ABSTRACT
The President’s central position in American government is based on the fact that he is the only nationally elected politician who can claim to speak for the United States as a whole. The Presidency of the United States is one office held by one individual, but in fact the Constitution sets out a number of roles for him that can, analytically at least, be seen as distinctive. The Presidential office has grown partly as a result of the precedents set by various Presidents during the nation’s history. The growth of the executive branch as a result of war and the Depression led to the Congress recognizing in the post-Watergate period that there was a need to reassert its authority. The mass media can concentrate on one national political office more easily than on the many faces of Congress, and therefore everything the President does is news.
