Introduction

Document Type

Editorial

Publication Date

12-1-2005

Abstract

In the closing scene of The Candidate (1972), Robert Redford, playing a senatorial aspirant who has just won a heated election campaign, turns to his aides to ask quizzically: "What do we do now?" The dramatized scene is memorable partly because such revealing "behind the scenes" images are so rare, except in the few independently produced documentaries that have attempted to por-(Image presenet) tray political campaigns from the inside. In contrast, most of the essays in this volume discuss Hollywood's view of what a score of presidents did - or failed to do - during their terms of office. More importantly, they consider how a series of feature films came to assume the points of view that they presented and how, if at all, they may have influenced America's perception of its presidential past. Thoughtful viewers, especially those attuned to history, may not expect "Tinsel town" to have done a very cogent job of portraying public officials or issues of state. They might be surprised. Despite a few unfortunate examples - such as Polly Bergen in office in Kisses for My President (1964) or comedian Bob Newhart as head of The First Family (1980) - a close look at films about American presidents should help Americans to understand why and how the popular views of our leaders have taken the shapes that they have over the past century. In a handful of other films, such as The Man (1972) and Deep Impact (1998), the political system has been portrayed as considerably more open than it has been in reality - in each of these cases, for example, promoting a black man to the highest office. More recently, television's The West Wing has expanded possibilities for American political thinking and action - although the program is not without its critics. There has been no shortage of published studies on the office of president in recent years. Two particularly well-recognized scholars, Michael Beschloss and Doris Kearns Goodwin, have produced multiple volumes on several recent presidents, their accomplishments, and travails. But equally - if not more - interesting are the institutional studies, starting with Harold Laski's The American Presidency: An Interpretation (1939). Laski noted how, though the constitution had been "stingy" with power to the president and careful to balance that power with the other branches of government, over time - and especially during the then-current tenure of Franklin D. Roosevelt - the situation had changed. Rexford G. Tugwell called it The Enlargement of the Presidency in 1960 and developed his ideas still further in a coedited volume with Thomas E. Cronin, The Presidency Reappraised (1974); ironically, Tugwell had been a quintessential New Dealer who assisted in expanding federal power. Another important scholar who traced a gradual growth of the presidents' role primarily in institutional terms is Richard M. Pious, particularly his The American Presidency (1979). For a more general but no less probing analysis, also see Marcus Cunliffe, American Presidents and the Presidency (1968) and Thomas Cronin, The State of the Presidency (1980). Meanwhile, others concluded that the uses presidents made of the office depended more on the personal characteristics they brought to it. See, for example, Leadership in the Modern Presidency (1988), edited by Fred L. Greenstein. Even more recently, Noble E. Cunningham Jr. analyzed Popular Images of the Presidency: From Washington to Lincoln (1991), and The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden (2000) was published by the Smithsonian Press to accompany a new permanent exhibit with the same name at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. (For a fuller list of sources, especially on the more recent presidency and the evolution of the executive branch, see the bibliographical essay compiled by Myron A. Levine for this volume.) As in the studies noted above, the issues that arise in the essays that follow touch upon every aspect of presidential responsibility. In accord with the ideas of the founding fathers, the president fulfills a "checking" and "balancing" role with the other branches of the federal government. The presidency also has a tradition of its own which affects the political system in various ways. Presidential leadership and personal style can be vastly different from one officeholder to the next. The Constitution spells out specifically the powers and limitations of the office, but some presidents have managed to stretch those limits, especially over the last seventy years when depression, war, and terrorism have called out for presidential leadership. By definition the presidency raises questions about electoral politics and political parties. One must consider the relationship of the presidency to the rest of the executive branch and to the Congress and the federal judiciary. Moreover, a president's rapport with the press and his ease before the cameras can be crucial, especially in the age of television and "sound bites." Questions of health and personal vigor have proved central to several presidencies, and human frailties and failures of character have not been unknown. As the leader of his party, the president is involved in raising funds, campaigning for congressional and senatorial candidates around the nation, and rewarding (through patronage and other favors) those who have supported his agenda. The president is therefore, by definition, fully immersed in the political process, while constantly being urged to transcend it. Finally, the president is a symbol of the nation - its temper, its spirit, its moral values. Copyright © 2003 by The University Press of Kentucky. All rights reserved.

Identifier

84904080052 (Scopus)

ISBN

[0813122708, 9780813122700]

Publication Title

Hollywood S White House the American Presidency in Film and History

First Page

1

Last Page

16

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