The US president is the sole legal head of the executive branch. Despite this constitutional authority, the president’s actual control over administration varies significantly in practice from one president to the next. This book provides a new approach for studying the presidency that centres on this often overlooked historical variable.
Patrick R. O'Brien is research and policy fellow at Connecticut Voices for Children, a public policy think tank in New Haven. He is also a visiting assistant professor of public policy at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.