First, the office of the president has expanded considerably. President Ulysses S. Grant ran the White House with a staff of six and President William McKinley had a staff of 27. Today, there are several hundred people on the White House staff as well as the nearly 3,000 executive branch appointments the president must make upon taking office.
Second, the president speaks to us almost daily, in person, in written comments, or through senior staff or spokespersons such as the White House press secretary, who offers daily briefings to reporters. Some day, it might occur to a president that one secret of preserving public support is to talk less. Before the 20th century, presidents spoke publicly very seldom, and then usually in the most general terms.
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Third, though all presidents and candidates for the office emphasize their "leadership vision" for the country, this has led to a counterproductive inflation of our expectations that no president can fulfill. As the Cato Institute's Gene Healy puts it, "We still expect the commander in chief to heal the sick, save us from hurricanes, and provide balm for our itchy souls."
Much of how we think about the presidency today has been heavily influenced by twentieth century progressives, chief amongst them being Woodrow Wilson and FDR. The influences abound from the president delivering the State of the Union before the other branches of government in a joint session of Congress (before Wilson, presidents had their annual addresses read by a House clerk) to the value-free language we use when we talk about the presidency (e.g., the words vision, leadership, narrative, etc. come to mind). We would do well if future president follow some of Hayward's advice. Also, be sure to check out his new book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents: From Wilson to Obama.
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