Journalist and scholar E.J. Dionne joins host Gil Troy to examine the power struggles between the president and Congress - struggles that have intensified in today’s hyper-partisan era. From George Washington’s reluctant service and the founders’ vision of checks and balances, to today’s entrenched partisan battlegrounds, they explore how political polarization has reshaped the balance of power in American government.

Dionne and Troy consider key historical moments, from Watergate to the Clinton impeachment, and ask whether bipartisan cooperation is still possible or simply a relic of a vanished political culture and era. They also consider moments when presidents bridged divides - or failed to - and debate whether the symbolic power of the office can still unify a fractured nation; is unity a lost ideal, or a goal worth reclaiming?

To read the texts and learn more about the manuscripts discussed in this episode, visit: 

George Washington’s Dread of Becoming the President, 1789

James K. Polk Declares the Presidency Too Important an Office to be Sought or Declined, 1844

Warren Harding on American Statesmanship and Lincoln, 1923

Chapters

(00:00) Opening

(00:31) Introduction: The Presidency in a Divided Congress

(03:26) George Washington’s Integrity and the Birth of Presidential Power

(06:25) Hamilton as “Prime Minister”? Early Partisanship and Coalition Government

(08:03) The Constitution’s Blind Spot: Ignoring Political Parties

(11:21) The Civil War as America’s Second Founding and a New Constitution

(14:22) Presidents as Historians, Reformers, and Problem-Solvers

(16:41) Golden Ages in Politics? Nostalgia and Presidential Leadership

(20:26) Great Presidents and Great Crises: Do Moments Make the Leader?

(22:30) Warren G. Harding, Normalcy, and the Limits of Presidential Power

(25:51) Expanding Presidential Power: Theodore Roosevelt to FDR

(28:37) Congress vs. the Presidency: Henry Clay, LBJ, and Eisenhower

(31:34) Nixon’s Domestic Legacy: EPA, Social Policy, and Congress

(34:09) The Cold War, Bipartisanship, and America’s Two-Party System

(38:25) Political Polarization, Trump, and the Decline of Cross-Party Friendships

(42:00) Unlikely Alliances: Ted Kennedy, Orrin Hatch, and Health Care Reform

(43:44) Clinton, Bush, Obama: Unified vs. Divided Government in Action

(49:05) Symbolic Power of the Presidency: Oklahoma City to 9/11

(53:09) Ronald Reagan’s “Time for Choosing” and Presidential Rhetoric

(56:04) Presidential Evolution: JFK, Civil Rights, and Changing Leadership

(56:55) Summary

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Production by docyourstory

Music by Adam Weingrod

The show is produced by The Shapell Manuscript Foundation. To learn more about the foundation and discover the manuscript collection visit: www.shapell.org