The First Presidential Mansion by George Hayward, courtesy of Valentine’s Manual of Old New York [1853]Year(s) Discussed: 1789
After a debate over how much authority Washington would exert over its officers, the executive branch begins to take shape. I examine both the original Cabinet members and the departments as they were at the beginning of the constitutional government. Then, as Washington leaves town to take a tour of the New England states, a personal scandal becomes the talk of the town in New York City. Romantic liaisons, conflicts of interest, and strong opinions over postal routes are all to be found in this episode. Source information can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.
John Jay by Gilbert Stuart (c. 1794), courtesy of the National Gallery of Art
Bartoloni-Tuazon, Kathleen. For Fear of an Elective King: George Washington and the Presidential Title Controversy of 1789. Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press, 2014.
Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life. New York: Penguin Press, 2010.
Hall, Kermit L, etc, eds. The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Ketcham, Ralph. James Madison: A Biography. Charlottesville, VA and London: University Press of Virginia, 1994 [1971].
McCullough, David. John Adams. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001.
McDonald, Forrest. The Presidency of George Washington. Lawrence, KS; Manhattan, KS; and Wichita, KS: The University Press of Kansas, 1974 [1974].
McGuiness, Colleen, ed. American Leaders 1789-1994: A Biographical Summary. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1994.
Unger, Harlow Giles. “Mr. President”: George Washington and the Making of the Nation’s Highest Office. Boston, MA: Da Capo Press, 2013.
Washington, George. “To Richard Conway, 6 March 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified December 28, 2016, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-01-02-0279. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 1, 24 September 1788 – 31 March 1789, ed. Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987, pp. 368–369.] Last Accessed: 28 Jan 2017.
Washington, George. “Inaugural Address,” April 30, 1789. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25800. Last Accessed: 25 Jan 2017.
Washington, George. “To David Stuart, 26 July 1789.” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified December 28, 2016, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-03-02-0180. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 3, 15 June 1789–5 September 1789, ed. Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1989, pp. 321–327.] Last Accessed: 28 Jan 2017.
Washington, George. “To James Craik, 8 September 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified December 28, 2016, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-04-02-0001. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 4, 8 September 1789 – 15 January 1790, ed. Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993, pp. 1–2.] Last Accessed: 28 Jan 2017.
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First Inauguration of George Washington (c. 1899), courtesy of Wikipedia
Year(s) Discussed: 1789
Washington’s inauguration, while starting up the wheels of the executive branch, leaves many questions to be answered by the first chief executive and the new government. What titles will be used to address the president? How will he make himself available to the public and to the other branches of government? What does seeking “the Advice and Consent of the Senate” really mean anyway? So much of what we take for granted with the presidency nowadays is established in Washington’s first few months on the job, and these precedents that he established in the early part of his administration are the focus of this episode. Source information for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.
Franklin D Roosevelt delivering his first Fireside Chat, 12 Mar 1933, courtesy of the NARA
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The audio clips used in this episode come from the following sources:
Citizens for Eisenhower-Nixon. “Eisenhower Campaign Spots, 1952 Presidential Campaign.” Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/Eisenhow1952. [Last Accessed: 28 Feb 2017]
1976 State of the Union Address, courtesy of the Architect of the Capitol
To mark the occasion of the 45th president’s first speech to a joint session of Congress, I present to you this special episode on how presidents have communicated with other politicians and government officials as well as with the general public and how this has changed both with the advent of new technologies and with the varying personalities of the chief executives. From George Washington’s public levees and national tours to Abraham Lincoln’s effective use of the telegraph, from Theodore Roosevelt’s bully pulpit to the Johnson treatment, and from the installation of the White House telephone to the current president’s use of Twitter, this episode covers a great deal of ground. Sources used for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.
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