A Review of “Party Influence in Congress”

Dubin, Michael J. United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &; Co. Publishers, 1998. Pp. xxix, 1,005. $235.00, hardbound.

Mulder, John M., Ernest M. White and Ethel S. White. Woodrow Wilson: A Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. Pp. xix, 488. $95.00, hardbound.

Rupp, Robert O. James A. Garfield: A Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. Pp. 216. $65.00, hardbound.

Ornstein, Norman]., Thomas E. Mann and Michael J. Malbin. Vital Statistics on Congress 1997-1998. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1998. Pp. 292. $50.95, hardbound; $36.95, paperback.

Barilleaux, Ryan]., ed. Presidential Frontiers: Underexplored Issues in White House Politics. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998. Pp. 256. $59.95, hardbound.

Campbell, Colin. The U.S. Presidency in Crisis. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Pp. vi, 266. $18.95, paperback.

Davidson, Roger H., Susan Webb Hammond and Raymond W. Smock, eds. Masters of the House: Congressional Leadership Over Two Centuries. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998. Pp. xi, 345. $69.00, hardbound; $30.00, paperback.

Moreland, Laurence W. and Robert P. Steed, eds. The 1996 Presidential Election in the South: Southern Party Systems in the 1990s. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1997. Pp. 264. $59.95, hardbound.

Weisberg, Herbert R, and Samuel C. Patterson, eds. Great Theatre: The American Congress in the 1990s. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xviii, 317. $64.95, hardbound; $19.95, paperback.

Benson, Michael T. Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1997. Pp. xii, 217. $57.95, hardbound.

Bernstein, Irving. Guns or Butter: The Presidency of Lyndon Johnson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Pp. x, 606. $39.95, hardbound.

Dallek, Robert. Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times 1961-1973. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Pp. xiv, 754. $35.00, hardbound.

Brookhiser, Richard. Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington. New York: The Free Press, 1996. Pp. 230 $25.00, hardbound; $12.00, softbound.

Gambone, Michael D. Eisenhower, Somoza, and the Cold War in Nicaragua 1953-1961. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1997. Pp. xiv, 264. $65.00, hardbound.

Hellmann, John. The Kennedy Obsession: The American Myth of JFK. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. Pp. xxvi, 206. $29.50, hardbound.

Hohenberg, John. Reelecting Bill Clinton: Why America Chose a "New Democrat." Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997. Pp. 300. $26.95, hardbound.

Roberts, Robert N. and Marion T. Doss, Jr. From Watergate to Whitewater: The Public Integrity War. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers 1997. Pp. vi, 232. $55.00, hardbound.     

A Review of “Partisan Balance: Why Political Parties Don't Kill the U.S. Constitutional System”

How, and why, do presidents use the rhetorical content in signing statements for strategic purposes? The article analyzes the rhetorical content of the 985 signing statements from FDR through Carter and argues that the president's rhetoric is an effort to frame the accomplishment that has just occurred with an eye toward maximizing prospective power and building legacy. The article explores the impact of different political contexts (divided government and elections) on several important rhetorical characteristics found in signing statements. In addition, the study delves into three interesting cases related to presidential credit claiming and attribution. LBJ and Carter were the most likely to attribute credit to members of Congress, while Nixon was the most likely to claim credit for himself. The findings help illuminate the various motivations that presidents have to use signing statements for reasons beyond constitutional challenges.

Successful political leaders do not necessarily do more than other leaders; successful leaders control the political definition of their actions, the terms in which their places in history are understood. The failures are those who, upon leaving office, look to some time in the distant future when people might begin to appreciate the wisdom of what they did. (Skowronek 1997 Skowronek, Stephen. 1997. The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to Bill Clinton, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.  [Google Scholar], 17–18)     

A Review of “Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy: The Presidency,the Supreme Court,and Constitutional Leadership in U.S. History”

In 1974 David Mayhew proposed that incumbency was increasingly important in deciding elections to the House of Representatives. One cause of this increase, he speculated, might be more effective use of the resources of office by incumbents bent on improving their electoral position. These suggestions heavily influenced subsequent research on congressional elections, and helped shape the design of the 1978 national election survey by Michigan's Center for Political Studies. This essay surveys that line of research, except for the recent articles making use of the 1978 data or dealing specifically with campaigning, which will be treated in a sequel. Full length books, articles before Mayhew's, and unpublished papers are excluded, except for certain works of particular relevance.