Tough Times for the President: Political Adversity and the Sources of Executive Power
Powered By Xquantum

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

Chapter 1:  Presidents in Tough Times
Read
image Next
  • Harry Truman, after Democrats lost control of Congress in the 1946 elections;
  • Lyndon Johnson, as the Vietnam War divided the nation and damaged his career;
  • Richard Nixon, whose landslide reelection in 1972 turned to ashes over the next two years as the Watergate scandal loomed ever larger;
  • Gerald Ford, who lacked any kind of electoral base and whose September 1974 pardon of Nixon robbed him of popular support;
  • Jimmy Carter, whose presidency appeared paralyzed in the face of national and international problems;
  • Ronald Reagan, as the Iran-Contra affair (1987–1988) threatened his presidency;
  • Bill Clinton, at two points: after his party lost its forty-year majorities in Congress in 1994 and when the Monica Lewinsky scandal led to his impeachment (1998–1999);
  • George W. Bush, after setbacks and problems in his second term cost Republicans their congressional majorities in 2006 and the president’s unpopularity grew.

    • Even under such trying circumstances, several presidents have lived to fight another day—they have even been able to recover their political fortunes in ways that are fairly dramatic. Despite the setbacks he faced in the 1946 election and its aftermath, Harry Truman worked his way back to victory in the 1948 election (which everyone but Truman himself expected him to lose). Even in the face of the Iran-Contra affair, Ronald Reagan was able to salvage his presidency. Bill Clinton, despite being assigned much of the blame for the 1994 defeat of congressional Democrats and facing a highly motivated Republican majority in Congress, managed to revive his political fortunes, break the momentum of Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America,” and win reelection in 1996.

    Despite facing significant political disadvantages, presidents have been able to succeed. While not all presidents who have encountered adversity have been able to overcome it, the record shows that some have done so.