The First Year: Assessments of Cooperation Between Newly Elected Presidents and Congress (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Jan. 30, 2001 |
| Report Number |
RL30823 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Harold C. Relyea, Frederick M. Kaiser, and Stephen W. Stathis, Government and Finance Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
During their first year in office, most recent Presidents have enjoyed a beginning period of
cooperation--a "honeymoon"--with Congress. For some, it has lasted longer than for others, and
with different legislative results. This report, drawing upon the evaluations of journalists, historians,
and political scientists, provides a brief assessment of the extent of cooperation between newly
elected Presidents, during their first year in office, and Congress. The Presidents and the focus
periods of the study are Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, when the famed Hundred Days resulted in
15 major laws; Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953, when two thirds of his proposals were successfully
enacted; and John F. Kennedy in 1961, when slightly more than half of his initiatives were passed
into law. Also included in the assessment are Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and 1965, with respective
success rates of 88% and 93%; Richard M. Nixon in 1969, with a 74% success rate; Jimmy Carter
in 1978, with a success rate just over 75%; Ronald Reagan in 1981, with slightly more than an 82%
success rate; George H. W. Bush in 1989, with a rate of 63%; and William J. Clinton in 1993, with
a rate of slightly more than 86%. The conditions surrounding Harry S. Truman's initial year as an
elected President and Gerald R. Ford's first year in the presidency were sufficiently unusual that they
are not included in the study. This report will not be updated.
