Presidents And Political Parties: Power In The Hands Of Many Changed To The Power In The Hands Of One

Abstract

It is the aim of this paper to answer one specific question: How do presidents influence and forever alter the political parties they lead? This paper will examine the power dynamics between the American presidency and political parties throughout this nation’s history. This paper will analyze how presidents in different political eras have influenced political party leadership. This paper will explore specific case studies of presidents and how they have changed their political parties. And this paper will elaborate on its primary thesis that: Before the modern presidency, presidents who wanted to expand their powers were stopped by strongly mobilized and competitive political parties; now, since the New Deal, presidents have much greater control and leadership over their political party, being the ones to advance or derail political party objectives. Conclusively, this paper finds thats presidents, in general, throughout the modern era have made political parties weaker, both in terms of voter turnout and political participation, which is different to how robust and strong political parties were before the New Deal. Additionally, it is found that specific presidents have direct impacts on the political parties they represent, from the demographics of a political party base, to the fundamental policies and ideologies believed by a political party, to the rhetoric used by a political party, and even to the amount of faith voters have in the American government.