Government 334
The United States Presidency
Ron Seyb
Ladd 311
Ext. 5248
Office Hours:
M & W, 1:30-3:30 PM
Fall 2014
Course Description
This course focuses on the development and properties of the "modern" or
post-FDR presidency. The first 2/3 of the course will trace the evolution of the
modern presidency, paying particular attention to the roles Woodrow Wilson
and Franklin Delano Roosevelt played in creating a presidency responsible for
managing a large administrative state, initiating domestic legislation, setting
foreign and national security policy, and communicating with the public. The
last 1/3 of the course will take-up a series of case studies of presidential
leadership, focusing on how six different presidents (Eisenhower, Johnson,
Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and Obama) sought—and, in Obama’s case, continue to
seek—to use the resources of the modern presidency to place their stamp on
public policy.
Course Requirements
40% of your final grade will be determined by your performance in a
presidential campaign simulation.
30% of your final grade will be determined by your performance on a 1015 page term paper. This paper will be due on Friday, December 5.
30% of your final grade will be determined by your performance on an inclass final examination to be administered on Wednesday, December 17 at 1:30
PM.
Course Goals
The course is designed to enable students to:
1. Understand that the modern presidency is the product of a
developmental trajectory that can only be understood by examining the
institution’s past
2. Engage with the debate about the origins and significance of “the
rhetorical presidency”
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3. Appreciate the ways that changes in the presidency have produced
systemic consequences that are not easily understood without first
understanding the office’s development
4. Understand that presidential leadership is a function of both individual
presidents’ political skills and temperaments and institutional
opportunities and constraints
Attendance
You are allowed to miss four (4) classes. There are no excused absences.
I do not grant excused absences for two reasons: (1) I have found that my ability
to discriminate between a valid and invalid reasons for missing class rivals my
ability to discriminate between an Alabama and an Auburn fan (perhaps because
they both have their priorities exactly right) and (2) Four absences allow you to
miss over a week of class without incurring any penalty. Such an attendance
policy is illegal in 37 states and Oceania, the latter because it needs a quorum to
continue to qualify as a continent. I will treat tardies as absences. I do often say
significant things at the outset of class about readings, assignments, why the title
“Queen Bey” is not recognized by the British Commonwealth, etc. It is hence
important that you be present every MWF at 12:20 PM.
I will deduct 2% from your final grade for each absence you accrue over
the 4 absence limit (e.g., a student who earns a cumulative score of “90” (A-)
on the course assignments who compiles 5 absences will receive an “88” (B+)
for the course).
If you reach four absences, I will send you an email alerting you that
your next absence will cause me to deduct 2%from your course grade.
You should also keep in mind that according to the Academic Information
Guide "any students who miss more than a third of the (class) sessions may
expect to be barred from (the final examination). In such cases, the course
grade will be recorded as F."
Laptops and Tablets
Laptops and tablets are not allowed in class. I do understand that this
policy places me farther behind the times than Theodoric of York, Medieval
Barber (I, nonetheless, continue to recommend that everyone get a good bleeding
prior to swimsuit season). I also, however, understand the natural inclination
(one that, by the way, I share) to review during slack moments in the
presentation Shoshanna Shapiro GIFs to make sure that you do not miss any new
takes on her simultaneously off-putting and irresistible goofiness. While I
recognize that some of you may be unaccustomed to taking notes by hand,
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please trust me when I say that this is an important skill to learn, and not merely
because you may not always have a laptop or tablet in your holster. There is an
emerging consensus among scholars that taking notes by hand enhances recall
and understanding of class material (see, for example, Robinson Meyer, “To
Remember a Lecture Better, Take Notes by Hand, The Atlantic, May 1, 2014).
Students who have a disability that precludes them from taking notes by hand
must provide me with documentation testifying to their needs by the end of
the second week of classes (i.e., Friday, September 12).
Cell and Smart Phones
I will not ask you to send your cellphone to play on a farm upstate during
class. I know that the separation anxiety that arrives soon after you lose track of
your phone is more acute than anything that even Sartre could imagine. I will,
however, ask that you turn off these devices during class. If I do see you texting
in class, then I will write you an email following class urging you to desist for all
of the reasons of which you are undoubtedly aware. If you repeat this offense,
then I will ask you not to bring your phone to class. A third transgression will
compel me, reluctantly, to deduct 5 points from your course grade. I will not
entertain any challenges to my judgment that you are texting in class. Your
most prudent course is thus to do nothing in class that could even cause me to
think that you might be texting (i.e., do not try to execute the standard one hand
under the desk, head cocked at a side angle, eyes downcast posture that is
approved by no chiropractor with whom I am acquainted)
Books
The following books are available at The Skidmore Shop for less than it
cost President Obama to do a reverse Fraulein Maria by turning his tan suit into
curtains:
Jeffrey Cohen, Going Local: Presidential Leadership in the Post-Broadcast Age
Marc Landy and Sidney Milkis, Presidential Greatness
Michael Nelson, The Evolving Presidency
Jeffrey Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency
Important Note about The Hodges Harbrace Handbook
All Government majors are now required to own a copy of The Hodges
Harbrace Handbook. While it would be ideal if you owned the most recent edition
of this style guide (the 18th edition), you certainly can manage with an earlier
edition in the same way that Nick Cannon manages to be grating even without
Mariah Carey.
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Weekly Topics and Reading Assignments
Note: An asterisk (*) denotes a reading available on Blackboard
Week 1 (September 3-5): The Constitutional Presidency
Readings: *Forrest McDonald, “The Convention,” from The American Presidency:
An Intellectual History
Nelson, Document #1: The Constitution
Week 2 (September 8-12): Abraham Lincoln and Presidential Prerogative
Readings: Landy and Milkis, Chapter 5
Nelson, Document #14: Abraham Lincoln’s Letter to Albert G.
Hodges
SIMULATION ROLE PREFERENCE SHEET DUE (Must Be Submitted by 5:00
PM)
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8
Week 3 (September 15-19): The Mute Tribune
Readings: Tulis, Chapters 1 and 2
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 (Must be Submitted by 5:00 PM)
Week 4 (September 22-26): George Washington as "Enlightened Statesman”
Readings: Landy and Milkis, Chapter 2
Nelson, Document #4: George Washington’s First Inaugural Address
Nelson, Document #6: The Pacificus-Helvidius Letters
Week 5 (September 29-October 3): Thomas Jefferson and the Emergence of the
American Party System
Readings: Landy and Milkis, Chapter 3
Nelson, Document #8: Thomas Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address
Week 6 (October 6-10) Theodore Roosevelt and the Transition to the Rhetorical
Presidency
Readings: Tulis, Chapter 4
FIRST SIMULATION EVENT
DOMESTIC POLICY DEBATES
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9
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Week 7 (October 13-17): The Wilsonian Revolution
Readings: Tulis, Chapter 5
*Woodrow Wilson, “Leaders of Men”
Nelson, Document #43: Jimmy Carter’s Crisis of Confidence Speech
Week 8 (October 20-22): FDR and the Making of the Modern Presidency
Readings: Landy and Milkis, Chapter 6
*William Leuchtenburg, “Crash,” Chapter 7 in William Leuchtenburg,
Herbert Hoover
*Huey Long, “Share Our Wealth Speech,” March 12, 1935
TERM PAPER TOPICS DUE (Must be Submitted by 5:00 PM)
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22
Week 9 (October 27-31): Presidential Leadership I: Eisenhower's HiddenHand
Readings: *David Greenstein, “’The Hidden-Hand Presidency: Eisenhower as
Leader’ a 1994 Perspective,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 24(2)
(Spring 1994)
*David Greenberg, “The Romance of Realism,” The New Republic
(May 4, 2012)
Week 10 (November 3-7): Presidential Leadership II: LBJ and the Brokering of
the Great Society
Readings: *Carl M. Brauer, “Kennedy, Johnson, and the War on Poverty,”
The Journal of American History 69(1) (June 1982)
*Michael O’Donnell, “How LBJ Saved the Civil Rights Act,” The
Atlantic (April 2014)
Nelson, Document #34: Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” Speech
SECOND SIMULATION EVENT
FOREIGN AND NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY DEBATES
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6
Week 11 (November 10-14): Presidential Leadership III: Richard Nixon’s
Corporate Presidency
Readings: *David Greenberg, "Nixon in American Memory”
*Barbara Kellerman, “Richard Nixon and the Family Assistance
Plan,” Chapter 8 in Barbara Kellerman, The Political Presidency
Week 12 (November 17-21) Presidential Leadership IV: Ronald Reagan as
“The Great Communicator"
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Readings: *Hugh Heclo, “The Mixed Legacies of Ronald Reagan,” Presidential
Studies Quarterly 38(4) (December 2008)
*Colleen J. Shogan, “Coolidge and Reagan: The Rhetorical Influence
of Silent Cal on the Great Communicator,” Rhetoric and Public
Affairs 9(2) (Summer 2006)
Nelson, Document #44: Ronald Reagan’s First Inaugural Address
Week 13 (November 24): Catch-Up
Readings: No Reading
THIRD SIMULATION EVENT
PRESENTATION OF POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENTS
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24
Week 14: December 1-5), George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Presidential
Leadership in the Post-Broadcast Age
Readings: Cohen, Introduction and Chapters 1-4
TERM PAPER DUE
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5
Week 15 (December 8-10): Review for the Final Examination
Readings: No Reading
FOURTH SIMULATION EVENT:
FINAL SPEECHES AND VOTE
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11
FINAL EXAMINATION, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1:30-4:30 PM, LADD
207
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