ABSTRACT
The importance of presidents is a function of the scope of government; the more it does, the more important they become. The incompatibility of policy demands is a manifestation of a more general withdrawal of sovereignty from government in America. The rights of government and of politicians are being systematically whittled down. The legislation proposed by Lyndon Johnson and enacted during the first eighteen months of his presidency wiped out the New Deal agenda and destroyed the historical coalition and the common assumptions that had long helped Americans understand what was happening in the national life. The passage of the Great Society legislation, in addition, had a devastating effect on many sectors of the federal bureaucracy. The federal government would take over all areas of serious interest; there would be a national health service, a national welfare system, and the like.
