University Press of America
Pages: 138
Trim: 6⅜ x 9
978-0-7618-2949-2 • Paperback • May 2006 • $45.99 • (£35.00)
Carl D. Cavalli holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science/Criminal Justice at North Georgia College and State University.
Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2 Acknowledgements
Chapter 3 Presidential Leadership
Chapter 4 Power and Influence: Normative Studies of Power; Measures of Influence
Chapter 5 Categorizing Legislative Activities: Type of Activity; Dimensions; Amount of Activity; Discussion of Type and Amount
Chapter 6 Gathering the Data: Sources of Presidential Activity Data; Coding the Data
Chapter 7 Coding the Data—Some Detailed Examples: Typical Coding; Persuasion; Inducement; Organization; Emphasis
Chapter 8 Considerations of Validity and Reliability: Some Initial Notes on the Samples
Chapter 9 Results I: Organization Over Time; Strategy and Legislative Experience; Cyclical Effects; Legislative Experience and Activity; Other Possibilities
Chapter 10 Results II: Contact Data; Contact Data and the Case of Wilbur Mills; Contact Data Analysis; A Consideration for Future Exploration; Summary
Chapter 11 Discussion: What Has Been Learned?; Presidential Leadership in the American System; The Bottom Line
Chapter 12 "Quantitative Biography" and the Future: Cliometrics; Applying Cliometrics to Presidential Studies; The President and Future; Some Thoughts About Future Research; Some Hypotheses for the Future
Chapter 13 Bibliography
Chapter 14 About the Author
Chapter 15 Index
The political reporting corner that produced the rich material for Benedetto's book started in Buffalo with his coverage of George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign and eventually brought him to Washington in 1982 to help launch the Gannett Company's USA Today and then serve as its White House and national political correspondent. Many of the vignettes that fill the book are drawn from the years in the White House covering President George H.W. Bush (with whom Benedetto jogged on occasion), Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, and from his travels as a member of the White House press corps.
— Mike Brown; U.S., Mayor
This book presents new and promising evidence for presidential scholars. Students of the presidency have been limited by a shortage of useful indicators of presidential behavior. Cavalli aims to examine what presidents actually do day by day. He coded entries from daily presidential diaries from the Eisenhower, Johnson, and Nixon administrations, covering the first four months of three years from each administration's first term. With this new behavioral evidence, the author examines patterns of presidential contact and success with Congress.... The author convincingly demonstrates that his evidence comports with earlier qualitative studies of the behavior of the presidents... this useful explanatory study opens a door to a new wealth of evidence about presidential behavior that presidential scholars should pursue.Summing up: RECOMMENDED. Graduate students, researchers, and faculty.
— S.E. Schier, Carleton College; Choice Reviews