The Presidency and Women: Promise, Performance and Illusion

Although no woman has yet served as president of the United States, women have played important roles within the executive branch and have found many ways to exert pressure on the president. In this work, presidential scholar Janet M. Martin studies the influence of women on and in the American executive branch. The Presidency and Women offers a sophisticated understanding of the nation’s largest interest group and insight into the nation’s most visible office. Martin studies in detail the presidencies of Kennedy through Carter, demonstrating both the substantive growth in women’s involvement in policy making and the political showcasing of women appointees. Her analysis provides insight into the day-to-day interactions between the White House and outside groups, the outside political pressures for certain policy agendas, and the internal White House dynamics in response to those pressures. This book weaves the actions of presidents, their White House staff, and others in government with the actions of women and women’s organizations. The result is a longitudinal political narrative of the presidency and women from 1961, to 1981, with a focus on domestic policy and the departments and agencies relating to that policy.