Discuss how presidents have (and have not) wielded these powers and the tools available to presidents to further their goals. This, in brief, is the topic of your paper. Part of why we examine presidential power and success is to understand what is desirable in presidential leadership and what, ultimately, leads to success and greatness.
You will address these topics in the context of a comparison between two former presidents, assigned to you by me; one of these presidents is generally considered a success by experts, the other not.
The readings for the course relevant to presidential success distinguish between factors that are external to the President (e.g., party control of Congress, public opinion) and factors that are internal to the President (e.g., skill, personality). Your paper should be written as an empirical research paper, complete with a thesis, a broad discussion of internal and external factors (literature review), and a discussion of your case studies. The structure that follows should guide your comparison of these two presidents and the comparison should answer the question of which factors contributed to the success of one and the failure of the other.
Theodore Roosevelt and John Tyler: two Vice Presidents who ascended to the presidency upon the death of the President
1. Introduction
As with any introduction to a research paper, you should provide a broad context for your research. Put another way, write here about why we should care about presidential success and greatness.
Your introduction must also include your argument regarding whether external or internal factors are most important to determining presidential success.
Your introduction should include a thesis written similarly to:
(Internal / External) factors are most important to determining presidential success.
2. External Factors
In this section, you should discuss the factors external to the President that have been used to explain presidential success.
At the very least, you must discuss and cite Chapter 8 of Presidential Leadership and the relevant potions from Chapter 5 (pp. 209-217, 232-242) of The Politics of the Presidency.
3. Internal Factors
In this section, you should discuss the factors internal to the President that have been used to explain presidential success.
At the very least, you must discuss and cite Chapter 11 of Presidential Leadership and the relevant potions from Chapter 4 (pp. 146-193) and Chapter 5 (pp. 209-217, 232-242) of The Politics of the Presidency.
4. Case Study of First President (Successful) Include a brief (one paragraph) biography of the President, including the years he served as
President.
What major events happened during this presidency?
How did the President respond to these events? Put another way, what were the major successes and/or failures of this President?
5. Case Study of Second President (Unsuccessful)
Include a brief (one paragraph) biography of the President, including the years he served as President.
What major events happened during this presidency?
How did the President respond to these events? Put another way, what were the major successes and/or failures of this President?
6. Discussion
Considering your discussion in sections 2 and 3 of external and internal factors, what did these factors look like for each of your presidents?
Are the general success of the first president and the general failure of the second more attributable to external or internal factors?
7. Conclusion
A good conclusion will restate your argument, briefly restate the supporting information, and speculate on the implications of your findings.
Do you think we as a public should pay more or less attention to personal characteristics when deciding whom to elect President of the United States?
Guidelines
This is a research paper, which means you are expected to support your arguments with the presentation of appropriate evidence. You are required to cite at least 6 sources in your paper, 4 of which are as follows:
Presidential Leadership, chapter 1, by Richard Waterman and Bert Rockman
Presidential Leadership, chapter 8, by Richard Fleisher, Jon Bond, and B. Dan Wood
Presidential Leadership, chapter 11, by Fred Greenstein
The Politics of the Presidency, by Joseph Pika and John Maltese
In addition to these four sources, you must include and cite information from a published, print biography of each president in your assigned pair. Biographical information from the Internet, including the White House website, does not count as a published biography
Require Books
Pika, Joseph A. and John A. Maltese. 2014. The Politics of the Presidency, Revised 8th ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
ISBN: 9781452239941
Rockman, Bert A. and Richard W. Waterman, ed. 2008. Presidential Leadership: The Vortex of Power. New York: Oxford University Press.
ISBN: 9780195332513