Dissertation/Book Project
"The President's First Moves: The Dynamics of Agenda Construction, 1968-2022”
Summary: I explore the range and political impact of presidential agency. I do so by examining how nine modern presidents determined their domestic legislative agendas at the beginning of their terms. Existing explanations of how presidents pick their domestic policy priorities center on external constraints. They contend that presidents anticipate which issues the public wants to see elevated, or which they can get through the legislature, and develop their domestic policy docket accordingly. I offer a different perspective: the construction of a president’s agenda is better understood as an act of self-assertion by which presidents leverage their agency to advance political projects of their own. Situating this practice within the broader political system, I recognize that presidents are not “free agents.” But rather than merely fitting their ambitions into preexisting parameters, I discover that presidents consistently attempt to reconfigure politics to their own ends. In fact, I find that presidents who come into office faced with ostensibly stringent constraints often pursue agendas more ambitious than those operating under seemingly more auspicious circumstances. This variation, and the practice of self-assertion more broadly, mark presidential leadership as an inherently disruptive force in politics. The capacity to resolve those disruptions in a new ordering is far more limited and contributes to the fundamentally unwieldy nature of presidential leadership. I employ multiple methods in this research project. I have conducted several archival research trips, combing through tens of thousands of pages of historical material. In addition, I have interviewed senior administration officials involved in domestic policymaking. My discussion of public opinion integrates statistical analysis into this endeavor, and I rely on leadership theory to sharpen my argument.
Awards: Dissertation awarded "departmental distinction," Stan I. Bach Fellowship ($50,000), O’Donnell Grant from the Scowcroft Institute at Texas A&M ($2,500)
Book
"Congressional Expectations of Presidential Self-Restraint" with John A. Dearborn (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2025)
Coverage/Op-Eds: Lawfare, Yale ISPS News
Award: 2025 MPSA Patrick J. Fett Award for best work on the scientific study of Congress and the presidency
Articles (peer- and editor-reviewed)
“2022 Midterms,” in Encyclopedia of the American Presidency, 2nd edition, eds. Alison Howard and Michael Genovese (New York: Infobase Publishing, 2025).
Working Papers
“The President’s Publics: Societal Constructions and Policy Resonance”
In Progress
"Overreach, Not Outreach: Presidential Ambition as an Institutional Motivation"
“Prudish Presidents: The Gilded-Age Challenge to the Logic of Power Maximization” (part of broader book project)