American Presidency

CMC Government 102, Fall 2007

  MW 2:45-4:00  PM, Classroom RS 104

Office Hours:  MW 1:15-2:15, 4:15-5:15 PM, and by appointment

J.J. Pitney
Office:  Pitzer 215
Telephone:  909/607-4224
E-mail:  jpitney@cmc.edu or profpitney@yahoo.com

WWW: http://govt.cmc.edu/jpitney

General

This course will survey the American presidency to ask these questions:

Classes

Class sessions will include lecture and discussion. Finish readings before class because our discussions will involve those readings. We shall also talk about breaking news stories about the presidency, so you must read a good daily news source such as the New York Times or Los Angeles Times or The Politico.

Grades

The following will make up your course grade:

The papers will develop your research and writing skills.  In grading your papers, I will take account of the quality of your writing, applying the principles of Strunk and White's Elements of Style.  If you object to this approach, do not take this course, or anything else that I teach. 

The exam will test your comprehension.  Class participation will hone your ability to think on your feet.  If you often miss class or fail to prepare, your grade will suffer. In addition to the required readings (below), I may also give you handouts and web links covering current events and basic factual information.  The exam will cover this material. 

There is also a class blog: http://gov102.blogspot.com/.  I shall regularly post material on the blog (e.g., links that we shall discuss or have discussed in class).  During the semester, I expect each student to add at least three comments to the blog.  Although there will not be a separate grade for these comments, failure to take part will bring down your class participation grade.

As a courtesy to your fellow students, please arrive on time, and refrain from eating in class.  I reserve the right to withhold class handouts from latecomers.  Check due dates for coursework and arrange your schedule accordingly.  Do not plan on seeking extensions.     

Plagiarism will mean referral to the Academic Standards Committee.

Required Books


  Also see links on my Presidency page.

Schedule (subject to change, with notice)

Sept 5:  Introduction

 “Presidents are the custodians of the time in which they live as well as the instruments of the visions and dreams they have." -- Bill Clinton

Sept 10, 12:  The Presidency in the Founding Era  

“Frequent war and constant apprehension, which require a state of as constant preparation, will infallibly produce [standing armies].  It is of the nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority.”  -- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist 8.

Sept 17, 19: The 19th Century Presidency

"You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong."
"God must have loved the common people; he made so many of them."
"You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but
you can not fool all the people all the time." -- Fake Lincoln quotations

FIRST ESSAY ASSIGNED SEPT 17, DUE OCT 1.

Read Strunk and White's Elements of Style

Sept 24, 26:  From the Big Stick to the Military-Industrial Complex

"We stand at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord." -- Theodore Roosevelt, 1912.

Oct 1, 3:  The Contemporary Presidency

"We don't want our American boys to do the fighting for Asian boys."-- LBJ,  September 25, 1964

Oct 8, 10:  Presidential Selection I

"YEEEEEEAHHHHHHHGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" -- Howard Dean, January 19, 2004.

Oct 15, 17: Presidential Selection II

"On November 1, I received two communications, privately tendered, that I attached meaning to. The first originated with a professor of government in California who, it was bruited, had always succeeded in predicting the outcome of presidential-year elections. The news was given in telegraphic idiom, no curlicues, embellishments, appoggiaturas: President: Kerry wins the popular vote 50-49. Kerry wins electoral vote 291-247." -- William F. Buckley, Jr.

SECOND ESSAY ASSIGNED OCTOBER 15, DUE OCTOBER 29.

Oct 24: The Public Presidency

"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

Oct 29, 31:  The Public Presidency, Character, and Performance

"ACTION IS CHARACTER." -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Nov 5, 7:  Executive Branch

"I'm a myth. There's the Mark of Rove.  I read about some of the things I'm supposed to have done, and I have to try not to laugh." -- Karl Rove, on his departure

THIRD ESSAY ASSIGNED NOVEMBER 5, DUE NOVEMBER 19

Nov 12, 14: President and Congress

"I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it." -- George W. Bush, November 4, 2004.

"Bush traded his political capital for the magic beans of Social Security reform, but the ground was too frozen for the seeds to take hold." -- Jonah Goldberg, August 15, 2007.

Nov 19, 21: Judiciary and Civil Rights

""We should reverse the presumption of confirmation." -- Senator Charles Schumer 

Nov 26, 28:  Domestic and Economic Policy

"Politicians generally believe what they say.  One of the main ways by which politicians learn what they think is through listening to what they say." -- Herbert Stein, Presidential Economics

Dec 3, 5: Foreign Policy and National Security

"On the brink of war, and in front of the whole world, the United States government asserted that Saddam Hussein had reconstituted his nuclear weapons program, had biological weapons and mobile biological weapon production facilities, and had stockpiled and was producing chemical weapons. All of this was based on the assessments of the U.S. Intelligence Community. And not one bit of it could be confirmed when the war was over." -- Report of the President's WMD Commission

Dec 10, 12: The Future of the Presidency

Mitt Romney: "I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman."

Snowman:  "Lighten up slightly."

  • Halperin and Harris, sections 8-10.

FINAL EXAM: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18 AT 2 PM

 

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