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Presidential Influence in an Era of Congressional Dominance

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  • ROGOWSKI, JON C.

Abstract

Research on presidential power focuses almost exclusively on the modern era, while earlier presidents are said to have held office while congressional dominance was at its peak. In this article, I argue that nineteenth-century presidents wielded greater influence than commonly recognized due to their position as head of the executive branch. Using an original dataset on the county-level distribution of U.S. post offices from 1876 to 1896, I find consistent evidence that counties represented by a president’s copartisans in the U.S. House received substantially more post offices than other counties, and that these advantages were especially large under divided government and in electorally important states. These results are robust across model specifications and when examining the Senate. The findings challenge key components of the congressional dominance and modern presidency theses, and have important implications for scholarship on interbranch relations, bureaucratic politics, and American political development.

Suggested Citation

  • Rogowski, Jon C., 2016. "Presidential Influence in an Era of Congressional Dominance," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 110(2), pages 325-341, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:110:y:2016:i:02:p:325-341_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Choate & John A Weymark & Alan E Wiseman, 2019. "Partisan strength and legislative bargaining," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 31(1), pages 6-45, January.
    2. Mark Quigley & Jeremy D. Silver, 2022. "Science advocacy in political rhetoric and actions," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 462-476, September.
    3. Yaniv Reingewertz & Thushyanthan Baskaran, 2020. "Distributive spending and presidential partisan politics," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 185(1), pages 65-85, October.
    4. Chan, Kam Fong & Marsh, Terry, 2021. "Asset prices, midterm elections, and political uncertainty," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 276-296.

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