The Raegan Administration as Having Altered the American Political Agenda

The Raegan Administration as Having Altered the American Political Agenda

To understand why the Reagan presidency was so unique first one must

understand transformation of the presidency. The post-1932 modern

presidency differs from the modern presidency in three ways unique

ways.

The first reason is that the modern president have grown stronger, and

thus expanded and developed independence to create policy. The second

reason is that the president's role in shaping the annual legislative

agenda and influencing congress has been institutionalised. The third

reason is that in the modern presidency, there has been a large

expansion in official presidential staff. In 1937 President Franklin

D. Roosevelt employed 45 full-time staff when the number is compared

to President Richard M. Nixon who employed 550 full-time staff we can

see how much presidential staff has grown. The white house staff grew

from a small informal group of advisors into a large management

institution. Also the establishment of the executive office of the

president, and the chief executive himself has come to be perceived by

both the public and principal governmental actors as the central

figure in the federal government. James P. Pfiffner suggests that the

shape and role of the white house staff was a reflection of Donald

Reagan's personality. Reagan was very passive in his approach to the

white house staff. He was not passive with regard to his presidency or

public policy; Reagan administration was a very active one. Reagan

would set a direction and his aides would see it happen, he was

interested in outcome and did not concern him self with details. Part

of h...

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...ner, "For Rhyme and Reason", Time (January 21,

1985), p. 20.

[6] Ed Magnuson, "Shake-up at the white house," Time (January 21,

1985), p. 10.

[7] Bernard Weinraub, "How Don Regan Runs the White House" The New

York Times (January 5, 1986), p. 33.

[8] Quoted in Cannon, Role of a Lifetime, p. 563.

[9] Stockman, The Triumph of politics, p. 18 - 19.

[10] Quoted by Bob Schieffer and Gary Gates, The Acting President (New

York: Dutton, 1989), p. 200.

[11] Newsweek, 24 Nov. 1986, p. 27.

[12] William Shawcross, 'The scandal breaks the Beltway', The

Spectator (London), 20 - 27 Dec. 1986, p. 10.

[13] The Economist (London), 29 Nov. 1986, p. 13.

[14] James McCormick and Steven Smith, 'The Iran Arms Sale and the

Intelligence Oversight Act of 1980', Political Studies, Vol. 20, no 1

[15] Ibid., p 29.