The Joy of Power: Changing Conceptions of the Presidential Office

Abstract

Political scientist James David Barber (1972) built bis well‐known theory of presidential character on the premise that psychological health could be measured by whether a president enjoys the exercise of political power. Although this psychological theory may predict presidential success in the twentieth century, the theory fails to illuminate the behavior of eighteenth‐ and nineteenth‐century presidents. None of the great or near great nineteenth‐century presidents gave the appearance of having fun in the White House. To behave in such a way would have seemed conduct unbecoming of the president of the United States. Presidents in the nineteenth century largely experienced presidential power as a burden and a duty not because they were psychologically unsuited to the office but because powerful cultural norms and expectations told them that was how a president should experience the exercise of power.