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

the Western Hemisphere (which resulted in proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine). Each president has experienced difficulties, although some have certainly faced more than others.

Difficult problems are challenging but not necessarily crippling. Backed by strong support, the chief executive can take on great threats: Franklin Roosevelt enjoyed strong support in Congress and the nation as World War II loomed, thus giving him much freedom of action; Dwight Eisenhower faced the Soviet Union with high public approval ratings and a bipartisan consensus on foreign policy; and even John Kennedy faced the Cuban Missile Crisis with congressional and public deference to presidential leadership in nuclear politics.

Presidents who govern from a position of political strength, as was the case in the examples just cited, have a much easier time living up to the great expectations that Americans have of their chief executives. Figure 1 summarizes the key factors that make up ideal political circumstances for the president. First, the president has come to office with an electoral victory sufficient to claim a “mandate” to implement policy changes.⁷ The president’s party controls both houses of Congress, so the executive’s priorities are reflected on Capitol Hill. The president enjoys high public approval ratings, and no scandal looms to weaken the chief’s reputation. Under such circumstances, conditions are favorable for presidential leadership (although students of American politics know that the multiple “veto points” in our system make sweeping policy changes difficult to achieve even under the best conditions).

Presidents do not always govern under such favorable conditions. They are often forced to govern under adverse circumstances rather than ideal ones. The president may have come to office by succession, with a plurality of popular votes, or even (as did George W. Bush in 2001) with a minority of popular votes.