In the twentieth century, it has become accepted that a person can actively and openly seek the highest office in the land. America, the land of modern advertising, sells presidential candidates as if they were a breakfast cereal or a soap.

When the Republican Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) became president in 1901 upon the assassination of William McKinley, a new era of public relations, campaigning, and image-making was inaugurated to reach a constituency of voters. Theodore Roosevelt declared the presidency to be a "bully pulpit!" He was the seminal figure of twentieth-century presidents in creating the modern road to the White House.

Ironically, Theodore Roosevelt had been kicked upstairs as vice-president by the Republican "Easy Boss" of New York State, Thomas C. Platt. Roosevelt had proved to be too independent-minded to suit "Easy Boss." Platt boomed Roosevelt for vice-president at the 1900 Republican convention over the objections of Mark Hanna, the campaign manager of William McKinley. At one point, Hanna objected, "Don't you realize that there is only one life between that damned cowboy and the White House." The previous vice-president had died. Roosevelt enrolled in law school convinced that his political career had come to an end. An assassin's bullet changed this.

Theodore Roosevelt was an activist-minded president that shaped public opinion in order to influence Congress. More than any other president before him, he went on public speaking tours to create public support for his programs. In 1902, he intervened to end an anthracite coal strike by actively mediating a settlement between the labor unions and management. He sent the U. S. Fleet around the world as a gesture to promote both American prestige and peace with other nations. Theodore Roosevelt frequently gave "off-the-record" and "background information" in which newspapers stated a "high White House source" had divulged information. He made it a habit to do something newsworthy over the weekend to make a splash on Monday, then a slow news day.

Theodore Roosevelt chipped away from the privacy of the presidential family by encouraging news items to appear in the newspapers about his family. When he was asked to bring his freethinking oldest daughter Alice under control, he declared he could govern his daughter or the United States but he could not do both.

Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to be known by his initials "TR" and nickname "Teddie" (both of which he detested; his friends called him Theodore). His presidential administration was the first to have a nickname, the "Square Deal." Theodore Roosevelt managed to exude an image of being our first Cowboy president, an urban reformer, and a suburban homeowner. On the night that he was elected president in his own right, he promised not to run again -- a promise he kept for one term after he left office. Historians noted that traditionally even presidents had kept the potential threat of running again as a threat to avoid becoming lame ducks in their second terms.

TR even had a stuffed animal named after him, the "Teddy Bear." This did not catch on as a presidential tradition when the supporters of William Howard Taft tried to promote the stuffed opossum toy in his image.

Republican William Howard Taft (1909-1913) got the job of president because his friend was Theodore Roosevelt. He had never held elective office before. Taft had been outstanding administrator and troubleshooter for McKinley and Roosevelt. Although Taft had a falling out with his former mentor, Theodore Roosevelt, the power of the incumbency was such that the 1912 Republican Convention renominated him for president. In 1912 TR won the primaries but Taft's supporters controlled the convention machinery and Taft was nominated once more for president.

In the twentieth century, unlike the nineteenth century, unpopular incumbent presidents would get renominated. Ronald Reagan could not dislodge Gerald Ford in 1976 and Edward Kennedy could not displace Jimmy Carter in 1980. True, the primary victory of Eugene McCarthy over Lyndon Johnson had encouraged Robert F. Kennedy to enter the presidential race. However, few people realized that the division of Johnson supporters had enabled the supporters of McCarthy to win in the New Hampshire primary. It did not necessarily mean that Johnson would have been ousted. Instead the division between McCarthy and Kennedy supporters actually would have made this less likely.

Roosevelt bolted from the Republican Party to form his own third party, the Progressive Party. The Bull Moose became the symbol of the new party. The Progressives continued as a viable party into the early 1920's. The divided Republicans made it easy for the Democrats under Woodrow Wilson to win. This was the last time any party ignored the results of primaries in selecting political candidates. The Socialist Party had its best showing in 1912 as a percentage of the electorate when it won 6% of the vote. Because of his act of rebellion, Theodore Roosevelt was denied the Republican nomination in 1916. If he had not died in 1919, he was the hands-on favorite to have been nominated for a second term in his own right in 1920.

Democrat Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) nicknamed his administration "The New Freedom." He became the first president since John Adams to address Congress directly in giving the State of the Union message in person. Although raised in the South, Wilson spoke in General American dialect. He had been a popular lecturer across the nation before entering politics. His son-in-law, Secretary of the Treasury, McAdoo suggested the modern press conference. The president would speak to all the reporters directly and answer their questions in writing. Previously, presidents had their favorite reporters whom they would give exclusive interviews. In the 1916 elections, newsreel reports showed the campaigns of the Republican, Democratic, and Progressive party candidates. Woodrow Wilson was the first president to personally attend an international summit conference, the Versailles Peace Conference. In 1918 he called for a Democrat Congress. Many people felt this was too blatantly partisan during World War I. A Republican Congress was returned. Although Wilson had written the best book on how Congress worked when he was a college professor, he refused to be flexible in dealing with the Republican-dominated Senate. .

The Republican Convention of 1920 was deadlocked by media heroes of the day. Leonard Wood, an army doctor who had battled yellow fever and Herbert Hoover, the savior of millions of Europeans during World War I as the director of war relief canceled each other. Warren Harding (1921-1923), a "dark horse," was selected because he looked like a president. Harding coined new words through malapropisms such as "normalcy." The end of World War I had brought about an economic recession which favored the Republican Party. While both the Democratic and Republican parties straddled over the issue Versailles Peace Treaty, the Democrats were more clearly identified in favor of it and it cost them more votes.

Warren Gamaliel Harding wanted to become America's most beloved president but scandal destroyed his dreams. His campaign manager Harry Daughtery had succeeded in convincing the Republican leaders to select him for president in 1920. When Harding was asked if there any impediment in his becoming president, he thought a few minutes and said there was none. When one of his mistresses threatened scandal, she was sent on an around the world cruise. In 1923, the "Teapot Dome" scandal broke during Harding's presidency. He died before his reputation could recover. His former campaign manager Harry Daughtery along with Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall became the first cabinet officials sentenced to jail. In his native Ohio, a law school named after him changed its name when a rich alumnus stipulated that it was the condition of the gift.

Media attention had made Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929), a progressive Republican, into a vice presidential candidate in 1920. During the Boston Police Strike of 1919, Calvin Coolidge had uttered the words, "Nobody has a right to strike again the public interest at any time." The progressive pro-union governor supported the mayor of Boston in ending the police strike. This made him the media hero of the moment so that Harding's supporters selected him as the vice-presidential candidate.

Calvin Coolidge created a "folksy image" to reassure the American people when he became president following the death of Harding from an apparent heart attack. Newsreels recreated his taking the presidential oath from his father in 1923 and a visit to the family farm in 1924. Coolidge used the radio on a regular basis to address listeners when he made various ceremonial speeches. Although he was nicknamed "Silent Cal," he was interviewed by the press on a regular basis. Some historians feel the death of his son John in 1924 caused him to become depressed in and he essentially lost interest in the presidency after this.

Herbert Hoover, a progressive Republican (1929-1933), was neither a stupid man nor an uncaring man. Many people on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean hailed him as the greatest hero of World War I because of his brilliant management of humanitarian programs that saved millions of lives during and after World War I. When he became his Secretary of Commerce in 1921, he personified the true-life version of Algernon stories of rags to riches: Anyone who had ability could rise to the top. He was an orphan who had made good. As Secretary of Commerce and as president, he intervened in the nation's economy.

His Democratic political opponent Al Smith in his gravely voice from the Fulton Fish Market of New York City could not make headway in the prosperous year of 1928. A year later the bottom fell out of the stock market. Herbert Hoover, a Quaker, did not make Al Smith's religion of Catholicism a campaign issue although others tried to do so. When Prohibition was still riding high, the "dry" Hoover beat the "wet" Smith. Hoover gave press conferences exuding his faith in the nation's economy and the measures he had taken to improve it. As the Great Depression deepened, he lacked the charisma and oratory to inspire confidence in his leadership that had won him the title of the "Great Engineer" who had fed millions in World War I.

Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) broke tradition when he accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party in person at its Chicago convention. He also flew by air plane to do this. He wanted to show people that he was physically vigorous and had "recovered" from polio. When he had nominated Al Smith for President in 1928, the Democrat convention cheered him for coming back to political life following his bout with polio which had paralyzed his legs. "Happy Days" became the theme song accidentally when the band was asked to play something more joyful than the series of mournful dirges they had played during the convention. New Deal entered the vocabulary when the journalists picked it up from Roosevelt's acceptance speech. He was soon known by the nickname of "FDR."

Polio always remained in the background as a potential issue. At the start of each of his runs for presidential office, Roosevelt would release a medical report stating that he was in good health. Even though Roosevelt downplayed his polio, he "donated" his birthday to the March of Dimes to raise money. Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in newsreels asked members of the movie audience to send their dimes to the White House. When Roosevelt gave his radio "fireside chats," the audience would double or triple. He went on the radio once a week on the average so that his appearances always remained special. Roosevelt liked this format because he did not have to risk speaking standing at a podium. Several times while speaking in public, he slipped from unbolted podiums, he picked up his notes and members of the audience helped him back onto his, he continued as if nothing had happened. Unlike the attitude of the press since Watergate, this was regarded as inappropriate to report. Veteran photographers would prevent newcomers from taking pictures of Roosevelt sitting in a wheelchair. The only two existing photographs of Roosevelt in a wheelchair were taken by a cousin. There was a whole art of lifting placing Franklin Roosevelt in appropriate photo "ops" so that his disabilities would not show. As a result, very few people actually realized how paralyzed he really was. Speaking on the radio was also a way for FDR to reach the American people instead of relying on newspapers in which the majority were editorially hostile to him while the reporters were sympathetic to him.

Franklin Roosevelt was the first president to hold regular press conferences. Reporters were not permitted to quote him directly but it was clear in their reports who their source was. When Roosevelt felt the questions were too intrusive or did not feel about talking about a particular issue, he would declare, "There is no news today on that." He once wrote on a group photograph of photographers and reporters that covered him, "From your devoted victim."

Literary Digest pioneered the use polling, then an infant art, in 1936 predicted a Republican victory. Monday quarterbacks observed that it had polled its readers via the telephone so that there was an economic bias to the result. FDR had a devastating sense of humor which he did not hesitate to use again his Republican opponents. When the Republicans claimed that he had sent a battleship to retrieve his dog Fala, FDR declared that Fala resented from the bottom of his Scottish soul. In 1940, Franklin Roosevelt broke the third term tradition by campaigning that he was "indispensable" to win the war and the peace. In 1944, Roosevelt's fourth Republican opponent, Thomas E. Dewey, Special Prosecutor and Governor of New York, challenged Roosevelt on his health but failed to systematically follow through. When his health became an issue, he campaigned in all the five boroughs of New York City on a rainy day to demonstrate once more how physically fit he was.

When Franklin Roosevelt was gearing to run for a fourth term in the oval office, many people in his inner circle could see he was in poor health and might not last the fourth term. In retrospect, Franklin Roosevelt should not have run but he was too egotistical to step down and the Democrats wanted the incumbent president, a proven-vote getter, to run again. Ed Flynn, the boss of the Democratic machine in the Bronx, New York City headed the group that convinced FDR to choose Harry Truman (1945-1953), a moderate Democratic, over vice president Harry Wallace who was regarded as too far to the left. Harry Truman was the vice-president only 82 days when he became president after FDR died of a stroke.

Harry Truman set about reshaping his constituency to campaign on the issues of his own choosing. Democrat Truman called the Republican Congress into special session in 1948 to pass various programs which Republicans claimed they supported. This put them on the defensive. The Democratic Party was split into three: the middle led by Harry Truman, the left by Henry Wallace, and right by Strom Thurmond. Truman campaigned on the issues of continuing New Deal programs which he reshaped in his own program, "Fair Deal." Truman campaigned on his gut instead of relying on public opinion polls. Although Truman came from the South, he had integrated the armed forces through executive order. The Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey conducted his campaign in a statesmanlike manner on the belief that he was already elected. Many newspapers beside the Chicago Tribune such as the New York Times carried early editions that Dewey had won. Public opinion polling was still in its infancy and indications of Truman strength in key areas were explained away by the "experts" and journalists. Truman had run again stiffer odds in 1940 to be reelected Senator when FDR did not endorse him and at some points, he was so low in cash contributions he had to sleep in his car when he campaigned.

Television changed the relationship between the president and the press. Presidents realized they could reach the public directly without being filtered and edited by the media. During the days of the New Deal, only about a dozen reporters covered Franklin Roosevelt on a daily basis, and with such a small group, of course he knew all their names and foibles. A dozen reporters would interview the president in the oval office and then rush for the few telephones available in the nearby press room. Media outlets give what they call a "running story." Reporters present at the conference than add their commentary for late use by the media outlets. Truman would meet with his advisors to figure what questions reporters might ask. He would begin each press conference with a prepared statement and refer reporters back to the statement when appropriate.

During the Truman Administration, as the number of reporters grew, a new White House Press Conference room was opened in the in the Indian Treaty Room in the Old Executive Office. The room could seat 230 reporters. The press conference became a news event itself, and more formal in which the presidents would prepare to answer the questions. Truman began the tradition of calling upon reporters by name. The presidents answer each question more carefully.

Like Hebert Hoover after World War I, both the Democrat and Republican parties courted Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961), the supreme commander of allied armies in Europe in World War II, to run on their tickets. Eisenhower had not contemplated a political career until he realized that Robert A. Taft, an isolationist, was the leading Republican candidate. Being the first general in charge of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), he realized America could not isolate himself. Eisenhower projected the image of a kindly grandfather above politics. Eisenhower gained a lot of support when he declared he would visit Korea in an effort to end the Korean Conflict. He campaigned on the high road while his vice presidential candidate Nixon was assigned the task of campaigning on the low road by attacking the Democrats. Eisenhower was the first presidential candidate to employ a Madison Avenue advertising agency to advise him.

Eisenhower's health and age always remained an issue. He survived several heart attacks to serve two terms. Senator Adlai Stevenson ran twice on the Democratic ticket against Eisenhower. Battling the image of being an intellectual "egghead," he could not make headway against a popular war hero.

Television became the most crucial medium of reaching people in the 1952 campaign. Eisenhower's vice-presidential candidate Richard Nixon used television to survive a devastating charge by his political opponents that he had a campaign "slush"fund. Nixon in his famous "Checkers" speech revealed his personal finances, a first for any candidate for high office. This has forced every aspirant for political office to do so since. Eisenhower, who had written a few best-selling books, was furious to say the least, that he would have to reveal his finances. He declared he would return the cocker spaniel named Checkers by his daughters. Nixon stated he was proud that his wife wore a plain "Republican coat," a reference to a scandal in the Truman administration in which an official had accepted a mink coat. Nixon asked people to send telegrams to the Republican National Committee if people felt he should stay on. Nixon had taken the question of whether or not he should be on the Republican ticket out of the general's hands. Eisenhower, seeing how telegrams favored Nixon, declared him to be "my boy."

Eisenhower would meet with the press twice a week. He permitted his meetings to be filmed and then shown on television. He was the first president to permit direct quotations of what he said. All material had to be cleared by James Haggerty, his press secretary, to clean up his boss's syntax. Eisenhower would speak think faster than he spoke and would leave out words. Occasionally, Eisenhower seemed befuddled at press conferences. This was an act. In reality, the president had an extremely sharp mind. He had been MacArthur's chief speech writer in the Philippines. He would ask his press secretary if there were certain things he should not let out of the bag, and then he would proceed to befuddle the press. He wrote several books including his memoirs without the help of ghostwriters. Eisenhower's comments were usually taped and then broadcast over radio and television.

Both Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon were essentially the middle of the roaders who scarcely differed on the issues. For example, people remember that Kennedy had reaped publicity in supporting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when he was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama; few recall that Nixon had received the endorsement of Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. for his support of civil rights. The result was an election in which the vote was the closest of the century. In a way, presidential candidates were really being sold as if they were another brand product --asked to choose between Coco-Cola and Pepsi-Cola. Kennedy claimed a "missile gap" and Nixon was too soft on Communism.

Nixon and Kennedy had agreed to four presidential debates. The Republican Richard M. Nixon, supremely confident in his debate skill since childhood felt he would demolish his opponent. Democrat John F. Kennedy felt he could only gain as the challenger. He was telegenic and projected charisma. People who heard the Kennedy-Nixon debates on radio such as Kennedy's own vice-president Lyndon Johnson thought Nixon had won, and people who watched the debate on television concluded that Kennedy had won. Kennedy spent several days preparing for the debates and giving himself plenty of leisure time to relax. Nixon had been on the go, was physically exhausted from a heavy regime of campaigning, and suffered from a bout of ill-health of the first time in his life when he went to debate Kennedy. He refused the services of a professional makeup artist to make him look presentable for television. Nixon looked under the weather with four o'clock shadow

Years later, Newman, the moderator, observed that Nixon was putting on stage makeup before making a speech on behalf of Barry Goldwater at the 1964 Republican convention. Newman, the moderate of the debates, remarked to Nixon that he would have become president had he put on right makeup. Nixon sat back in his chair, mused, and then declared, "You're right." Nixon's staff complained that the media loved JFK and he could do no wrong. One said, "we serve them a hot lunch and the complain, while Kennedy serves cold sandwiches and the press adores him."

John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) might have become another William F. Buckley if his older brother Joseph Jr. had not died during World War II. His father Joseph Sr. had wanted to run for president in 1940 but an ill-timed pro-isolationist interview destroyed that chance. The Kennedy patriarch convinced his son to pursue a political career in place of the promising journalistic career that Kennedy had started after World War II for the Hearst newspapers. His father had the money and his grandfather, "Honey" Fitz, the former mayor of Boston had the experience, and both had contacts how to manage his Congressional campaign. Both Kennedy and Nixon got their starts in conservative Congressional districts where their World War II records were great political assets. Common people were able to identify with wealthy Kennedy when he declared his mother Rose was a "Gold Star" mother --someone who had a child from fighting during World War II.

Behind the scenes, Kennedy's father masterminded his rise to the presidency. Kennedy had a great sense of humor which deflected criticism. During the West Virginia Primary Kennedy claimed that he received a telegram from his father not to buy one vote more than that was necessary. He also used it to explain why he appointed his brother Robert the attorney-general of the United States. Kennedy transformed the issue of his Catholicism to his advantage by saying a vote for him was a vote for religious tolerance. Nixon's longtime personal secretary Rosemarie Woods was Roman Catholic.

Nixon did not get the full advantage of Eisenhower's incumbency. Nixon in his memoirs claimed he honored Mamie Eisenhower's request to minimize active campaigning of the president for reasons of health. On the other hand, Nixon suffered devastating publicity when Eisenhower quipped in response to, "What did Nixon contribute to your administration as vice-president-" The president replied, "Give me a week to think about it."

Nixon also made an ill-fated promise to campaign in every state which he fulfilled instead of maintaining a flexible campaign strategy to appear in the states that most likely would have voted for him. Nixon maintained that the Democrats stole the election but Nixon for the good of the country did not challenge the results. However, the Republicans had their own equivalents of Richard Daley of Chicago who could deliver the vote.

Kennedy projected an image of youth and vigor with the nickname of his administration, the "New Frontier." In his inaugural speech, he declared: "ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country" launched the "New Frontier," the nickname of his administration. Kennedy had a deadly monotone voice when he had first run for Congress. He struggled to improve how he spoke as the best way of improving his opportunity of becoming president. His Boston accent remained a trade mark.

Kennedy used the pre-arranged television conference to solidify his relationship with the American people. Kennedy appeared on television to speak on Civil Rights, rolling back steel prices, and other issues to get the support of the general public to change private conduct. Kennedy enjoyed his press conferences in which they first to be consistency broadcast live on radio and television. The journalists in turn enjoyed questioning him without probing too deeply into his personal life.

Democrat Lyndon Baines Johnson (1963-1969) reassured the nation that he would continue JFK's policies upon the latter's assassination in Dallas, Texas. He had the halo of the martyrered president's image behind plus his experience as a Senator Majority Leader for many years. When he ran for president in his own right, his campaign televised one 30-second spot of a child looking at flowers as the countdown for an A-bomb was repeated in the background. This was quite a dramatic use of television advertising to the one-minute endorsement that Eleanor Roosevelt had given Jack Kennedy four years earlier.

Republican Barry Goldwater was savaged by Johnson's media machine. The press delighted quoting his speeches of out of context to show what a "kook" he was. The one bright light emerged when Ronald Reagan spoke to the nation on Goldwater's behalf in the closing days of the campaign in a major television address. It may not have been enough to save the presidential aspirations of one Republican but it launched another one on the road to the White House.

Johnson frequently spoke to the nation to get his programs passed by Congress. He launched the "Great Society" to make "War on Poverty" but his increasing involvement in Vietnam conflict destroyed his aspirations, his popularity, and his credibility. When Johnson as an incumbent he lost a primary to Eugene McGovern in March 1968, he declared he would work for peace and not for another term in office.

Johnson opened the door to the privacy of the president's lives when he showed on national television the scars from a gall bladder operation. Johnson liked to give surprise press conferences in the Oval Office without television.

Republican Richard Nixon (1969-1974) once more made a comeback. After his failure to win the governorship of California, he retired temporarily to become a Wall Street lawyer. He then established a grass-roots strategy in which reached out to the Republican county chair people. Running for president in 1968, he declared he had a "secret" plan to end the war. It did not exist but it sounded good to a nation that no longer believed there was light at the end of the tunnel in Vietnam after the Tet Offensive. Hubert Humbert, Johnson's vice-president, might have won if he had pursued a campaign more aggressively independent of Johnson but then it would have meant severing any relationship to Johnson.

As Watergate Scandal exploded, Richard Nixon declared "I'm not a crook." Nixon had felt that he lost the 1960 election because of crooked politics and he was doing what everyone else had done. Other presidents had survived worst scandals but Nixon had lost the political dexterity that had seen him through so many crisis. When he gave his "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore," after losing the California primary. None of what he said could be used against him. As a result, Nixon was the first president forced to resign from office in 1974.

Never again did the nation take it on faith that a president's words should be taken on face value that he was acting for the good for the nation. The press became much more adversarial and inquisitorial in investigating the actions of the presidents. Presidents lost even more privacy as the media looked into their lives.

Richard Nixon always prepared for his press conferences. He dominated his press conferences until the Watergate issue heated up. Sometimes he would walk away rather than answer any more questions on the subject.

Republican Gerald Ford (1974-1977) succeeded the disgraced Nixon as president. He was selected vice-president because of his character upon the resignation of Spiro Agnew. The media portrayed Ford as physically maladroit who always seemed to be hitting somebody with a golf ball. Ironically, he was probably one of the most athletic of our presidents. He had worked his way through college and law school as a football player and coach.

In 1976, Governor Ronald Reagan of California challenged Ford within the Republican Party. He felt that he could unseat the unpopular Ford. Nevertheless, Ford remained popular enough to win the Republican party nomination in his own right.

During the Carter-Ford debates, Ford committed a gaffe when he declared that "Eastern Europe was free." The moderator asked him in astonishment to repeat the statement to make sure. Ford had been over prepped that he had gone on automatic and had not realized what he had said.

As Democrat Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) campaigned on a national level, his southern accent became less "deep" so more people could understand him when he spoke. Jimmy Carter campaigned that he was not an "insider." When he became president, this proved a weakness in working with established political machinery which was naturally hostile to him. Carter was well-prepared for his conferences but lacked a sense of humor. When Iranian students seized American embassy personnel as hostages, this proved devastating to Jimmy Carter. Like John Adams, he was seen as weak for trying to avoid war that could have easily won him reelection. The ill-fated rescue mission was one more in a row of a series of incidents that showed Carter to be "weak."

Since World War II, people have been identifying less with the established Democratic and Republican Parties. The Republicans had been the leading political party from the Civil War to the Great Depression. Then the Democratic Party became the favored party of the electorate. Time will whether or not the Republicans have emerged as the favored party of the nation in the 1990's. Former Republican John Anderson ran for president as an independent in 1980 against Carter and Reagan. He was considered enough of a political force to be considered their equal. However, Anderson left no political party behind. Ross Perot launched the Reform Party in 1992 when he ran for president as an independent. The party has grown independent of its founder and his eccentricies. Will it become the new second party and displace one of the established parties- Once more time will tell.

Republican Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) was the "Great Communicator" until struck down by Alzheimer's disease. He devastated Carter by asking, "Are you better off than you are four years ago-" as the economy suffered both a downturn and inflation at the same time. In the presidential debates, professional oratorical evaluators judged Carter the winner of the content while the public opinion polls indicated that Reagan won the image on the basis of expectations. After all, shouldn't a Hollywood movie star do better than a farmer-

Ronald Reagan handled political issues deftly. He is the oldest man who has served as president at age 69. He joked away the age issue by declaring he would not use youth and inexperience against his opponent. When the Iran-Contra scandal broke, Reagan promptly took responsibility for his actions. He declared in his heart he did not remember authorizing the trading of arms for hostages. A prosperous economy made this a non-issue. Reagan always attacked the issues, not the personalities. This made hard for his political enemies to dislike him.

Reagan honed his skills as a radio disk jockey, became a Hollywood movie star, and then a television pitchman. He then became the president of the Screen Actors Guild, Governor of California, and, of course, "played the role of a lifetime," president of the United States. He was able to get legislation passed through a Democrat Congress by appealing to the American people. Reagan showed you are never too old to make a career change. Reagan was able to articulate the issues and feelings of people. He looked like a president and had the charisma and oratory to be one. His speech on the Challenger Disaster, in my opinion, was his best speech. His invasion of Granada was short and relatively bloodless. He was no longer the Teflon president but avoided another Watergate. Reagan's "handlers'' discovered that a good visual would overwhelm any verbal negative. Reagan signing a anti-conservation bill in a forest setting would be seen as a "conservation president" on the prime time news the next day.

Both Reagan and Bush learned one thing from the Vietnam snafu. If you fight a war, make sure it is short, suffer minimal causalities, and win it. Reagan invaded Granada at the invitation of its Caribbean neighbors to save it from a Cuban takeover while Bush won the Gulf War in 96 hours.

Reagan practiced his answers before a press conferences. His staff made it clear that he would not answer any questions outside the White House Press Conference. Nevertheless, he made news when he joked at his weekly radio program that "I'm declaring war on the Soviet Union." He ignored questions asked at photo opportunities and at other moments. During his administration, press conferences were 30 minutes in agreement with the television networks.

George Bush (1989-1993) had been Ronald Reagan's strongest opponent in 1980 race for the Republican nomination for the president. Reagan made Bush his political heir-apparent as the vice-president. The wealthy Bush in 1988 was able to appeal to gut issues such as fear of the rising crime rate among the common people. He ran a negative campaign against the Democratic candidate, Michael Dukakis, who tried to maintain the high road. Bush appealed to people's gut feelings about crime and minorities when he depicted Dukakis letting murders such as Willie Horton out on weekend paroles.

George Bush failed to address himself to the most important issue facing the American people in 1992, a downturn in the economy. The victor of the Gulf War, with a 90% approval rating at the end of the conflict, dribbled away his advantages in the public opinion polls by ignoring the pocketbook of the American people. The economy had entered an economic turndown, and Bush as the incumbent, was naturally blamed for this. Bill Clinton had found the answer to Reagan's question by responding, "It's the economy stupid."

Bush's syntax was free-wheeling such as leaving out verbs. He joked that English was his only foreign language.

Bill Clinton (1993-2001), campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president, appeared on Sixty Minutes, after the football Superbowl with his wife Hillary on his side in January 1992. He claimed his days of sexual peccadilloes were over. If other sexual scandals had emerged then, he might have been finished. The threat of political scandal from Arkansas had made him heed campaign advisors to postpone running for president four years earlier.

Bill Clinton as a teacher envisioned himself as a president. He became a student senator from Arkansas for the Boys Nation by getting up every morning at the statewide convention and getting his friends to join him to make him well-known. He shook the hand of every boy in camp to achieve this objective. He stationed himself to be first on line in case they visited the president Kenney and he was in a mood tod in 1963. That same kind of eagerness promoted him to be president.

Upon becoming president, Clinton proved to be pragmatic and flexible in the programs he pursued. His Republican opponents claimed that he repeatedly stole their buzz words if not their programs. His oratory appealed to the American people. He appeared on MTV to show he was "with it" when he discussed his love of the trombone.

Prosperity and peace saved him from personal scandals that he created when he could not control his sexual impulses. Clinton appeared on television several times to explain away his sexual peccadilloes which had resulted in investigations by Congress and by the Independent Consul. The Republicans put up a lackluster presidential candidate Robert Dole in 1996. The Republicans shot themselves in the feet with the impeachment hearings and when they tried to close down the government through a budget impasse. Public opinion polls indicated people expected politicians to lie to them and accepted Clinton's lack of candor as normal.

Since the days of Watergate, the private lives of the presidents had been fair game for the press. No longer did a gentleman's code of conduct protect the presidents from their short-comings. There are only two photographs taken of Franklin Roosevelt in a wheel-chair! And they were taken by a cousin on a family visit. In fact, senior photographers would knock out the cameras of new photographers from taking pictures of the president in such a compromising position. There were several incidents in which FDR fell off the podium when making a speech. None were reported. When Johnson showed surgical scars from an operation to the press, personal lives of the presidents became increasingly fair game. The Watergate Scandal freed the press from any restraints on the grounds that the personal might be of public interest. Gary Hart dropped out of running for president when a picture showed him engaged with someone other than his wife on a boat appropriately named, Monkey Business. Bill Clinton's staff persuaded him to postpone running for president for fear that news of his appropriate relationships might come out.

Polling has played an important part in Clinton's role in running for Governor of Arkansas and for President. When he was defeated for governing, polling and questioning revealed that people liked him but wanted to punish him. He changed part of campaign style and Hillary Rodham his wife begin using Clinton as her last name and had a fashion-make over to make her more acceptable for the voters of Arkansas.

Clinton became the first president whose political campaigning did not come to end when he became president but continued throughout his presidency. That is why he saw nothing wrong in inviting campaign contributors to stay at the White House or Al Gore, his vice president calling from his office to solicit contributions. Clinton uses constant public opinion polling to make crucial decisions on how he will campaign or speak to the public. The political campaign season no longer comes to an end -- is now all year all the time. Clinton now seeks to make Al Gore his vice-president his successor.

Clinton's inability to control his private sexual appetites has resulted in much adverse publicity that has damaged the legacy he wants to leave behind. He has repeatedly been caught in a series of lies to his private misconduct. A prosperous economy has proved to be Clinton's salvation. Public opinion polls show that people disapprove of his private conduct while approving what he has done in office. Rumors circulate that focus groups have been utilized to discuss whether or not the Clintons should divorce if it would help her run for a Senate seat from New York State.

As we enter the third millennium, presidential candidates now begin their campaigns several years before the election. They have their own web sites to explain their views and raise money. Like the nineteenth century, political campaigns in the twentieth century appear to be have been equally sleazy. The twenty-first century promises to be no better.

About the Author

Philip Schoenberg, PhD, a veteran of the New York City public schools, secretary emeritus of the Association of Teachers of Social Studies, teaches government and history in local colleges. Dr. Schoenberg, an expert on the presidents, has his own web site on the presidents, www.presidentialexpert.com.