Imperial Presidency: Overview

Imperial Presidency: Overview


     In his book, The Imperial Presidency, Arthur Schlesinger recounts the

rise of the presidency  as it grew into the imperial, powerful position that it

is today. His writing reflects a belief that the presidency is becoming too

powerful and that very few people are making a real effort to stop it. He

analyzes the back and forth struggle for power between Congress and the

Presidency. Schlesinger breaks up the first half of the book chronologically. He

begins by discussing the areas concerning the presidency where the founding

fathers agreed and also the areas where they disagreed. He then goes on to

analyze the rise of the imperial presidency through war and recovery, with

emphasis on the events of the twentieth century. After the war in Vietnam,

Schlesinger divides the book based on the specific nature of the events that had

an impact on presidential power. He divides it based on domestic policy, foreign

policy, and the affairs that go on in secrecy.

     Schlesinger provides an incredible amount of evidence to recount the ups

and downs of the imperial presidency. He provides a base for his argument with

an in-depth view of what the framers intended and how they set the stage for

development over the next two centuries. An issue that Schlesinger focuses on is

the presidents ability to make war. The decisions of the founders in this area

would have a huge impact on the power contained in the office of the president.

The consensus amongst the framers was that the president, as Commander in Chief,

had the ability to defend the United States and its interests, but the ability

to declare war was vested in the Congress. This decision set the stage for the

struggles between the president and congress. He also discussed the debate over

the power institutionalized in the presidency. At the time, there were two

schools of thought on the subject. Hamilton supported an active president, while

Jefferson argued in favor of a passive president. The final draft included a

compromise of the two theories. There was also some debate over the power of the

president versus the power of congress. Additionally, there was a compromise

made over this issue when writing the final draft. The spirit of compromise

amongst the founders was what provided a viable and secure base for the future

of the presidency.

     After his discussion of the founders, Schlesinger shifts to the

president's powers of war. He analyzes every war, excluding the Revolution, that

the United States has participated in up to and including the war in Vietnam. He

discusses the specifics of each scenario and the way in which the president

handles it. Schlesinger develops the slowly growing power of the presidency by

recounting the actions that the president carried out on his own as well as

those that required the consent of Congress to be accomplished. As time

progressed, Schlesinger made note of all the major events that increased and

decreased the power of the presidency. For example, he discusses the almost

dictatorial power of Lincoln during the Civil War and then the impeachment of

Andrew Johnson shortly thereafter. These are two events that are indicative of

the seesaw struggle between the presidency and Congress. Schlesinger goes on to

discuss additional examples of conflict between the presidency and Congress such

as the dominance of Congress during the late 1800's, the annexation of Texas,

the Great Depression, W.W.II, the Korean War, and the war in Vietnam.

     Schlesinger focuses a great deal of attention on the events of the

twentieth century, because, in part, this was when the power of the presidency

vaulted to the level that it currently maintains. The reason for this, in

addition to what the early presidents had done, was that the government was

growing fast and the role of the government was increasing. There were many gray

areas in which the president could extend his power. The power of the president

to make war as Commander in Chief is an example of a gray area where the

presi
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