The Political Roles of Presidential Children: Kennedy Through Clinton
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2004 The Political Roles of Presidential Children: Kennedy through Clinton Tabitha Alissa Warters University of Tennessee, Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the American Politics Commons Recommended Citation Warters, Tabitha Alissa, "The Political Roles of Presidential Children: Kennedy through Clinton. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2004. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/4569 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Tabitha Alissa Warters entitled "The Political Roles of Presidential Children: Kennedy through Clinton." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Political Science. John M. Scheb, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Anthony Nownes, Michael Fitzgerald, Dorothy McCauley Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I amsubmitting herewith a dissertation written by Tabitha Alissa Wartersentitled "The Political Roles of Presidential Children: Kennedy through Clinton."· I have examinedthe finalpaper copy of this dissertation for formand content and recommend that it be accepted in partialfulfillment of the requirements forthe degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Political Science. ��· John M. Scheb, Major Professor We have read this dissertation Graduate Studies THE POLITICAL ROLES OF PRESIDENTIAL CHILDREN: KENNEDY THROUGH CLINTON A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Tabitha Alissa Warters December 2004 11 Copyright© 2004 by Tabitha Alissa Warters All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Don and Martha Warters, fortheir love and support throughout this process. Also, to my grandmothers,Bernice Warters and Laura Ford. Although gone formany years, their love and belief in me sustain me even now. V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank all of those who aided me in completion of my Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science. I would like to thank Dr. John Scheb for his guidance and effort in helping me complete the degree. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee: Dr. Anthony Nownes, Dr. Michael Fitzgerald, and Dr. Dorothy Bowles. I would also like to acknowledge the daily help given by Sue Howerton and Debby McCauley in the Political Science Departmentat the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Without their help, the past four yearsof hardwork would have been much more difficult. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. David Feldman forhis leadership in acquiring grant money formy research, which enabled me to travel to several presidential libraries to do research forthis dissertation. In addition, I would especially like to thank the William G. McCall Graduate Quasi-Endowment for its financialsupport formy research. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends, whose encouragement throughout the process made this work possible. vii ABSTRACT Many facets of the institution of the presidency warrant examination. Individual presidents, cabinets, staffs, and firstladies have all been studied in-depth, but one aspect of the presidency remains fundamentally unexplored: the political activities of presidential children. Role analysis using case studies was the method of examination used. Role analysis was the method used in early studies on first ladies and is replicated in this study on presidential children. The basic assumption is that all presidential children from Kennedy through Clinton have performed political roles. By examining the repeated political activities of the 24 presidential children, five political roles were designated. First is the role of symbol. Symbols serve to display the presidential candidate or president as a person that is a good family man, loving father, and someone with high moral integrity. Surrogates serve to stand in for the president when the president cannot be present. The bulk of a surrogate's role takes place on the campaign trail. The increase in importance of primaries and the decrease in power of political parties have both made the need forcampaign surrogates mandatory. Informal advisors/confidant(e)s provide opinions and advice to the president. Skeletons tend to embarrassthe president. Finally, if an individual presidential child performs several of these roles equally, they are labeled as hybrids. Each of the 24 children fromKennedy through Clinton is categorized in one of the above roles and their actions and impacts are analyzed through expansive case studies. The findingsdisplay that all presidential children have performed at least one of these political roles. It is interesting to note that these roles vary by the age of the child. Those children younger than eighteen years old were almost exclusively symbols because they really had no other choice. The study also highlights that the use of symbols has become more important since the beginning of the media age of American politics. In many cases, images have become more important than messages, and younger children of presidents are utilized as image-makers to help increase the popularity of the candidate or president. Roles also vary by the sex of the child. Female children are often called upon to fillin forthe firstlady as hostess at the White House while the male children are not. Through an historical overview of the political activities of presidential children before 1960, this study also elucidates that presidential children have been important political actors even before the dawn of the media age. Finally, this study is significantto presidential studies for several reasons. First, it seems as if the presidential strategy of "going public" has been conceptualized too narrowly. Beyond presidents making personal appeals to the American people, "going public" may also include activities such as sending surrogates out to interact with the public. Second, presidential children can be seen as extensions of the presidents himself. This is extremely significant because it means that presidents with children, or more specifically, active children, may in fact have an advantage over presidents without children. If presidential power is personal, then having active children may increase the total sum of personal power. Third, having, children increase a president's ability to manipulate or mold public perceptions of him through their symbolism. Finally, just as viii formal staffand advisor influence the decisions presidents make, so too do presidential children. Therefore, presidential children can perform multiple roles that do have an affecton the institution of the presidency. They can be physical surrogates, symbolic personifications, mouthpieces of Administrative policies, protectors of the president, ambassadors overseas for the president, public defenders, or extensions of the president himself. Therefore, this study elucidates that although presidential children may not be formal players in the institution of the presidency, through their personal influence they impact the institution nonetheless. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... l IL THE CASE FOR THE STUDY OF PRESIDENTIAL CHILDREN...... .. 7 III. DATA AND METHODOLOGY ................................................... 15 IV. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW............................................... ........25 V. SYMBOLS................................................................ .............. 49 VI. SURROGATES ........................................................................ 71 VIL INFORMAL ADVISORS/CONFIDANT(E)S................................. 119 VIII. SKELETONS ........................................................................ 131 IX. HYBRIDS .............................................................................153 X. CONCLUSION...................................................................... 189 REFERENCES ...................................................................... 205 VITA............................................................................... ....223 1 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION I hope sometime you'll make a study of the families of the Presidents ... You've made a contribution to historythat will help some Ph.D. in the futureto evaluate all these families... 1 HarryTruman In his 1867 titled The English Constitution, Walter Bagehot asserts that there are two parts of any form of government: dignifiedand efficient. Bagehot defines dignified parts of government as those that "excite and preserve the reverence of the population" and efficientparts are "those by which it, in fact, works and rules. "2 Bagehot points out that in a Constitutional Monarchy, a family on the throne, or the dignified part of