Enoch Powell, (1912-1998), was a British politician and the formerSecretary of State for Health in the United Kingdom (UK). Enoch Powell oncesaid “All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happyjunction, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of humanaffairs” (The Economist). The powers, which presidents areentitled to, have limitations, and so depending on how well the President goesabout these powers and limitations, their Presidency can either end very badly,in failure, or very well, in success. Some of the President’s powers includebeing the head of the executive branch of government, the commander in chief ofArmed Forces, making treaties with foreign nations, etc. However, limitationson these powers include; only Congress can authorise war and money for thearmed services, two thirds of the majority of Senate must ratify treaties withforeign powers, the majority of senate must support presidential appointments,and most importantly, the President can be impeached from office. With the roleof the President being increasingly more involved in social and economic life,and with more social and technological change, there are more opportunities forthe President to succeed or fail than there used to be (Dr Waddan, 2017, PresidentialPower).
This essay will explore whether or not it is fact that “allpresidencies end in failure”. There are different ways to determine whether a Presidencyhas ended in failure. One way is to look at the average approval rating of thePresident. George Gallup created presidential approval ratings in the 1930s. Theyare calculated by a poll, which asks people whether or not they approve of thepolitical figure.
It is said that when a President’s approval rating has fallento around 37%, their position is unrecoverable (Stratfor Worldview). This means that when a President’sapproval rating is approaching less than 40%, (anything under 50%), you canregard their Presidency as a failure. Many Presidents have seen their approvalratings drop under 50%. For instance, President Harry Truman’s (1945-1953)rating was at 45.4% by the end of his presidency (Gallup News, PresidentialApproval Ratings).
The reason his rating was low was arguably due tothe Korean War, where in 1950, he ordered US forces to Korea, to aid SouthKorea and protect it from North Korea. However, because Truman did not seek aformal declaration of war from Congress (which is one of the limitations onpresidential power), this action was seen as controversial, and so brought hisaverage approval rating down. Another example of a President whose approvalrating was near ‘failure’ was Richard Nixon (1969-1974). Nixon resigned duringhis impeachment process, so that he wasn’t officially impeached (which again,is another limitation on presidential power). However before he resigned, hewas still charged with the first three articles of impeachment. The reasonNixon was going through the impeachment process is because of the Watergatescandal, which involved illegal activities being authorised by senior membersof Nixon’s administration. Furthermore, there have been more Presidents withapproval ratings that are under 50%, than over 50%.
Those that have had approvalratings over 50% include John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, George Bush and BillClinton. To summarise this point, we can assume that all Presidencies do end infailure because of the limitations to presidential power, which have resultedin low approval ratings. To counter this, it can be said that we cannot assume aPresidency has ended in failure just because of a low approval rating. WithPresident Truman for instance, he had a low approval rating, and wasn’t able torun for a second term in office, but he still regarded as one of the bestpresidents the USA had.
Moreover, you could argue that the legacy made by aPresident is more important than approval ratings, and so because almost allPresidents have made a positive historical statement, it is wrong to say thatall Presidencies end in failure. Another argument to support the statement “all Presidenciesend in failure, is based on the fact that even the most “approved” Presidenthas failures. John F Kennedy was the US President from 1961 to 1963. He was avery popular president, and has the highest average approval rating, 70.1% (Gallup News, Presidential Approval Ratings). A magazine article even says “Americans consistently give him thehighest approval rating of any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt” (The Atlantic Magazine). Unfortunately,Kennedy’s term was cut short after being assassinated in 1963 in Texas whilsthe was in a motorcade.
John Kennedy made a series of mistakes in the short timehe served as President, and his first year especially was the worst. His firstyear was even described as a “disaster” in The Atlantic Magazine. One failureKennedy made in his first year of Presidency was the Bay of Pigs invasion intoCuba. The Bay of Pigs invasion began in 1961, where CIA-trained Cuban refugeesattempt to overturn the communist government, which was under Fidel Castro.
Thisinvasion failed and cost America a lot. Also, Kennedy failed to make thingsbetter by publicly accepting blame. To conclude this point, it is evident to usthat even the most popular and respected Presidents have failed, and so thestatement “All Presidencies end in failure” is somewhat correct. However, the point above can be argued to be invalid becauseJohn F Kennedy is recognised more for his strengths than his weaknesses. He isstill very respected, which is obvious by the fact that approximately everyyear, 350,000 people visit the place in which the assassination took place.
There is also a museum for him, whereby people write tributes to him in thememory books there. People write things like, “Our greatest President” (The Atlantic Magazine) Additionally, we can argue that it is unfair and incorrect tosay that a man, who was assassinated before his presidency term finished,failed in running office. Therefore, the statement “All Presidencies end infailure” is wrong to say based on the example of John F Kennedy. The final argument this essay will present to support thestatement is about the USA’s last President, Barack Obama.
Barack Obama servedas America’s 44hth President, from the Democratic Party, from 2009 to 2017,which from there, Donald Trump took over his role. Various people believe thatObama’s Presidency ended in failure, for various reasons. One reason to believethat it ended in failure, is simply because he arguably divided America, whenhe should have brought America together. At the end of Obama’s second term,polls showed us that only 27% of Americans feel united as a result of hispresidency (The Denver Post, 2017). In comparison to the 44% that believethe USA is now more divided, the difference is a lot. Obama failed to use hismajority in Congress to fulfil his political aims.
For instance, Obama failedto get a bill on climate change passed. It was passed in the House ofRepresentatives, but nothing happened in the Senate (Dr Waddan, 2017, PresidentialPower). When campaigning for his Presidency, climate change is a topicthat Obama really focused on. So for him to not be able to pass a bill onclimate change was seen as a failure. Even the Administrator of theEnvironmental Protection Agency at the time, Carol Browner, expressed “What isabundantly clear is that an economy-wide program, which the president hastalked about for years, is not doable in the senate”. As a person, Obama isvery well respected.
He has good presidential character, which is important tothe public, though looking closely at his achievements; he didn’t keep many ofthe promises he made during his campaign. Some of the things he promised to do,which he didn’t follow through, included closing down the prison in GuantanamoBay, and passing gun laws. The difference in being liked by the public andactually succeeding in presidency can be seen in the following statistics; “8in 10 African-Americans view the nation’s first black president favourably”,but ” just 43% of African-Americans say Obama made things better for blackpeople, while roughly half say they see no difference” (The Denver Post, 2017). Using the example of Barack Obama failingto meet his promises and pass bills even with a majority in both houses, it isfair to support the statement, “All Presidencies end in failure”. Those that would argue against this might simply say thatBarack Obama being the first black president is enough of a success. The USAvoting for a black president was seen as a step forward from their history ofracism, which should be recognised as an achievement. Furthermore, Obama madechanges in the USA that are still looked upon today.
Obamacare for instance,which is also known as the Affordable Care Act, makes affordable healthinsurance available to more people, and to cover all adults that earn aspecific salary (Healthcare.gov). Obamacareis still in effect, and will be in 2018 (LancasterOnline). The current President, Donald Trump, even tried to ‘repeal andreplace’ Obamacare recently, but it did not go through Congress (Dr Waddan, 2017, Presidential Power). SoObama being the first black president of the USA, and for creating Obamacare,you can argue that not all Presidencies end in failure. In conclusion, I would support the statement, “AllPresidencies end in failure”. The most important argument to come to thisconclusion was the one regarding the President’s approval rating. This wasimportant as it showed us that even if a President makes “good” politicaldecisions, holds a majority in both houses, or has good presidential character,it is still difficult to get a high approval rating.
The second most importantargument to come to this conclusion was the example of Obama. Without givingexamples, it is safe to say that Obama is associated with more positive wordsthan negative words. From this, and from his popularity, we would assume thathis presidency was a success. Even though after analysing his presidency it isunderstood why is presidency ended in failure, you would assume that aPresident that is so popular and respected would be successful.
A faircounter-argument that could possibly make the statement be seen as wrong tosome extent was the counter-point revolving Kennedy, and how much respect hehas earned. However, you could even say this argument was invalid, because heis only being respected and remembered because of his death, not because of thework he did during his Presidency. Therefore all Presidencies do end in failure.
