The Personal President: Power Invested, Promise Unfulfilled

by Theodore J. Lowi

Looks at how the office of the presidency has changed, argues that the president has become too central to national politics, and suggests ways to restore the constitutional balance.

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1985

About the author

Theodore J. Lowi was John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions at Cornell University. He was elected president of the American Political Science Association in 1990 and was cited as the political scientist who made the most significant contribution to the field during the decade of the 1970s. Among his numerous books are The End of Liberalism and The Pursuit of Justice, on which he collaborated with Robert F. Kennedy.

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is for intermediate or expert presidential scholars :) The only hit against it is that it is dated (late 80s), but, nevertheless, it is still highly relevant. The author basically lays out a thesis about the troubled presidency, what's wrong with it, and what can be done to reform it (though, like any "good" thesis, this is saved towards the end and doesn't really subject those suggestions to much critique). This is a great academic dissection of the presidency, but I would say that the main point of the book is unwritten but just as viable as its stated raison d'etre: Reform of Congress is needed - the book details all the attempts to fix and re-examine the presidency, but a lot of the blame goes to the gross delegation of Congress' power. There have been few reforms of the Article I branch, and so the presidency can be helped and "saved" by reforming Congress. The author's suggestions are mostly regressive and elite. While I can support a lot of what he says, I just don't think it's realistic to go to a strong-party, Congress-focused/constituency, small executive branch presidency. I do agree we can "build down" the presidency (by "building up" Congress, IMHO), I just don't think the American people will give up their post 19th Century expectations of the presidency and presidential candidates. The author is also visionary in the role of PACs, the weakening of parties, and the increased intrusion of executive power (again, this is written in 1985, waaay pre-9/11 and Citizens United!). I think most of his suggestions, other than a push toward third-party/multi-party system, are not feasible. But I would recommend this to any serious presidential scholar.