Presidential Power

Report Outline
Status of the Presidency in 1968
Founding Fathers' View of Presidency
Ebb and Flow of Presidential Power
Proposals for Reform of Presidency

Status of the Presidency in 1968

The man elected President of the United States on November 5 will succeed to the most powerful office in the world. The Presidency is not one office but several: The President is Chief Executive, Commander in Chief of the armed forces, Head of State, and head of his party. He is also the government's chief public information officer. “This role,” according to an Army general assigned to the White House, “has assumed greater and greater significance with the increased speed of modern communication—especially with the advent of television.”

The power of the Presidency is such that it may no longer be meaningful to classify Presidents as “weak” or “strong.” In the modern era, the President is virtually forced to be a strong executive. The powers of the office are not only those spelled out in Article II of the Constitution but also those established by precedent or authorized by Congress. Only about one President in three, according to the author of a landmark study of the Presidency, has contributed to the development of executive power. However, “Precedents established by a forceful or politically successful personality in the office are available to less gifted successors, and permanently so because of the difficulty of amending the Constitution.”

Presidents themselves often contend that their power is more potential than real. Harry S. Truman, envisioning in 1952 the problems that Dwight D. Eisenhower would encounter if elected President, said: “He'll sit here and he'll say, ‘Do this! Do that!’ And nothing will happen. Poor Ike—it won't be a bit like the Army. He'll find it very frustrating.” President Johnson recently exclaimed: “Power? The only power I've got is nuclear—and I can't use that.”