ABSTRACT
This chapter considers two early-twentieth-century presidents— Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson—who were ahead of their times in recognizing the mobilization of public support as a tool of presidential power. It examines changes in the news media that made it easier for presidents to reach wide audiences, notably the emergence of radio and then television. The rise and rapid growth of the Internet and social media have changed the ways in which the public seeks and receives news and political information. The spread of information through the Internet and social media seems to indicate that there is an increasing audience for political messages that is now much easier to reach. Television "sets," as they were then called, were initially expensive, but by the late 1940s and certainly into the early 1950s television ownership became more common. Going public is not a panacea for the deadlock in Washington politics. Some presidential efforts have succeeded, while others have failed.
