How Governors Built the Modern American Presidency How Governors Built the Modern American Presidency Saladin M. Ambar UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS PHILADELPHIA A volume in the Haney Foundation Series, established in 1961 with the generous support of Dr. John Louis Haney. Copyright © 2012 University of Pennsylvania Press All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher. Published by University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104- 4112 w w w . u p e n n . e d u / p e n n p r e s s Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Ambar, Saladin M. How governors built the modern American presidency / Saladin M. Ambar. — 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8122-4396-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Presidents—United States—History—19th century. 2. Presidents—United States—History—20th century. 3. Executive power—United States—History— 19th century. 4. Executive power—United States— History—20th century. 5. Governors—United States— Powers and duties. 6. United States—Politics and government—1865–1933. I. Title. JK511.A63 2012 352.230973—dc23 2011040434 For my mother, Joyce Catherine Thacker, and my wife, Carmen, and the triplets: Gabrielle, Luke, and Daniel— the joys of my life Contents Preface ix Introduction. Th e Hidden Prince: Unveiling the Presidency’s Executive Narrative 1 1. Emerging Executives of the Second Republic, 1876– 1912 20 2. Th eodore Roo se velt and the New American Executive, 1881– 1911 49 3. An “Unconstitutional Governor”: Woodrow Wilson and the People’s Executive 72 4. Prince of the Hudson: FDR’s Albany Executive 100 5. “Undoing the Framers’ Work”: Executive Power and American Democracy 126 Notes 143 Bibliography 171 Index 179 Preface In 2008, Americans elected the fi rst sitting senator to the White House in nearly half a century. It was, in fact, the only presidential contest in the na- tion’s history to fi eld two sitting senators. Amid all the rightful attention to the election of America’s fi rst African American president, these other fi rsts were unfortunately reduced to trivia— intellectual memorabilia to impress friends when reminiscing about this historic event. Such oversights, how- ever understandable, have proven to have a narrowing eff ect on our under- standing of the American presidency and American po liti cal development. Americans should think carefully about the eff ect prior elective offi ce has had on the presidency— and on each of its occupants. By electing Barack Obama the 44th President of the United States, the American people ended nearly thirty years of presidential rule by governors. What this break in elec- toral practice portends may best be understood when considering a parallel event over 130 years ago. Th e oddity of the election of Ohio’s Rutherford B. Hayes over New York’s Samuel J. Tilden surpasses the brokered po liti cal resolution that ended Re- construction. Beyond Hayes’s controversial victory is the story of a resur- gent presidential offi ce and the rise of modern presidential power. As Hayes and Tilden were the fi rst two governors to face each other in a presidential election, the 1876 race marked a pivotal moment in the nation’s selection of a chief executive. But more important, the moment led to a previously un- imagined line of governor- presidents that would shape much of what Amer- icans would come to understand as the basics of presidential authority. Th is was the era of Grover Cleveland, William S. McKinley, Teddy Roo se velt, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. Roo se velt, governors all, who would go on to become the protomodern leaders most identifi ed with the emerging presidential republic. How Governors Built the Modern American Presidency is the fi rst book to examine the role the American governorship has played in reconceiving, and in many respects inventing, the modern presidency. x Preface Today, as Americans grapple with the extent of presidential prerogative power— whether it is called unitary, imperial, or simply modern— we would be well served to see how today’s “Prince,” Machiavellian in an ability to gar- ner personal power in the name of republicanism, fi rst began to emerge. As governors, and later as presidents in their own right, the executives discussed in this book were part of a broader practical and theoretical construction of an executive- centered polity. In short, modern presidential power, however elusive to defi ne, was ultimately craft ed from the states up. Th is book is about the oft en forgotten link between our national and state executives, and how both presidents and governors have laid claim to extraconstitutional author- ity for themselves and their successors. Outline of the Book In the Introduction, I explore the ways prior elective executive offi ce has shaped the presidency. Beginning with the election of 1876, I introduce the governorships of candidates Hayes and Tilden as early harbingers of the type of outsider politics that governors would come to defi ne as presidential can- didates. Th e key distinctions between presidents with executive backgrounds and those without are also drawn here. Chapter 1 takes up the Hayes- Tilden race’s implications for the ensuing growth of presidential power. Key gover- norships of the pre- Progressive period are examined as well, including those of Bob La Follette, Grover Cleveland, and Hiram Johnson. Chapter 2 explores the governorship of Th eodore Roo se velt. TR’s Albany tenure is presented as a window into his presidency and the emergence of in- novations in executive practice in the United States. Th e theoretical as well as practical approaches Roo se velt employed are discussed as part of the broader trajectory of executive power emanating from state houses in America at the time. Chapter 3 analyzes the governorship and executive philosophy of Wood- row Wilson. Wilson’s po liti cal writings and theories are explored and linked to his only prepresidential po liti cal experience as governor of New Jersey. Wilson’s deconstruction and reinterpretation of the founding is presented along with his modern contributions to party relations, his bold moves in the legislative arena, and, fi nally, his innovative turn in press relations. Chapter 4 explores the governorship of FDR in New York. Roo se velt’s strategic po liti cal mind is analyzed and his seemingly antiphilosophical Preface xi bent uncovered and scrutinized. Here, in the person of FDR as Albany leader, a powerful but by no means unchallenged governor, we can discern the out- lines of the fi reside chats, later eff orts at establishing party unity under the executive, and the contours of the New Deal. Importantly, Roo se velt’s modern executive acumen— the one that most comes to defi ne the emergence of the modern presidency— can be seen drawing from the wellsprings of his pre de- ces sors in New York State, including Al Smith, Grover Cleveland, and Samuel Tilden. In Chapter 5, I weigh the implications of executive power’s centrality to American politics at the turn of the last century. By largely missing the governorship’s role in the pro cess of erecting the modern presidency, we have made an unintended secondary omission. Th is is the inability to see Ameri- can executive power’s growth as part of the narrative of the Progressive Era— an era in which governors challenged old conventions, opting for new tactics directed toward garnering pop u lar support and progressive policy outcomes. Th e most basic contribution of this book is to fold the institution of governor into any analysis of the modern presidency, and to revise the ten- dency in the discourse of presidential studies to minimize the role of prior elective offi ce. It is time to bring the executive, writ large, into presidential studies. * * * Th is book is the product of many people and countless conversations that have shaped my thinking about politics over the years. In some ways, it grew out of a conversation over twenty years ago, when, as a fairly typical New Yorker, I was bemused and unimpressed on a visit to my girlfriend’s home in Little Rock, Arkansas. Aft er inquiring about the lack of a visible skyline from the approach to the quaint airport, I began to hear tall tales about the gift s of their young governor. Coming from the Empire State, I thought I knew what a real governor was all about. He was eloquent, ethnic, and nationally known. He was, in short, Mario Cuomo. I’ve since come to appreciate how easy it is to underestimate small beginnings in politics, and, more importantly, how easy it is to overlook the role governors play in American life. Th e following year, I spent a summer in Prince ton, New Jersey, at the university’s summer public policy program for students of color. Th ere I met Michael Hanchard, who fi rst sparked my interest in pursuing a career in po liti cal science. I have been xii Preface in pursuit of the implications of executive power and the prospects of mak- ing a contribution in academia ever since. Th ose good hosts in Arkansas, Manuel and Gwendolyn Twillie, are now my in- laws and have been indispensable in providing me time, lodging, and overall encouragement over the years. All sons- in- law should be so blessed. Along the way, I have been introduced to marvelous researchers and thinkers in the fi eld of American politics, not the least of which was the leg- endary Wilson Carey McWilliams, whose insights need no recounting here.