Second Assignment, Spring 2026

 Pick one:

Option 1

President Trump delivers the State of the Union on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. Your job is to track one major policy initiative from the speech and analyze the message war that follows: how Republicans try to sell it, how Democrats counter it, and who -- if anyone -- "wins" the first five days (i.e., through the Sunday morning talk shows). Use public opinion data plus other indicators (message pickup, elite cues, media narratives, and any measurable movement you can document). Be explicit about what “win” means in your analysis.  You may find polling data at major media outlets and these sites:

• RealClearPolitics
• Pew Research
• Polling Report

Option 2

Compare and contrast Vice President Vance with any other vice president since Nixon's tenure as Eisenhower's veep. Has the vice presidency become more powerful, more specialized, more political, or more presidential over time?  Ponder how much of the difference stems from personalities or institutional evolution.  Consider each veep's relationship with the president, policy portfolio (if any), and political role. You must use at least: one memoir by a president or vice president, one scholarly book or peer-reviewed article, and of course, reputable news articles. 

Option 3

From the list of internship placements on the White House website, select one office where you would like to intern.  Tell why you chose this office.  Go beyond the official description and write a grounded explanation of what this office really does and how much influence it really has.  Use primary sources (e.g., executive orders, press releases, public speeches, internal memos obtained via FOIA, news coverage of key policy actions, or published interviews with former staff). Also look at books and articles about White House staff. Your goal here is to tell what the office actually produces and how it fits into presidential governance, not what it claims to do. Finally, why would it be a good fit for you?

The specifications:

• Essays should be typed (12-point), double-spaced, and no more than four pages long. I will not read past the fourth page. 
• Please submit all papers in this course as Word documents, not Google docs or pdfs.
• Read Strunk & White and my stylesheet (with links to model papers). Watch my writing lecture.
• Cite your sources. Please use endnotes in the format of the Chicago Manual of Style.  Endnotes do not count against the page limit. Please do not use footnotes, which take up too much page space.
• Misrepresenting AI-generated content as your own work is plagiarism and will result in severe consequences
• Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you. Return essays to the Canvas dropbox for this class by 11:59 PM, Friday, March 13. (If you have trouble with Canvas, simply email it to me as an attached file.) I reserve the right to dock papers one gradepoint for one day’s lateness, a full letter grade after that.

See this page for Internet resources on the presidency.