By Sarah Heitman
While many things have changed in America since George Washington was President, a president who effectively uses his presidential power today must still use legislative, administrative and rhetorical means to achieve their goals, a Harvard professor said in Tuesday?s Forum address.
?Presidential Power is still the power to persuade,? said Roger Porter, a BYU alumnus and professor of business and government at Harvard.
Porter spent 11 years working in what he called the ?real West Wing? and related an experiences he had during his time working in the White House during the Reagan administration.
While in a meeting, he was asked to leave and brief President Ronald Reagan on industrial economic policy before the president?s interview. Porter said when he met with the president, he was very different in person from what Porter thought he would be. Reagan seemed to be more confident than the media had portrayed him. In order to use his power to persuade, he had to rely on the expertise of others.
In Richard Neustadt?s book, ?Presidential Power,? Neustadt claims that the presidential power is the power to persuade, Porter said. Since Neustadt wrote his book in 1960, many changes have taken place that have shaped the presidents role, Porter said.
Porter said legislative changes since 1960 include Congress having more distributed power and reduced dependency on executive branch, strengthened ties between legislators and their constituents and increased use of procedural devices designed to delay and block action.
Since 1960, the executive branch has been influenced by a transformed news media, transportation and communication capabilities and increased number of presidentially appointed officials, he said.
?The president has substantially more capacity to oversee and direct to oversee his branch of the government,? Porter said.
While the president?s formal power has changed very little, the way presidents provide leadership and achieve their policy goals have been altered since 1960, Porter said.
Porter also spoke of three presidencies: the legislative presidency, the administrative presidency and the rhetorical presidency.
?The idea that presidents must persuade others in order to accomplish their goals remains true,? he said.
Today, it is more difficult for presidents to influence policy and to pass bills to accomplish their goals.
?The presidents increasingly use administrative means to achieve their goals,? Proter said. They use their administrative power through regulation, executive orders and presidential directives.
Presidents also exercise their influence and power through, what Porter called, ?rhetorical leadership.?
During the first 32 years of the American presidency, the presidents gave an average of four public addresses a year; during President Bill Clinton?s administration, he gave an average of 560 addresses a year, he said.
?Presidents exercise power not simply by what they say, but what they do,? Porter said.