Woodrow Wilson

DURING the past half century the American people have come to look to the President for leadership in legislative policy, as well as in foreign affairs and administration. Most of our Presidents have responded by formulating legislative programs and working for their enactment. Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Harry Truman sought to dramatize their proposals by characterizing them the Square Deal, the New Freedom, the New Deal, and the Fair Deal. While our other twentieth century Presidents have been less conspicuous for their legislative leadership, they have not been completely inactive or unaware of this responsibility. Even the conservative New Englander, Calvin Coolidge, acknowledged that because ... . Congress becomes subservient to the importunities of organized minorities . . . the President comes more and more to stand as the champion of the rights of the whole country. 1 Considering the wide acceptance of the chief executive's role as the nation's chief legislator, there has been a remarkable variation in the success of the several Presidents in obtaining the enactment of their legis. lative programs. This variation has been ascribed largely to the personalities of the incumbents and to the domestic and international situations at the time of their presidencies. It has been explained, for example, that Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt were strong, forceful leaders and that they directed the course of the nation during times of domestic and international emergencies; while William Howard Taft and Warren Harding did not possess such masterful personalities, and occupied the White House during more normal times. The general validity of this analysis is hardly debatable; yet, a detailed investigation of the methods, procedures, and institutions utilized by our chief executives in their relations with Congress will add further insight into the reasons for the differing degrees of success which they attained in their attempts to guide legislative action. Because our founding fathers made so few provisions for presidential leadership in the formation of legislative policy, the chief executive must rely largely upon extraconstitutional procedures and devices, if he is to guide Congressional action. True, the chief executive can influence legislation through presidential messages, the veto, and the power to convene Congress in special session; but in the last analysis, his success as a national

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• Woodrow Wilson and the Study of Administration

  Open Access•Richard J Stillman•American Political Science Review•1973

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