White House Politics and the Environment: Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush

Presidents and their administrations since the 1960's have become increasingly active in environmental politics, despite their touted lack of expertise and their apparent frequent discomfort with the issue. But how have modern presidents actually handled the concerns politics posed by environmentalism in all its complexities?

In White House Politics and the Environment: Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush, Byron W. Daynes and Glen Sussman study the multitude of resources presidents can use in their attempts to set the public agenda. They also provide a framework for considering the environmental direction and impact of U.S. presidents for the last seven decades, permitting assessment of each president in terms of how his administration either aided or (erect the advancement of environmental issues.

Employing four factorsupolitical communication, legislative leadership, administrative actions, and environmental diplomacyuas a matrix for examining the environmental records of the presidents, Daynes and Sussman's analysis and discussion allows them to sort each of the twelve occupants of the White House included in this study into one of three categories, ranging from less to more environmentally friendly.

Environmental leaders and public policy professionals will appreciate White House Politics and the Environment for its thorough and wide-ranging examination of how presidential resources have been brought to bear on environmental issues.

Byron W. Daynes, a professor of political science at Brigham Young University, was the 2006-07 William J. Clinton Distinguished Fellow at University of Arkansas' Clinton School of Public Service. His PhD is from the University of Chicago.
Glen Sussman, University Professor of Political Science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, was a 2006-2007 recipient of an Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Fellowship to support research on the conservation policy of President John F. Kennedy at the Kennedy Presidential Library.