The White House as a Black Box

Oral History and the Problem of Evidence in Presidential Studies

Bibliographic Data

ID6344244
AuthorsRussell L Riley (University of Virginia, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume57
Issue1
Pages187-206
Publication date2009-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0032-3217 • E-ISSN: 1467-9248
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-9248.2008.00730.x
OpenAlexW2085552344
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited13

Scholars who study the American presidency usually have to rely on indirect evidence for understanding the internal operations of the ‘black box’ that is a contemporaneous White House. Most of the direct evidence about White House behavior becomes available only after a president has left office, when confidential communications are opened to the public by the presidential libraries. In recent years, however, such direct evidence has become increasingly inaccessible, because of changes in the record-keeping habits of senior executive branch officials and because of the politics of archival release. This article explores the nature and extent of these problems, and how elite oral history interviewing can compensate for them. It further examines the strengths and weaknesses of oral history as a means of learning about the usually hidden workings of the American presidency

Elite · House of Representatives · Oral history · Political science · Politics · Presidency · Presidential system · Sociology · White (mutation · Law · Oral History, Memory, Narrative Analysis · Public Administration · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

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