Means and Ends: Advertising Executive Action from Reagan to Trump

Donna Hoffman, Alison Howard

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePresentationpeer-review

    Abstract

    Ever since FDR, the public seems to have developed a taste for activist presidents; “do something” they demand, despite the fact the system sought to constrain presidential power. Over time, presidents have responded with substantive, unilateral executive actions (executive orders, proclamations, and memoranda) to direct a federal bureaucracy that grew in size and scope. As presidents are increasingly judged by their policy ends (not their means), have they become more inclined to advertise these actions to the public? Whereas Reagan might have downplayed the unilateral nature of his actions, Trump’s attitude of “I alone can fix it” might encourage a kind of rhetoric that extols this practice. We hypothesize that from Reagan to Trump, we will see an increase in the willingness of presidents to advertise these actions, which are among the least “democratic” of the tools they possess. Using data from both oral remarks and written statements we examine both the quantity and nature of these forms of rhetoric that give presidents an opportunity to both advertise and claim credit for policy ends they may be able to deliver on their own.
    Original languageAmerican English
    StateUnpublished - 2022
    EventAmerican Political Science Association's Annual Meeting: Rethink, Restructure, and Reconnect: Towards a Post-Pandemic Political Science - Montreal, Canada
    Duration: Sep 15 2022Sep 18 2022

    Conference

    ConferenceAmerican Political Science Association's Annual Meeting
    Abbreviated titleAPSA
    Country/TerritoryCanada
    CityMontreal
    Period9/15/229/18/22

    Keywords

    • executive action
    • American presidents

    Disciplines

    • American Politics

    Cite this