- 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.
- 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?
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.
- Two four-page essays — 20% each
- One three-page essay — 15%
- One six-page essay — 30%
- Participation and weekly reflections — 15%
- 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.
- 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.
- Edwards, ch. 1-2.
- 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).
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.
- 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.
- 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
Apr 13, 15:
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
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
- Edwards, ch. 13,
- Readings on recent presidential action, TBA
