The President's Image as Diplomat in Chief

Abstract

This article describes and analyzes a number of complications involved in presidential image identification and assessment (including distinctions among the various categories of summit diplomacy), selected images of past presidents, the role of the media, opinion polls, and surveys of “experts” in reflecting presidential images and prestige, and more precisely the president's image as diplomat in chief. Included are a description of the fluctuation in individual president's popularity ratings as related to selected foreign relations events, a comparative table of high, low, and average popular approval ratings for recent presidents beginning with Franklin Roosevelt, a comparative table of superior presidential rankings by “experts” throughout our history, and a table, with commentary, of presidential popular rating shifts following major summit ventures of the president since 1941. This article constitutes an introductory macro-treatment of the generalized aggregate of contemporary and historical perceptions of the president as diplomat in chief.