The office of the presidency has always been controversial. Born of the Founders' struggle to create a stable republican political order, it was to be an office that was largely above politics in a political system; a constitutionally limited office that to many resembled an embryonic monarchy; the living embodiment of a nation that had just rejected such trappings. It is at once the most democratic of political offices and at the same time the historically most often feared. It is an office riddled with the paradoxes of executive authority in a republican form of government. As a consequence of these paradoxes we have been led to both love and to hate the men who have occupied the office.
The presidency's important place in the political system and central role in American history has made it an office ripe for particularly fierce ideological warfare. At the extreme, witness the role played by Lincoln's ascension to the office in the South's decision to secede from the very Union of which they had long been a vital part. At a less grave level, liberals and conservatives have often clashed on their respective perceptions of the presidency and the men who have served in it.
Read Full Article »