Title: The stewardship theory - Presidential Power
Headings: Presidential Power - The stewardship theory
Presidential Power - The stewardship theory
Content: He had "no residuum of  power which he can exercise because it seems to him to be in the public  interest." Even so, Taft did not regard himself a passive leader. Well before reaching the White House, Woodrow Wilson held clear-cut views  on presidential power. As a young academic, he regarded Congress as  possessing the dominant federal power and the chief executive as feeble. Four years before running for president, he reversed his outlook on how  much power a president could command in competition with Congress. Once a  president assumed control with popular backing, he maintained, no single  force could withstand him. He "is at liberty, both in law and  conscience, to be as big a man as he can. His capacity will set the  limit." Wilson believed the president could exercise his greatest  power in foreign affairs, primarily because of his ability to initiate  policy. In sum, Wilson maintained that the executive "office will  be as big and as influential as the man who occupies it."