A Review of “Fighting for the Speakership: The House and the Rise of Party Government”

We explore the sensitivity of Congress to statements of administration policy (SAPs) and signing statements in the struggle with the executive over policy. We hypothesize that the nature and use of objections contained in these presidential communications generates additional congressional oversight. To test whether this happens, we developed a dataset with all SAPs, signing statements, and congressional oversight hearings from 1997 through 2007. The results indicate that the type and number of objections raised in presidential communications affects congressional oversight activity.     

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.