The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power

by Gene Healy

Book Overview

The Bush years have given rise to fears of a resurgent Imperial Presidency, but the problem cannot be solved simply by bringing a new administration to power. Both Left and Right agree on the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1933995157
• ISBN13: 9781933995151
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Cato Institute
• Length: 367 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The Cult Of The Imperial Presidency

Over the past 30 years, America has seen Presidential scandals ranging from Watergate to Iran-Contra to Travel-gate, Whitewater, the Lewinsky scandal, and the Valerie Plame affair. We've learned the truth about some of the truly nefarious actions undertaken by some of most beloved Presidents of the 20th Century, including the iconic FDR, JFK, and LBJ. And, yet, despite all of that, Americans still have a reverential view of the President of the United States that borders on the way Englishmen feel about the Queen or Catholic's feel about the Pope. How did that happen and what does it mean for America ? Gene Healy does an excellent job of answering those question in The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power, making it a book that anyone concerned with the direction of the American Republic should read. As Healy points out, the Presidency that we know today bears almost no resemblance to the institution that the Founding Fathers created when they drafted Article II of the Constitution. In fact, to them, the President's main job could be summed up in ten words set forth in Section 3 of Article II --- "he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." The President's other powers consisted of reporting the state of the union to Congress (a far less formal occasion than what we're used to every January), receiving Ambassadors, and acting as Commander in Chief should Congress declare war. That's it. For roughly the first 100 years of the Republic, Healy notes, President's kept to the limited role that the Constitution gave them. There were exceptions, of course; most notably Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War but also such Presidents as James Polk who clearly manipulated the United States into an unnecessary war with Mexico simply to satisfy his ambitions for territorial expansion. For the most part, though, America's 19th Century Presidents held to the limited role that is set forth in Article II, which is probably why they aren't remembered very well by history. As Healy notes, it wasn't until the early 20th Century and the dawn of the Progressive Era that the idea of the President as something beyond what the Constitution said he was took forth. Healy documents quite nicely the ways in which Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Woodrow Wilson to FDR went far beyond anything resembling Constitutional boundaries to achieve their goals, and how they were aided and abetted in that effort by a compliant Supreme Court and a Congress that lacked the courage to stand up for it's own Constitutional prerogatives. Then with the Cold War and the rise of National Security State, the powers of the Presidency became even more enhanced. One of the best parts of the book, though, is when Healy attacks head-on the "unitary Executive" theory of Presidential power that was advanced by former DOJ official John Yoo in the wake of the September 11th attacks and the War on Terror. As Healy shows, there is no support for Yo

An alarming view of the growth of presidential power and how little the public seems to care

Gene Healy's THE CULT OF THE PRESIDENCY presents the reader with a concise historical analysis of how the presidency has undergone enormous changes since its creation at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Views of the president's role in American government and society have changed so drastically since the early nineteenth century that the office would likely be unrecognizable to an American of even the 1830s, when Andrew Jackson was being accused of demagoguery and presidential imperialism. Looking at the presidency from Washington's inaugural to the final days of the George W. Bush administration, Healy draws an overall historical arc for the presidency in which the public's faith in the president's ability to solve all societal, economic, and political problems peaks during the mid-twentieth century and then declines after the disaster (for the presidency) of Watergate. . . . Healy observes that the tremendous growth in presidential power under Teddy Roosevelt and Wilson predates broadcasting and concludes that a centralized media establishment is probably not the key factor in the cult of the presidency. Yet it does appear that until the established, centralized organs of electronic broadcast and the press are substantially undermined by other media, such as the Internet, presidents will continue to have an incredibly powerful tool at their disposal. THE CULT OF THE PRESIDENCY's greatest strengths are in illustrating how much the modern presidency differs from the executive office the framers of the Constitution envisioned and in providing ample evidence of how real and massive the president's powers are in modern America. As the branch of government that is most secretive, least controlled, and most prone to receiving hero worship from the public, the presidency has long been the most dangerous threat to freedom coming from the federal government. Healy's analysis provides an alarming view of how much power presidents exercise and how little the public seems to care. Although he ends on an optimistic note about the prospects for the future, in the Age of Obama it is not clear that new limitations on the office of the presidency will materialize anytime soon. From a review by Ryan W. McMaken (The Independent Review, Summer 2009)

A very important book for this year, and the future.

This book provides an important, comprehensive examination of the power of the presidency. The book examines the history of the presidency from conception to the present day, and features an in-depth look at all dimensions of the presidency: the statutory scope of the office, the relationship of the office to the other divisions of government, and most unsettling, the contemporary expectations of the American public. Gene Healy has displayed a passion for research of the presidency, and consequently offers the reader a rich presentation of specific examples and historical context surrounding the morphing of the presidency into what it is today. The telling of this story is both unsettling and poignant, as we are provided relentless examples of the results of individual ambition, complicity of the other branches of the government, and the growing, collective desire for an American hero. The results are tragic: unrealistic expectations, dashed hopes, and the trail of carnage and devastation that has been wreaked upon other nations in the pursuit of our own identity. This book is essential reading for every American voter . One of the most perspective-changing books I've read in a long time.

The Healer-, Pastor-, Comforter-, Soul Toucher-, Motivator-, and Messiah-in-Chief

Healy offers a thorough, acerbic, witty, and timely critique of the rise of the American monarchy. It's somewhat ironic that as we Americans celebrate our revolution to overthrow the British Crown each July, and as we denounce dictators and totalitarian regimes across the globe, we also celebrate and venerate those presidents who most behaved like dictators, and who most sought to aggrandize their own power at the expense of the constitutional checks and balances that set our system of government apart from all tried before us. We exalt the Roosevelts (both), Eisenhowers, and Wilsons--men who stifled free speech, imprisoned dissenters, and overstepped their constitutional bounds. Meanwhile, the men who, as Healy puts it, "merely" oversaw years of peace and prosperity--men like Calvin Coolidge, Grover Cleveland, and the heavily whiskered presidents of the 19th century--are ridiculed as do-nothings. As we approach a November 2008 likely featuring a TR acolyte against a JFK acolyte, Healy's book is a needed, welcome addition to the debate, a reminder that the office of the presidency was intended to be a modest office, merely an administrator of the executive branch. That it has morphed into a kind of messianic position of all-encompassing power and reverence is a troubling development, and doesn't bode well for the American experiment.

A book Americans need to read--especially this year

Do yourself--and the country--a favor, and pick up a copy of Cato Institute scholar Gene Healy's new book, The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power. This important book has the potential to start a much-needed national conversation about the monstrous amount of power we invest in the individual who occupies the White House at any given moment. Every four years, we find ourselves in a national tizzy. Some of us have hopes that ________________ (insert your favorite power-hungry presidential candidate here) will somehow save the country. But most of us fret about the possibility that _________________ (insert your least favorite power-hungry presidential candidate here) may wreak economic or foreign-policy havoc. And we have good reason to fret. Once he or she becomes a resident at 1600 Pennsylvania, the elected president has a finger on the nuclear button, the ability to start wars unilaterally, and the power to meddle forcefully in the US economy via executive orders and regulatory fiat. On paper, there are checks and balances on the presidency, but those checks and balances are easily overridden by a national psychology in which the masses look to the president to solve their daily economic problems and combat every evil, whether domestic or foreign. We are repeatedly disappointed by the performance of our presidents, but we continue to give them greater and greater powers. Healy's book examines the historical origins of our cultish devotion to the presidency, and explains the danger to America of placing too much power in the hands of one person--no matter who that person is, or what party he/she belongs to. This is a book Americans need to read--especially this year. (Lower-case p intended.)