Presidential stress and glory

Press, 26 May 1979, Page 17

Presidential stress and glory

The Presidential Experience: What the Office Does to the Man. By Bruce Buchanan. Prentice Hall, 1978. 190 pp. J 4.95. (Reviewed by John Henderson) Presidential Jimmy Carter has aged visibly in office. The healthy, almost boyish, grin of Jimmy Carter the campaigner has, after nearly two years and a half, been transformed into the worried look of an overworked President. Bruce Buchanan is concerned about the extraordinary psychological pressures which confront the man who occupies the Oval Office. His book differs from other psychological studies of the presidency, as he does not examine the personalities of individual Presidents, but instead seeks to describe the psychological environment within which all Presidents must work. Buchanan argues that this environment is bad for the physical and emotional health of United States Presidents — and the nation. “The Presidency is dangerous — to the stability of the political system . . . because it makes unmeetable demands on the personal resources of any single human being.”

Most modern Presidents have claimed to work 18-hour days. Jimmy Carter begins reading his official papers at 5.30 each morning — two hours before the beginning of his “official” day. This excessive workload

can result in serious health problems — which Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson experienced — and the emotional breakdowns with which the Presidencies of Woodrow Wilson and Richard Nixon ended. Buchanan maintains that stress caused by this heavy work load, is increased by the frustrations of the American political system. Americans expect their Presidents to exercise strong leadership, yet the Constitution enables both Congress and the Supreme Court to block Presidential initiatives. The resulting deadlock has caused Presidents to concentrate on foreign affairs, where they have greater freedom to act. President Carter’s Middle East peace initiatives provide a recent example — and a welcome indication that a President can raise his standing in the public opinion polls by making peace rather than war.

The Presidency is not, of course, all stress and frustration. Presidents are the symbolic head of the nation, and are treated with considerable respect and deference by the American people. But Buchanan argues that the excessive status accorded to the President is a further unhealthy factor in the psychological environment of the Presidency. The danger is that the President will become over-confident, over-sure of his abilities, and believe, as did President Nixon, that he can do no wrong. If a leader is treated like a God, he may be tempted to act like a God.

In order to overcome these problems Buchanan suggests that the United States should adopt a more parliamentary system of government. He argues that the work-load could be reduced by sharing executive functions within a plural presidency, which seems to conform closely to our system of Cabinet Government. He also advocates giving Congress the powers to both question and censure a President. The excessive respect for a President could be reduced by appointing a Chancellor to carry out ceremonial duties similar to those performed by the British monarch. Furthermore the American people should be encouraged to follow the British example of treating their Prime Minister with “studied, occasionally belligerent, disrespect.” But even in the extremely unlikely event of these reforms being adopted, they would not have the desired effect. It is unlikely that Presidents work harder, or are subjected to more stress, than Prime Ministers. Certainly leaders have experienced the same health problems in both Presidential and Parliamentary systems. Furthermore, the growth of executive power in Parliamentary .systems suggests that, wihtout the backing of a written Constitution, Parliament provides an imperfect restraint. The extent to which a head of government is able to withstand the pressures of office, and the temptations to misuse his powers, depends on the strength of character of the leader, not the structure of the political system.