2.7 - Presidential Communication

The Bully Pulpit

• Definition: the presidency's built-in authority to speak out on any issue.

• Effect: whatever the president says becomes newsworthy, letting them draw attention to issues just by talking about them.

• Examples: both Obama and Trump used the bully pulpit to spotlight inequalities in the criminal justice system and push for reform.

• The Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863): long before radio or TV, Lincoln used a speech of fewer than 300 words at the dedication of a military cemetery to redefine what the Civil War was about. He tied it to the Declaration's idea that "all men are created equal" and called for "a new birth of freedom" so that "government of the people, by the people, for the people" would survive. Newspapers reprinted it across the North. It shows a president using words, not formal powers, to shape how the public sees an issue.

The State of the Union Address

• Purpose: build public support for the president's agenda and pressure Congress to cooperate.

• Influence: if the public gets on board with the president's ideas, that pressure tends to push Congress toward supporting them too.

Social Media and Direct Communication

• Radio: FDR's "fireside chats" (1933 to 1944) let him speak directly into Americans' living rooms during the Great Depression and World War II.

• Television: John F. Kennedy held the first live televised presidential press conferences in 1961. Ronald Reagan, nicknamed the "Great Communicator," used televised addresses to ask the public to pressure Congress, like his 1981 push for tax cuts. Going straight to the people like this is called going public.

• Obama: considered the first social media president, active on Twitter, Facebook, and even Myspace.

• Trump: became known as the "twitter president," tweeting constantly and cutting out the media middleman.

• Rapid response: social media lets a president react to events within minutes, set the topic of the day before reporters do, and answer critics, the other branches, or foreign leaders directly.

Agenda Setting

• Mechanism: media coverage builds public interest, which pushes policymakers to act.

• Presidential power: through the bully pulpit, the State of the Union, and social media, the president can shape what gets covered in the first place.

• Result: by steering public conversation, the president gains real influence over policymaking, even though Congress still holds the actual legislative power.

Big picture