Tough Times for the President: Political Adversity and the Sour ...

Table 1c. Presidents in Adverse Circumstances

Source. Truman-Bush (2007) from Vital Statistics on American Politics, various editions (figures rounded); Bush 2008 and Obama data from www.gallup.com.

What have presidents done in the face of adversity, particularly in the matter of how they used and/or expanded the powers of their office, and how did they act in an innovative or unconventional fashion? To explore presidents in adverse circumstances, this book will focus on three central questions:

1) How do presidents respond to political adversity? What actions have chief executives taken to retain or increase their influence? Did their actions make any difference?

2) How does adversity limit the president, and how do chief executives look for different ways to assert their power and influence?

3) What powers does the president retain despite adverse circumstances, and how does the president exercise them?

To answer these questions, the remainder of the book will examine eleven case studies of presidents in situations of political adversity. The cases