The Eisenhower Administration: Bridge to the Institutionalized Legislative Presidency

Abstract

Eisenhower's contributions to the modern presidency are primarily institutional and to some extent, stylistic: his reliance on the professionalism of civil servants in the Bureau of the Budget, his continuation of the annual programming process as well as the procedures for coordinating the executive branch's legislative role, his creation of a White House office to represent him on Capitol Hill, and his respect for Congress as a legislative body. What Eisenhower did not do is equally significant: he did not reject the model of an activist presidency, reverse the New and Fair Deal policies of his Democratic predecessors, or pursue his centrist agenda in a blatantly partisan manner. The Eisenhower experience demonstrates that incivility, inhumanity, and inanity are not inevitable consequences of divided government.

Acknowledgments

The interviews in this paper were conducted by the author during the 1970s with participants in the legislative policy-making processes in the White House and the Bureau of the Budget. Some of the descriptive material in this article also appears in The Legislative Presidency (Harper and Row, 1978), which is now out of print. A version of this article will also appear as a chapter in a forthcoming book on Eisenhower and Congress.

Notes

1. Johnson's White House averaged 461 full time employees and detailees; Nixon averaged 571 (Cannon 1976).