My attempt to speak, all at once, to readers with diverse interests in American politics—political development, political behavior, or political thought—was nurtured by a number of outstanding scholars of the presidency whose own work sets a high standard for research in one or more of these fields. Benjamin I. Page saw the merit of trying to address diverse audiences and provided guidance on how to do so. Elmer Cornwell planted the seed of this study in my head several years before I “discovered” the topic. Fred I. Greenstein unstintingly provided helpful criticism and allowed me to draw upon the vast bibliography on American politics that he carries in his head. Whatever merit this book displays as a theoretical work derives from the wisdom of my teacher, Herbert J. Storing.
A number of colleagues at Princeton took time from their own work to read mine. My thanks to Walter F. Murphy, Ezra Suleiman, Jameson Doig, and Robert C. Tucker for their suggestions on early drafts of various chapters. I am grateful to Anne Norton and Sheldon Wolin for illuminating discussions of several of the issues I treat.
Numerous colleagues at other institutions offered critiques of the text, forums to try out some ideas, or the opportunity to read their own related work in progress. I would like to thank Larry Arnhart, Peri Arnold, John Burke, Joseph Cropsey, Juan De Pascuale, Robert Eden, Ester Fuchs, J. David Greenstone, Samuel Kernell, Carnes Lord, and Uday Mehta for their various kindnesses, and I would especially like to thank the referees for Princeton University Press, Theodore Lowi and Michael Nelson, for their thoughtful reports.
I indicate a number of specific debts in the footnotes, but I shall also mention here a number of individuals whose own work has considerably influenced mine: Sotirios A. Barber, Joseph M. Bessette, James W. Ceaser, William F. Harris II, Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., Gary J. Schmitt, and Glen E. Thurow.
The opportunity to work with very capable graduate students at Notre Dame and Princeton has been a special pleasure. I would like to thank particularly all those who served as teaching assistants in my course on the presidency. The diligence and insight of my research assistant, Ines Molinaro, greatly enhanced the book.
The American Council of Learned Societies and, through it, the National Endowment for the Humanities provided a fellowship that enabled me to write free from regular teaching responsibilities. Michael Francis, on behalf of the Department of Government at Notre Dame, provided support for research assistance on Chapter 5. The Princeton University Committee on Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences provided support for assistance on Chapter 3. This project builds upon earlier work on rhetoric, leadership, and constitutionalism conducted at the White Burkett Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. I am especially grateful for the encouragement of the Center’s first director, Frederick E. Nolting. I appreciate the good guidance provided by Princeton University Press’s new director, Walter Lippincott, and by my editors, Gail Ullman, and Sherry Wert. Slightly different versions of some material in Chapters 2 and 5 appeared as “The Two Constitutional Presidencies,” in The Presidency and the Political System, ed. Michael Nelson (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 1983). Permission from Congressional Quarterly, Inc. to incorporate this material is gratefully acknowledged.
My wife, Jean Ehrenberg, lent her talents as historian to Chapter 3, and as psychologist to the whole endeavor. My family’s patience and care were indispensable to the book’s completion.