In the Public Domain

Presidents and the Challenges of Public Leadership

Edited by Lori Cox Han & Diane J. Heith

Subjects: Political Science
Series: SUNY series on the Presidency: Contemporary Issues
Paperback : 9780791465769, 305 pages, June 2006
Hardcover : 9780791465752, 305 pages, October 2005

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Table of contents

Preface

1. Introduction: The President and the Public Revisited
Doris A. Graber

PART I
THE CHALLENGE OF PERCEPTION

2. Celebrity in Chief: The President As a Pop Culture Icon
Michael A. Genovese

3. Party Labels in Presidential Acceptance Addresses: 1948–2000
Sharon E. Jarvis and Emily Balanoff Jones

4. What Gets Covered? How Media Coverage of Elite Debate Drives the Rally-’Round-the-Flag Phenomenon:1979–1998
Matthew A. Baum and Tim Groeling

PART II
THE CHALLENGE OF POLICY MANAGEMENT

5. The White House Public Opinion Apparatus Meets the Anti-Polling President
Diane J. Heith

6. Presidential Leverage and the Presidential Agenda: 1967–1996
Daniel E. Ponder

7. Second-Term Presidents: Free Birds or Lame Ducks?
William Cunion

PART III
THE CHALLENGE OF PRESENTATION

8. Presidential Ideology and the Public Mood: 1956–1994
Jeffrey E. Cohen and John A. Hamman

9. The Rose Garden Strategy Revisited: How Presidents Use Public Activities
Lori Cox Han

10. Doing Diversity across the Partisan Divide: George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and the American National Identity
Mary E. Stuckey

11. A President Transformed: Bush’s Pre- and Post-September 11 Rhetoric and Image
Jeremy D. Mayer and Mark J. Rozell

PART IV
THE CHALLENGE AFTER THE WHITE HOUSE

12. Life after the White House: The Public Post-Presidency and the Development of Presidential Legacies
Lori Cox Han and Matthew J. Krov

13. Not Going Public: George W. Bush and the Presidential Records Act
Nancy Kassop
Contributors
Index

Explores how recent presidents have managed communications with the American public.

Description

The "public presidency"—how presidents rely on the mass media, public opinion, and various communication strategies—has become an increasingly important aspect of presidential governance and leadership during the past two decades. In the Public Domain gathers together noted presidency and communication scholars to explore the relationship between the president and the American public, the current state of the "public presidency," and the challenges that recent presidents have faced in developing an effective means of communicating and maintaining a strong presidential image. Specific topics include: how presidents use public leadership to pursue their policy goals and objectives; the importance of public opinion, rhetorical strategies, and public activities; external factors such as party politics and news media coverage; the cultivation of presidential legacy; and access to documents in presidential libraries.

Lori Cox Han is Professor of Political Science at Chapman University and the author of Governing from Center Stage: White House Communication Strategies during the Television Age of Politics. Diane J. Heith is Associate Professor of Government and Politics at St. John's University and the author of Polling to Govern: Public Opinion and Presidential Leadership.