Presidency

PRESIDENCY
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#1 Reply at least 2x at least 150 words each time- put your comments in red so it’s easy for me to see and copy
The American Presidency grew significantly during the 20th century due to the relationship between the President, and the role of America in the world.  Though certain Presidents and certain world events had a greater effect on the growth of the Presidency than others, it is impossible to examine one without the other.  America without its President is but another country and the President is but another man without these United States.
 
Founded on the idea of limited government, an individual was needed to interact with foreign nations.  As interactions became more commonplace and more complicated, so did the role of the Presidency.  The President was also a singular individual to whom the country could look to for answers, and blame.  This is no more apparent than after the US sunk into the Great Depression.  President Roosevelt was a bold and decisive man who saw a problem and was determined to fix it.  Perhaps other man would have been less strategic with their approach, but without the Great Depression FDR would not have had a depressed country to uplift.  “His demand that Congress pass ‘the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require’ marked the emergency of the presidency as the nation’s principal agent of policy initiation.  Roosevelt’s warning that if legislature failed to act, he would seek executive power ‘as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe’ headed a quantum increase in autonomous presidential policymaking” (Greenstein, 2009, 26).  In this respect FDR did much to increase the authority and power of the Presidency.  Perhaps it is not ironic that FDR’s cousin and former President also did much to expand upon the Presidency, though this was not achieved on his own.  “The Progressive movement helped foster important changes in the presidency” (The American Presidency, 2011, 219).  President Theodore Roosevelt was instrumental in expanding the role of the Presidency, but he would not have been able to do so without the Progressive movement.  In the absence of the Progressive movement it is very likely TR’s tendencies and ideas would have fallen on deaf ears.  “More than anyone else, Theodore Roosevelt changed that pattern.  Dedicated to the progressive concept of active, executive-centered government, he advocated and practiced a vigorous form of leadership that broadly extended the reach of presidential influence” (The American Presidency, 2011, 219).  President TR did much to advance interstate commerce and promoted the expansion of the railroad.  This speaks volumes to his personality and agenda, ...