The Glory and the Burden

Robert Schmuhl

Description

The Glory and the Burden: The American Presidency from FDR to Trump is a timely examination of the state of the American presidency and the forces that have shaped it over the past seventy-five years, with an emphasis on the dramatic changes that have taken place within the institution and to the individuals occupying the Oval Office.

In this fascinating book, Robert Schmuhl traces the evolution of the modern presidency back to the terms of Franklin Roosevelt, maintaining that FDR’s White House years had a profound impact on the office, resulting in significant changes to the job and to those who have performed it since. Specifically, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms, has largely redefined each administration’s agenda. News sources and social media have also grown exponentially, exercising influence over the conduct of presidents and affecting the consequences of their behavior.

Schmuhl examines the presidency as an institution and the presidents as individuals from several different perspectives. He identifies recent trends in the office and probes the relationship between the White House and various forms of contemporary media. This book is an engrossing read for a general audience, particularly those with an interest in politics, American history, journalism, and communications.

When Congress passed legislation creating Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, 13 (of 32) Republican senators joined 57 Democratic colleagues in the final roll-call that approved the two amendments to the Social Security Act of 1935. The day before, half of the House Republicans-70 of 140-voted in favor of the federal insurance programs for older and poorer Americans, with 237 of 293 Democratic members also saying "yea."

Forty-five years later in 2010, after the House and Senate debated the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," not a single Republican in either chamber on Capitol Hill supported that bill. One of the first bills Republicans pushed after regaining control of the House in 2011 carried this title: "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act" (H.R.2) Every House Republican voted for repeal, beginning a series of failed GOP attempts at overturning the legislation that continued throughout the next six years Barack Obama occupied the White House. As time passed, the designation of "Obamacare," which began as an epithet coined by conservative media, became unobjectionable-even to Obama and his administration-and it developed into the term most often used in referring to the program.

What had happened in American political life between the presidencies of Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama to increase and intensify partisanship in Washington to such a degree? Had members of the two major parties abandoned their positions near the political center to occupy more ideological territory on the extremes, either left or right? Was lockstep polarization, even political tribalism, replacing partisan yet practicable give-and-take to the point where charges of dysfunction began to be heard with almost daily frequency, and government shutdowns occurred with increasing regularity?

After the presidential election of 1964 (a year before Medicare and Medicaid passed), the U.S. political map began to look decidedly different from the past. Johnson lost five Southern states to his GOP opponent, Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Throughout the previous century-since Abraham Lincoln's election as the first Republican president and post-Civil War Reconstruction days-the South was so reliably Democratic that citizens residing below the Mason-Dixon Line were often called "Yellow Dog Democrats" for the simple reason that, according to regional lore, they preferred to cast their votes for any yellowish old cur than a Republican on the ballot. Even John Kennedy, a northern Catholic Democrat, carried most of Dixie four years earlier.

Johnson, who as the vice-presidential running mate helped Kennedy in the South (especially the winning of Texas), attributed the rise of Republican fortunes in 1964 to enactment of that year's Civil Right Act, outlawing employment discrimination and segregation in public places. In fact, shortly after signing the landmark bill on July 2, LBJ told one of his assistants: "I think we just delivered the South to the Republican Party for a long time to come." Except for George Wallace, once and future Alabama governor (over 16 years in office) and winner of five Southern states as a third-party presidential candidate in 1968, and Jimmy Carter, a former Georgia governor, who carried the South for Democrats in 1976, Johnson's prediction has proved largely true. A national policy initiative to confront prejudice and racism had enduring regional political consequences.

Interestingly, in the actual Congressional vote for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Republican support in the House was 76 percent-to 60 percent for Democrats. In the Senate, 82 percent of Republicans backed the legislation compared to 69 percent of Democrats. Though the seeds of significant change were planted in Southern soil, a bi-partisan approach, which you also see to a lesser degree with Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, continued for several years before Congress began to act with more pronounced party unity than the cross-party activity that previously existed. Both major parties used to be more diverse and heterogeneous, with Democrats combining conservative Southerners with liberal urban Northerners. Republicans boasted moderate, even in some cases liberal officeholders, in the North and throughout the Midwest, along with some conservatives, mainly in sunny climes. Each party featured a wide spectrum of political viewpoints.

Sujets

• Political Process
• Executive Branch
• American Government
• Political Science
• Politics Magazine
• Federal government of the United States
• Executive (government)

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 15 septembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268106751
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

The Glory and the Burden

T H E G L O R Y and — — T H E B U R D E N

The Amerîcan Presîdency from FDR to Trump

R O B E R T S C H M U H L

Unîversîty of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indîana

Uîéŝîy ô Nôé Dàé Péŝŝ Nôé Dàé, ïîàà 46556 ûpéŝŝ..éû

A Rîgŝ Réŝéé

Côpyîg © 2019 by Uîéŝîy ô Nôé Dàé

Pûbîŝé î é Uîé Sàéŝ ô Aéîcà

îbày ô Côgéŝŝ Côô Nûbé: 2019021436

ïSBN: 978-0-268-10673-7 (àbàck)

ïSBN: 978-0-268-10675-1 (WébPDF)

ïSBN: 978-0-268-10676-8 (Epûb)

∞ Thîs book îs prînted on acîd-free paper.

This e-Book was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at [e-mail]

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humor, and frîendshîp that endure

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