Presidential leadership : the political relations of Congress and the chief executive / Pendleton Herring ; with a new introduction by Sidney A. Pearson, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Herring, Pendleton, 1903-2004.

Series:

Library of liberal thought

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Executive power--United States.

Executive power.

United States.

United States--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

United States. Congress--Powers and duties.

United States. Congress.

Physical Description:

lvii, 173 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Transaction Publishers, [2006]

Summary:

The nature of the presidency is an issue that has been debated since the drafting of the United States Constitution. The Federalists felt a strong executive was the backbone and prime mover of a strong government. On the other side, the Anti-Federalists felt the presidency represented monarchical tendencies and could potentially subvert republican government. How does executive leadership fit in with a limited government with enumerated powers? Does the Constitution require a containment of executive power, even during times of crisis, or do times of crisis warrant an abandonment of a strict legalistic reading of the document?

In Presidential Leadership, Pendleton Herring contends that an energetic president is not a threat to existing democratic government "rightly understood." He does not advance an entirely Wilsonian response to the Founders on presidential leadership in which the federal government is seen as a pyramid with the president at its apex, and the British parliamentary system is seen as the model. Nor does he reject the Founders' constitutional design. Rather, Herring's conception of presidential leadership requires an executive who has a mastery of administration. The existing system is sufficiently plastic to be able to cope with any national crisis-but the president must be able to work within that system in the most efficient manner possible.

Sidney Pearson, in his comprehensive new introduction to this classic work, shows how Herring merges the views of the Founding Fathers with the Liberal-Progressives. He explains that Herring's model of a strong president is one who knows how to grasp opportunities as they arise, and then use them for the common good. Presidential Leadership is a pioneering study of the American presidency that established the standard for presidential scholarship.

Contents:

Transaction Introduction: The Founders' Presidency Meets the Modern World ix

I The Political Basis of Presidential Power 1

II Congressional Behavior 21

III Methods of Presidential Control 46

IV Proposals for Change 73

V The President's Entourage 92

VI The Limits of Presidential Responsibility 111

VII The Strength of Presidential Leadership 128

I War Powers of the President 147

II Presidential Cabinets 164.

Notes:

Originally published: New York : Rinehart & Co., 1940.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1412805562

OCLC:

61261421

Publisher Number:

9781412805568