For most of US History the executive branch had little power and consisted of the president, vice-president, and a small cabinet. With few exceptions most presidents before 1933 did little more than sign or veto legislation and appoint the occasional federal officer, unless there was a national crisis or military conflict.
The Executive Revolution: FDR to JFK.
In 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected. The US was in the midst of the Great Depression and action was needed. He immediately pushed through an unprecedented program of legislation that created new executive powers and offices, in order to direct a host of labor and social security initiatives that would bring relief to the public. FDR’s ‘Hundred Days’ of legislation began a revolution; setting a precedent of executive expansion that over the past 75 years has manifested into the ginormous bureaucracy that is the contemporary Federal Executive.
In 1945 Truman succeeded Roosevelt after his death and continued expanding the executive bureaucracy. One major addition he added was the Bureau of the Budget.
In 1953 Eisenhower followed suit and created the Executive Office of the President, the Office of Congressional Relations (OCR), the post of White House Chief of Staff and the post that is today known as National Security Advisor.
Kennedy was the last, but certainly not the least, of the major reformers of the executive. He appointed Lawrence O’Brien, an organizational genius and his presidential campaign manager, as head of the OCR.
O’Brien created the standard institutional approach for pushing presidential policy agendas through Congress. First he brought most executive departments under the direct reins of the White House using the framework laid out by Eisenhower. He then coordinated the goals of each with those of the president and created a network that tracked congressional votes, monitored expedient political favors, determined potential congressional bottle-necks and negotiated with leadership on Capitol Hill.
Consequences of Executive Expansion and the 2008 Presidential Election
The goal of FDR, Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy had been to increase presidential power as a means to achieve their respective policy ends. This each accomplished consciously, but unconsciously each administration had increased the importance of executive experience in their successors, if those successors were to govern effectively.
The executive expansion of 1933-1963 changed the role of the president from the director of a handful of advisors to a true executive. Presidents today must balance and distribute budgets of billions and trillions of dollars. They must direct and coordinate the numerous offices, boards, commissions, committees, governmental agencies and corporations that constitute the Executive Office of the President. The 15 major executive departments including the Departments of Justice, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services must all be administered from the White House through an army of bureaucrats.
Because of the responsibilities now incumbent upon the US President it is more important than ever that candidates have some prior executive experience. Unfortunately there are few occupations that one can derive this type of executive experience from. The closest parallel to the president is a state governor, a city mayor or the CEO of a major corporation.
George H. W. Bush is the only president since Gerald Ford who has not served as a state governor before being elected president. Neither the Republican nor Democratic nominees for president in the November 2008 election have any such experience. Only Sarah Palin, John McCain's vice-presidential running mate, has any executive experience. However, as evinced by Jimmy Carter, gubernatorial experience is no guarantee that one will be a successful president.
