Instructions:

Choose one of the topics/questions listed below for your 7-9 page research-based paper. Although you should draw upon relevant course readings, you are required to do additional research. In making your selection of topics, be guided in part by whether you will be able to find the information needed to write the paper. Begin locating sources soon; expect no sympathy if a lack of material hampers you as the due date approaches.

Papers will be graded based on the coherence of the argument and the quality of evidence used to support it (content), the structure of the presentation and rigorous focus on the topic/question (organization), correct use of sources and full citations (sources), and the clarity of exposition (writing). Please consult the on-line paper-writing guidelines that may be found on my home page for guidance on paper organization and writing. I am happy to discuss content with you, but do not expect last-minute advice. All papers must conform to conventional word-processing standards: double-spaced, one-inch margins, readable 12-point font, left-margin justified.

You are expected to provide specific citations for all information derived from printed and on-line sources. Use a consistent system of endnote citations (see, for example, the Polity style, http://www.palgrave-journals.com/polity/author_instructions.html, under "Presentation of articles), with full citations for the initial reference and a short form for subsequent references to the same source. Plagiarism is a violation of the college's academic integrity policy and will be dealt with severely. All papers must be available to me in electronic format upon request so they can be checked with the college's licensed plagiarism detection service.

The paper will be due in class Thursday, April 12th.  Late papers will be penalized one-third of a letter grade for each day or part of a day late unless you have a valid excuse supported by documentation. Penalties begin April 12th when I leave campus after class. Thus, a paper submitted to the department office at 4 PM will be marked down one-third of a letter grade and a paper submitted Friday, April 13th will lose two-thirds of a grade. No papers will be accepted after Monday, April 16th without a valid, documented excuse. Remember that you will have a chance to revise the paper to earn an improved grade, but only if the paper is submitted on time.

Topics/Questions

    1. Learning from Failure.  Do presidents and their advisors learn from their mistakes? Select a failed presidential initiative or poor decision from the early days of an administration, examine how the president and senior members of his administration learned from the experience, and demonstrate how they applied their insights to a subsequent policy initiative or decision. Did they avoid repeating their error(s)? What are the keys to successful presidential learning from false starts or early poor choices?

    2. Learning from History.  You are an advisor to George W. Bush on a policy issue of current concern to the administration, and you have been given the task of recommending a course of action (to be understood broadly to include both policy choices and political strategy). Write a memo to the president in which you use a specific historical comparison as the basis for your recommendations. Explain carefully why the historical parallel is suitable, then draw lessons from the prior episode to justify your proposed approach to the current challenge. (For this assignment, you must assume the position of someone who shares the president's views and policy commitments.)

    3. The Incumbency Edge.  Examine how two incumbent presidents running for reelection used the powers of their office to promote their bid for a second term, with special attention to their choices of policy priorities and timing and to their exercise of unilateral powers. Next assess the effectiveness of their use of the presidency in their reelection bids. Then compare and contrast the reelection governance approaches of the two presidents. What general lessons might be drawn from these cases about the effectiveness of different strategies of governing to win reelection?

    4. Presidents as Wartime Leaders.  James McPherson suggests that the primary task of a wartime president is to reconcile national political objectives and military strategy. Compare and contrast how two wartime presidents other than Abraham Lincoln have conceived of their role as commander-in-chief. Were they successful in identifying political goals and matching military strategy to those goals?

    5. In the Eyes of the Beholder.  Compare and contrast two book-length treatments of an American president, one generally sympathetic and the other critical. What criteria do they use to reach their divergent assessments? Where the criteria overlap, what is the basis for the differing judgments? (Note: although you may use biographies for this question, focus only on the author's evaluation of the subject's presidency.)

    6. Before Disaster Struck.  Compare and contrast the Bush administration's approach to the threat of terrorism before the 9/11 attacks and the Roosevelt administration's approach to the threat of a sudden attack in the year prior to Pearl Harbor.

    7. Impeachment as a Political Weapon.  Stephen Skowronek offers a framework for explaining presidential impeachment politics. Apply this framework to the impeachments of Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. How did regime politics propel the push toward impeachment? Why did those politics not culminate in a decision to remove either man from office?