Presidential power can be viewed in terms of Domestic and Foreign affairs. This chapter discusses how the presidents normal problem with domestic policy is to get congressional support for the programs he prefers, while in foreign affairs he can almost always get support for policies that he believes will protect the nation. The president soon discovers that he has more policy preference in domestic matters than in foreign policy.THE RECORD OF PRESIDENTIAL CONTROLIt takes great crisis for presidents to succeed in controlling domestic policy. From the end of the 1930s to the present presidents have often been frustrated in their domestic programs. In the realm of foreign policy there has not been a single major issue on which presidents, when they were serious and determined, have failed. Derious etbacks to the president in controlling foreign policy are extraordinary and unusual. Presidents have significantly better records in foreing policy and defense matters than in domestic policies.WORLD EVENTS AND PRESIDENTIAL RESOURCESPower in politics is control over governmental decisions. The number of nations with which the U.S. has diplomatic relations has increased; the world has also become a much more dangerous place. Our government must always be aware of the possibility of nuclear war. Yet, the mere existence of great powers with effective thermonuclear weapons would not vastly increase our rate of interaction with most other nations. We are interested in what happens everywhere because we see these events as connected with larger interests, involving the possibility of ultimate destruction. Given the overrriding fact that the world is dangerous and that small causes are percieved to have potentially great effects, it follows that presidents must be interested in relatively small matters. Few failures in domestic policy could have as disastrous consequences as any one of dozens of mistakes in the international arena. Fore...
