This thesis seeks to determine if there is a relationship between a vice president of the United States governing influence and his involvement in a presidential reelection campaign. The period for this thesis will begin with Richard Nixon'­s vice presidency and end with Al Gore's. To find a connection I will create factors that will examine both governing influence and reelection campaign involvement. / Master of Arts

Thesis advisor: Celeste Wells / This thesis examines the ways in which millennial women are prone to gender bias in their evaluations of female presidential candidates and the factors that contribute to millennial women’s gendered expectations for female presidential candidates. In order to respond to these areas of inquiry, the researcher applied social role theory and system- justification theory to survey and interview data collected from a population of Boston College undergraduate women. Ultimately, it was found that millennial women are prone to gender bias when evaluating female presidential candidates and that the gender beliefs that prompt this bias are so deeply ingrained that they appear almost inevitable. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Communication.

This article explores the use of presidential signing statements during the George W. Bush administration. Given the existence of united government for much of Bush's term in office, why could the Bush administration and Congress not reach agreements on issues where much common ground should have existed? Its principal argument contends that the administration's use of presidential signing statements constitutes a new and important tool in the executive's efforts to influence legislation and expand the powers of the presidency. The paper employs case study and interview-based research to explore why the Bush administration has chosen to pursue this unprecedented path.

In this dissertation, I examine the determinants of presidential responsiveness to public opinion, employing a theory of context and venue that explains why presidents are more responsive at some times and in certain policy making venues than at other times and in other venues. To test this theory, I create a new direct measure of presidential responsiveness to public opinion, a measure that quantifies the ideological distance between presidential policy positions and public policy preferences. I develop versions of this measure in four important venues of the modern presidency: relations with the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, the unilateral administrative presidency, and the president’s rhetoric. Using time-series regression techniques, I analyze the influence that factors such as political context, electoral context, institutional context, and venue visibility have on the dynamics of presidential responsiveness scores. The results indicate that although the president’s policy position taking responds to public opinion dynamics, there is no clear contextual factor that conditions this responsiveness.

This article explores the use of presidential signing statements during the George W. Bush administration. Given the existence of united government for much of Bush's term in office, why could the Bush administration and Congress not reach agreements on issues where much common ground should have existed? Its principal argument contends that the administration's use of presidential signing statements constitutes a new and important tool in the executive's efforts to influence legislation and expand the powers of the presidency. The paper employs case study and interview-based research to explore why the Bush administration has chosen to pursue this unprecedented path.

This article explores the use of presidential signing statements during the George W. Bush administration. Given the existence of united government for much of Bush's term in office, why could the Bush administration and Congress not reach agreements on issues where much common ground should have existed? Its principal argument contends that the administration's use of presidential signing statements constitutes a new and important tool in the executive's efforts to influence legislation and expand the powers of the presidency. The paper employs case study and interview-based research to explore why the Bush administration has chosen to pursue this unprecedented path. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Over the past two decades, the term postmodern has crept into presidential studies. Despite this, the notion of applying the term to the presidency may obscure more than it reveals. Throughout this period, various political scientists such as Rose, Barilleaux, Schier, Bruce Miroff, and others, as well as communications scholars like Shawn Parry-Giles and Trevor Parry-Giles have merged the term postmodern with the study of the presidency; yet there continues to be no agreement on what exactly the postmodern presidency is or represents. For some, the postmodern presidency signifies a distinct era, fundamentally different from those of the past. For others, the postmodern characteristics and leadership style necessary to govern in a changing political and social landscape define the contemporary presidency. Thus, despite being used for nearly two decades, the term postmodern continues to be mired in ambiguity. With the many differing views that make up the literature of the postmodern presidency, numerous questions arise. Is the onset of the postmodern presidency a result of a fundamental shift in the presidency, occurring regardless of who occupies the Oval Office, or is it better characterized as a shift in the individual traits of presidents necessary to govern during a newly emerging era? Does the core of the postmodern presidency center on foreign policy as a reflection of the end of the Cold War, or can it be better attributed to the rise of public politics, the decline of political parties, and the onslaught of media coverage that surround the contemporary presidency? The following chapters attempt to analyze the concept of the postmodern presidency, comparing the many definitions and timeframes that surround the term as a means of critically examining the existing work on the postmodern presidency. / Master of Arts

Presidential transitions mark the starting point of any regime change in the US federal executive. During this period newly elected Presidents structure their Whitehouse, fill thousands of political appointments and select their policy priorities. Using Carl Brauer's observations on the successful conduct of presidential transitions this thesis examines the personnel and policy choices of Bill Clinton during his 1992-1993 presidential transition. Presidential transition success is, according to Brauer, reliant upon the awareness of four essential factors; early planning, White House structure, setting a legislative agenda and assessing personal strengths and weaknesses. These factors form a framework for the analysis of four domestic policy issue areas. The policies considered are national service, economic and budgetary policy, health care reform and the use of Executive Orders as a policy-making tool. These issues reflect the broad policy intentions of the Clinton administration during its first year in office. In linking the processes of personnel and policy selection across these issue areas this thesis considers the extent to which the Clinton administration was able to achieve its stated aims and objectives in 1992 and 1993. Assessments are made concerning the levels of success in each of the four factors and conclusions are drawn about the influence of the transition on the conduct of the Clinton presidency. In examining Bill Clinton's use of Executive Orders in the cases of homosexuals in the military and the reauthorisation of abortion practices a new perspective on the conduct of the modern presidency is unveiled.

There are many facets of the institution of the presidency that warrant examination. Individual presidents, cabinets, staffs, wives...have all been studied in depth but one aspect of the presidency still remains fundamentally unexplored: the presidents' children and the political roles that each has had or has the potential to have. This thesis is based upon role analysis and the basic assumption that all presidential children from FDR through Clinton have performed political roles. Among the 32 presidential children studied, four roles were designated. First is the role of symbol. Symbols serve to display the presidential candidate or president as a person that is a good family man, loving father, and someone with high moral integrity. Surrogates serve to stand in for the president when the president cannot be present. The bulk of a surrogate's role takes place on the campaign trail. Informal advisors/confidant(e)s provide opinions and advice to the president. Lastly, skeletons tend to embarrass the president. If an individual presidential child performs several of these roles equally, they have been labeled as hybrids. Each of the 32 children from FDR through Clinton have been categorized in one of the above roles and their actions are analyzed in depth. Through the course of the thesis, three hypotheses are tested. The first two are whether or not the political roles of presidential children vary be age and by sex. The third hypothesis is whether or not there is an increased need for symbols and surrogates as 1960 as opposed to before. / Master of Arts

This thesis explores the notion of personality as it impacts presidential behavior. Relying on the arguably fragmented field of personality and policymaking, the paper offers a case study of President Richard Nixon's experience with the Family Assistance Plan, a landmark piece of welfare reform. In contending that character is most evident in situations that are less structured or that permit individual expression, I argue that President Nixon's personality greatly impacted his rhetorical style and was also evident through his reluctance to conduct bargaining with members of Congress. To add rigor to the analyses, I borrow heavily from the work of Erwin Hargrove (1998) who, in putting forth a model of political leadership that draws upon elements of moral commitment, character, integrity and cultural discernment, holds that effective democratic leadership combines strong personal aptitude with a coherent assessment of what action history will permit. Furthermore, this thesis contends that President Nixon failed to discern the grains of history that had characterized past welfare reform; the proposed major overhaul of welfare, commenced in the aftermath of the War on Poverty, was attacked from both the left and right, and thus failed to make it intact through the 91st Congress. / Master of Arts