CMC Presidency Course

Monday, February 2, 2026

Sprinting Through Presidential History: From Washington to Super Grover

For next time:

Maija Harkonen on the DC Program
First writing assignment
Read: TR, Taft, and Wilson excerpts on presidential power.

Apocryphal quotation by George III: He asked artist Benjamin West what Washington would do if American became independent. "He believed He would retire to a private situation.—The King said if He did He would be the greatest man in the world.” If he did say such a thing, why?

Treasury Secretary, Washington's the President
Ev'ry American experiment sets a precedent

-- From Hamilton

Washington Inauguration

Presidential power: Neutrality, Pacificus and Helvidius. The Neutrality Proclamation set a precedent for presidential power in foreign policy?

The Whiskey Rebellion -- precedent for assertion of federal authority

Washington on religious liberty:

May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.

May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.

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Farewell Address:

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.

The Election of 1800

Louisiana Purchase and implied powers

War of 1812

Monroe Doctrine:

In the discussions to which this interest has given rise and in the arrangements by which they may terminate the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers

. . .

With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the Governments who have declared their independence and maintain it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States.

Andrew Jackson

Veto as policy tool
Spoils system
Stand against nullifcation
Ethnic cleansing

Lincoln

Civil War timeline
Lincoln letter to Albert Hodges on presidential prerogative

Acting Solo: In the 80 days between the start of the war and the convening of Congress, Lincoln increased the size of the Army and Navy and spent money without appropriation.
Suspension of Habeas Corpus: Ruled unconstitutional in Ex parte Merryman, Lincoln ignored the ruling, setting a precedent for executive defiance of the judiciary during wartime.
Military Tribunals for Civilians: He authorized the trial of civilians by military courts in areas where civil courts were still operational, a practice later checked by the Supreme Court in Ex parte Milligan (1866).=

Executive orders and the Emancipation Proclamation
Rhetoric: Gettysburg Address and second inaugural

The Very Long Shadow of the Civil War

Between 1876 and 1892, no president won a majority of the popular vote:

1876 Hayes.......... 48.0*
1880 Garfield.......48.3
1884 Cleveland.....48.5
1888 Harrison.......47.8*
1892 Cleveland......46.1

What does it mean to "get right with Lincoln"?

Wednesday, January 28, 2026

The Constitution and the Presidency

For the write-up, answer one of the discussion questions at the end of the chapter 2. (Again, 250 words max)

For Monday:

In appraising presidents, consider not only what they did but what they refrained from doing. (See Ike, for instance)

ARTICLE II

Section 1

The Vesting Clause (Edwards 20-21): "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America."

Why only one president? Why not a troika or a board? Do US states have a form of plural executive power?

Federalist 70 and plurality in the executive:

But one of the weightiest objections to a plurality in the Executive, and which lies as much against the last as the first plan, is, that it tends to conceal faults and destroy responsibility. Responsibility is of two kinds -- to censure and to punishment. The first is the more important of the two, especially in an elective office. Man, in public trust, will much oftener act in such a manner as to render him unworthy of being any longer trusted, than in such a manner as to make him obnoxious to legal punishment. But the multiplication of the Executive adds to the difficulty of detection in either case. It often becomes impossible, amidst mutual accusations, to determine on whom the blame or the punishment of a pernicious measure, or series of pernicious measures, ought really to fall. It is shifted from one to another with so much dexterity, and under such plausible appearances, that the public opinion is left in suspense about the real author. The circumstances which may have led to any national miscarriage or misfortune are sometimes so complicated that, where there are a number of actors who may have had different degrees and kinds of agency, though we may clearly see upon the whole that there has been mismanagement, yet it may be impracticable to pronounce to whose account the evil which may have been incurred is truly chargeable.

Unitary Theory of the Executive -- the most extreme form

"Natural born citizen" -- Why?

Election of the president -- for Feb 16, 18.

Vacancies -- see also 25th Amendment and Presidential Succession Act. The problem with Designated Survivor

The oath (keep in mind next week when we discuss Lincoln).

What he actually swore on:

Roberts screwed up:

Section 2

"The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States" (Edwards 47-49).

"[He] shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."

"He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States..."

Section 3

"He] shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States."

Sunday, January 25, 2026

A First Look at Presidential Power and Leadership

For Wednesday, read The Constitution, Article II

What is leadership? The Founders usually used the word leader in a negative sense.

Director or Facilitator?

A related distinction

Approaches

Legal

Article II
Statutes: Why does Congress cede power?

The Insurrection Act"
Emergency legislation
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq.): empowers POTUS TO suspend the entry of "any class of aliens" deemed detrimental to the interests of the United States.

Institutional

Bureaucratic politics
Organizational processes and SOPs
What is "The Deep State"? (JFK excerpt at 14 min)

Political Power

Support from the general public and specific constituencies. How do they attain and retain it?
Money
Alliances with political elites

Psychological

Psychobiographies

Incomplete evidence (esp. for living presidents)
Reductionism and bad theory
Bias

Studies of group dynamics and cognition are more valuable

Also: the trappings and prestige of the office. See Carter at 2:18

Something to keep in mind during any discussion of presidential power: Where you stand depends on where you sit, or whom you support. Take signing statements:

May 19, 2008, in Billings, Montana

As president, Obama issued 37 signing statements.

Also consider not only what they did but what they refrained from doing.

Why only one president? Why not a troika or a board? Do US states have a form of plural executive power>?

Federalist 70 and plurality in the executive:

But one of the weightiest objections to a plurality in the Executive, and which lies as much against the last as the first plan, is, that it tends to conceal faults and destroy responsibility. Responsibility is of two kinds -- to censure and to punishment. The first is the more important of the two, especially in an elective office. Man, in public trust, will much oftener act in such a manner as to render him unworthy of being any longer trusted, than in such a manner as to make him obnoxious to legal punishment. But the multiplication of the Executive adds to the difficulty of detection in either case. It often becomes impossible, amidst mutual accusations, to determine on whom the blame or the punishment of a pernicious measure, or series of pernicious measures, ought really to fall. It is shifted from one to another with so much dexterity, and under such plausible appearances, that the public opinion is left in suspense about the real author. The circumstances which may have led to any national miscarriage or misfortune are sometimes so complicated that, where there are a number of actors who may have had different degrees and kinds of agency, though we may clearly see upon the whole that there has been mismanagement, yet it may be impracticable to pronounce to whose account the evil which may have been incurred is truly chargeable.

"I was overruled by my council. The council were so divided in their opinions that it was impossible to obtain any better resolution on the point." These and similar pretexts are constantly at hand, whether true or false. And who is there that will either take the trouble or incur the odium, of a strict scrunity into the secret springs of the transaction? Should there be found a citizen zealous enough to undertake the unpromising task, if there happen to be collusion between the parties concerned, how easy it is to clothe the circumstances with so much ambiguity, as to render it uncertain what was the precise conduct of any of those parties?

The oath (keep in mind next week when we discuss Lincoln). Roberts screwed up:

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Thinking About the Presidency

For Monday, read Edwards ch. 1-2 (not very long)

The American system is not the norm.

Head of Government and Head of State
Cabinets

The executive is different from the legislative branch:

1 v 535
Importance of history
The War Power

The president has a totally unchecked power to start a nuclear war. The process exists to authenticate the president's commands, not to challenge them.

The football

Do not count on being able to shoot down an incoming ICBM

Friday, January 16, 2026

CMC Presidency Syllabus Spring 2026

Gov 102 Syllabus Fall 2025

DRAFT: SUBJECT TO CHANGE

American Presidency

CMC Government 102 Spring 2026

MW 11 AM - 12:15 PM

Roberts North 15

ZOOM: https://cmc-its.zoom.us/j/92228697468

J.J. Pitney

Office: Kravis 232

E-mail: jpitney@cmc.edu

Web: http://www1.cmc.edu/pages/faculty/JPitney/

Student Hours

Monday and Wednesday, 1-2 PM, and whenever I am in my office and not looking grumpy.
If these times are inconvenient, just make an appointment for an in-person or Zoom meeting.

Purpose of the Course

Few offices shape American life more than the presidency, and few have changed more radically. Recent presidents have stretched executive power in ways that would have surprised the Framers, while Congress, the courts, and the bureaucracy have responded unevenly. Executive orders, emergency powers, polarization, social media, and nonstop crises have transformed how presidents govern and how the public judges them. This course equips you to move beyond partisan reactions and social media narratives, giving you the analytical tools to understand what presidents can do, what they should do, and what the future of the office may hold.

This course will pose these questions:

How does the Constitution both empower and restrain the president?
How do the decisions and reputations of past presidents affect the choices of their successors?
How and why has power shifted between the White House and Congress?
How do presidents manage aides and agencies?
What does it take to win and keep the presidency?
How do presidents make high-stakes decisions on war, diplomacy, and domestic policy?
And where is the American presidency headed next?

By the end of the course, you should be able to analyze presidential power with precision, skepticism, and historical perspective, and to see beyond headlines to the institutional forces at work.

Classes

Class meetings combine lecture and discussion. Come prepared: completing the readings before class is essential, since discussion will assume familiarity with them.

We will also regularly connect course material to breaking news, so you should follow a high-quality daily news source such as Axios or Politico. Presidential power does not operate in a vacuum, and neither will this course.

Blog

Our class blog is at https://gov102.blogspot.com/. I will post videos, graphs, news stories, and supplemental material there throughout the semester. Some of this content will come up in class; the rest is there to deepen your understanding at your own pace.

You will receive an invitation to post on the blog (let me know if you don’t). I strongly encourage you to use it to:

Raise questions or comments about the readings before we discuss them in class;
Extend or challenge points from class discussions;
Share relevant news stories, data, or videos about Congress

Think of the blog as an extension of the classroom.

Grades

Your course grade will have these components:

Two four-page essays — 20% each
One three-page essay — 15%
One six-page essay — 30%
Participation and weekly reflections — 15%

The papers will sharpen your research, analytical, and writing skills. Writing quality matters. In grading, I will apply the principles of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. If you object to this standard, you should not take this course -- or any other course I teach.

In addition to the assigned readings, I may distribute documents, data, and links related to current events or background material. Your papers may draw on and analyze these sources.

Participation includes both in-class and online engagement. I will call on students at random. Frequent absences or lack of preparation will affect your grade. The goal is not to catch you unprepared, but to hone your ability to think clearly and respond effectively under pressure. This skill matters far beyond college.

Finally, by Thursday of each week, you will email me a brief reflection (no more than 250 words) responding to the readings and class discussions. These reflections will help you process the material and develop your own analytical voice.

Details

Check due dates for coursework. Do not plan on extensions.
As a courtesy to your fellow students, please arrive on time, and refrain from eating in class.
I strongly recommend that you take notes the old-fashioned way, by hand, on paper. Why? Research shows that it works better.
Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty are not victimless offenses, because they hurt fellow students. Please study our Statement of Academic Integrity, which reads in part: "Each faculty member has the responsibility to report cases of academic dishonesty to the Academic Standards Committee."
You may use AI to brainstorm, format graphs, and locate sources, but misrepresenting AI-generated content as your own original work constitutes plagiarism.
This class welcomes viewpoint diversity. See: https://heterodoxacademy.org/library/advice-on-syllabus-language/
Your experience in this class matters to me, and I have a particular interest in disability. If you have set up accommodations with Accessibility Services at CMC, please tell me about your approved accommodations so we can discuss your needs. You can start by forwarding your accommodation letter to me. If you have not yet set up accommodations but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability, please email Ari Martinez, Associate Director of Accessibility Services, at accessibilityservices@cmc.edu to ask questions and start the process. For general information and the Request for Accommodations form, go to the CMC Accessibility Services website.

Required Book

George C. Edwards III, Kenneth R. Mayer, Stephen J. Wayne, Presidential Leadership: Politics and Policy Making, 13th ed. (Rowman and Littlefield/Bloomsbury, 2025).

Also see links on my Presidency page.

Schedule (subject to change, with notice)

Jan 21: Introduction

"Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save." -- Psalm 146:3.

Jan 26, 28: Presidential Power

Hamilton: Mr. President, they will say you’re weak...
Washington: No, they will see we’re strong...
Hamilton: Your position is so unique...
Washington: So I’ll use it to move them along.

-- Lin-Manuel Miranda, "One Last Time," in Hamilton

Edwards, ch. 1-2.
The Constitution, Article II

Feb 2, 4: Sprinting Through Presidential History, Part I

"Viewed from the genuine abolition ground, Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold, dull, and indifferent; but measuring him by the sentiment of his country, a sentiment he was bound as a statesman to consult, he was swift, zealous, radical, and determined." -- Frederick Douglass

Four-page paper assigned Feb 4, due Feb 20.

Read Strunk and White first.

Feb 9, 11: Sprinting Through Presidential History, Part II

"Franklin Roosevelt was the first President I ever voted for, the first to serve in my lifetime that I regarded as a hero, and the first I ever actually saw." - Ronald Reagan

William Leuchtenberg, In the Shadow of FDR, 4th ed. (Cornell University Press, 2009), excerpts. ON CANVAS.
Eisenhower's 1961 farewell address
Gregory Frame, "The Myth of John F. Kennedy in Film and Television," Film & History (Winter 2016). ON CANVAS.
Douglas E. Schoen, The Nixon Effect: How Richard Nixon's Presidency Fundamentally Changed American Politics (New York: Encounter, 2016), excerpts ON CANVAS.

Feb 16, 18: Presidential Selection

"It’s not the voting that’s democracy; it’s the counting." -- Tom Stoppard

Edwards, ch. 3-4.

Feb 23, 25: The Public Presidency I

"ACTION IS CHARACTER." -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Edwards, ch. 5
Nixon memo to Haldeman, December 4, 1970, https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/index.php/research/almanac/december-4-1970
Reagan, 1983 "Evil Empire" speech in Orlando: both the manuscript (see link here) and the video/transcript
Peggy Noonan, What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era (New York: Random House, 1990), ch. 5. (on Canvas).

Four-page essay assigned Feb 23, due Mar 13.

Mar 2, 4: The Public Presidency II

"We once wrote, `This nation will prepare. We will not live in fear. We choose to fight them there, so we don't have to fight them here,' only to read it aloud and realize it sounded less like Winston Churchill than Dr. Seuss." -- Matthew Scully, on writing for George W. Bush

Edwards, ch. 6-7.

Mar. 9, 11: The Structure of the Presidency

"All vice presidents eat enormous bowls of feces. That's the job." -- Jonah Goldberg (P `25)

Edwards, ch. 8-9.

Mar 16: 18: Spring Break

Mar 23, 25: The Executive Branch

"[The] first opinion which one forms of a prince, and of his understanding, is by observing the men he has around him; and when they are capable and faithful he may always be considered wise, because he has known how to recognize the capable and to keep them faithful. But when they are otherwise one cannot form a good opinion of him, for the prime error which he made was in choosing them. -- Machiavelli

Edwards, ch. 10.

Mar 30, Apr 1: The President and Congress

"If Donald Trump says 'Jump three feet high and scratch your heads,' we all jump three feet high and scratch our heads." -- Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX)

Edwards, ch. 11.
Ted Gittinger and Allen Fisher, "LBJ Champions the Civil Rights Act," Prologue (Summer 2004), https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/summer/civil-rights-act

Apr 6, 8: Judiciary and Civil Rights

"[T]he data suggests that in the 13 appellate courts, there is increasingly such a thing as a Trump judge. The president’s appointees voted to allow his policies to take effect 133 times and voted against them only 12 times. Ninety-two percent of their total votes were in favor of the administration." -- Mattathias Schwartz and Emma Schartz, NY Times

Edwards, ch. 12

Six-page paper due April 17.

Apr 13, 15: Foreign Policy and National Security I

President Obama: “On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space… This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.”
President Medvedev: “I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.”–Exchange between President Obama and Dmitri Medvedev, on hot mic, March 26, 2012

Edwards, Ch. 14.
Office of the President, "National Security Strategy of the United States," November 2025, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf

Three-page paper assigned Apr 20,

due by May 6

Apr 20, 22: Foreign Policy and National Security II

General Anthony Brady: "We've already lost one American city, sir. How many more do you want to risk?"
POTUS: "What kind of f------ question is that? That's insanity, okay?"
General Anthony Brady: "No, Mister President. That's reality." -- from A House of Dynamite

In-class exercises using Council on Foreign Relations, Mini-simulations

Apr 27, 29: Domestic and Economic Policy

"If simple, painless solutions to public problems existed, they would have been found long ago." -- Alice Rivlin

Edwards, ch. 13,

May 4, 6: The Future of the Presidency

"You don't have to be old in America to say of a world you lived in, that world is gone." -- Peggy Noonan

Readings on recent presidential action, TBA

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

King & Gruber v. Burwell

Our favorite ACA adviser is back in the news. Jonathan Gruber went before the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday and apologized for his comments about the "stupidity" of the American people in videos continue to serve as an anti-Obamacare wellspring. As the Democrats distanced themselves from Gruber's remarks, Elijah Cummings ended up on an unlikely tag team with Darrell Issa to berate Gruber. Although Issa denied this, you can be the judge.

A recent Vox article argues that the most substantive aspect of Gruber's comments could be his implication that subsidies were only supposed to be given in state run marketplaces. This seems to support the plaintiff's case in King v. Burwell. This case, which, on November 7th, the Supreme Court decided to review, threatens the subsidies of thirty-six states.