must at
times have the
courage to make
decisions they know
will be unpopular with
the voters
Presidential Isolation
1. Modern president see
themselves as receiving
special treatments
2. Staff members feel in
awe of the President
and may not give him
criticism or bad news
3. Political power can be
measured in access to
the President
Presidential Isolation Cont.
4) Top staff members use
their closeness to the
President to control other’s
access
De Facto- existing “in
fact” rather than legally
(Donald Regan)
Covert- secret (IranContra Affair)
Iran-Contra Video
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R67CH-qhXJs
 Reagan Speech on Iran-Contra
Executive Privilege
Executive Privilege
 President and other high
ranking Executive officers
does not have to give or
provide information to
Congress or the courts
 Necessary to get honest
opinions and advice from
their assistants and advisors
 United States vs. NixonPresident had to surrender
tapes, but Executive privilege
is constitutional.