Going Public' Revisited: Presidential Speechmaking and the Bargaining Setting in Congress

The Politics of Presidential Speeches

“…1 Other factors, such as divided government, prove mixed: it decreases the number of political activities (Hager and Sullivan 1994), but increases the number of speeches in Hart's (1987) analysis and has no statistically significant impact on yearly speeches delivered in or outside of Washington DC (Powell 1999). Nevertheless, reelection years tend to increase yearly speeches (Hager and Sullivan 1994;Powell 1999), just as characteristics of individual presidents add little to our explanation of the number of presidential speeches over time (Hager and Sullivan 1994).…”

“…Although presidents appear to deliver national addresses in response to changes in their approval ratings or state of the economy (see Brace and Hinckley 1993;Ragsdale 1984), neither Hager and Sullivan (1994) nor Powell (1999) finds a demonstrable impact of either the president's approval ratings or the state of the economy on yearly speeches. 1 Other factors, such as divided government, prove mixed: it decreases the number of political activities (Hager and Sullivan 1994), but increases the number of speeches in Hart's (1987) analysis and has no statistically significant impact on yearly speeches delivered in or outside of Washington DC (Powell 1999). Nevertheless, reelection years tend to increase yearly speeches (Hager and Sullivan 1994;Powell 1999), just as characteristics of individual presidents add little to our explanation of the number of presidential speeches over time (Hager and Sullivan 1994).…”

“…Furthermore, policy speeches do not include any of the following: brief, informal exchanges with reporters, brief remarks of fewer than 10 paragraphs, national addresses, press conferences (joint or otherwise) or speeches delivered outside the United States. 12 Given the tendency for presidents to travel and make numerous speeches throughout the United States (see, among others, Cohen and Powell 2005;Kernell 1997;Powell 1999), it is possible that presidential speechmaking behavior will also vary by location. For this reason, I analyze not only the total number of policy speeches per month, but also the total number of policy speeches per month delivered outside of Washington, DC.…”

Going Public as a Legislative Weapon: Measuring Presidential Appeals Regarding Specific Legislation

“…Over the past several decades, American presidents have spoken publicly at an ever‐increasing rate. This trend has been demonstrated by the work of several scholars, including Hart (1987), Kernell (1997), Ragsdale (1998), and Powell (1999). There is much about these increased rhetorical efforts that we know very little about, however.…”

“…They also repeatedly made public appeals regarding a few legislative proposals, particularly their own initiatives. Combined, these findings indicate that, even though going public has become an everyday governing strategy for modern presidents (Hart 1987; Kernell 1997; Ragsdale 1998; Powell 1999), the president does not necessarily focus his rhetoric on appeals regarding specific legislation.…”