George C. Edwards III

George C. Edwards III is university distinguished professor of political science and Jordan Chair in Presidential Studies at Texas A&M University and distinguished fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford. He is a leading scholar of American politics, particularly of the American presidency, authoring or editing 25 books and more than 80 articles and essays.

Biography

Edwards was born in Rochester, New York, in 1947 and moved with his family to Florida in 1959. He received his B.A. from Stetson University (1969) and his M.A. (1970) and Ph.D. (1973) from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Academic career

He taught at Tulane University from 1973 to 1978 before moving to Texas A&M University in 1978. He was the founder and from 1991 to 2001 the director of The Center for Presidential Studies. Since 1998, he has been editor of Presidential Studies Quarterly. He is also general editor of the Oxford Handbook of American Politics

Edwards has held a number of visiting appointments, including:

• 2012-13, John Winant Professor of American Government and professorial fellow, Balliol College, University of Oxford
• 2009, Fellow, Nuffield College, University of Oxford
• 2008, Chercheur Invité, Sciences Po, Paris
• 2005-06, Olin Professor of American Government and professorial fellow, Nuffield College, University of Oxford
• 2002-03, John Adams Fellow, School of Advanced Studies, University of London
• 1997, Professor of political science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• 1993, Professor of political science, Peking University, Beijing
• 1985-88, Professor of social sciences, U.S. Military Academy, West Point

He has advised Brazil on its constitution and the operation of its presidency, Russia on building a democratic national party system, Mexico on elections, and Chinese scholars on democracy. He also wrote studies for the 1988 and 2000 U.S. presidential transitions and was instrumental in bringing the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum to Texas A&M University’s campus.

Scholarly focus

His principal focus has been the American presidency. This work has focused on several themes. He pioneered the quantitative study of the presidency and has edited three volumes on theory and methods of researching the presidency. His second focus has been presidential leadership in Congress. He has written that presidents are highly dependent on the strategic position in which they find themselves and can only influence Congress at the margins. Edwards has commented on the historical connection the presidency maintains, and the effect this legacy has on current policy put forward by presidents.

Edwards has also written widely on the president’s relations with the public, particularly their efforts to lead public opinion. He has reported that presidents are rarely able to move the public in their direction. Despite all their efforts, their words typically fall on deaf ears.

In recent years, he has fashioned his empirical findings into a theory of presidential leadership that challenges the view that presidential power is the power to persuade. Instead, he argues, presidential power is the power to recognize and exploit opportunities. In other words, presidents cannot create opportunities for change and must understand and take advantage of whatever possibilities for change already exist. In early 2009, he predicted the problems President Obama would face, despite the declarations of many insiders the new president would transform the political landscape and thus pave the way for major changes in policy.

He has also written on reforming the electoral college and has written and spoken widely on the subject.

Notable works

• Predicting the Presidency: The Potential of Persuasive Leadership (Princeton, 2016).
• Overreach: Leadership in the Obama Presidency (Princeton, 2012).
• Why the Electoral College Is Bad for America, 2nd ed. (Yale, 2011).
• The Strategic President: Persuasion and Opportunity in Presidential Leadership (Princeton, 2009).
• The Oxford Handbook of the American Presidency (Oxford, 2009), co-editor.
• Governing by Campaigning: The Politics of the Bush Presidency, 2nd ed. (Longman, 2007).
• On Deaf Ears: The Limits of the Bully Pulpit (Yale, 2003).
• ''Researching the Presidency (Pittsburgh, 1993).
• Presidential Approval (Johns Hopkins, 1990).
• At the Margins: Presidential Leadership of Congress (Yale, 1989).
• Implementing Public Policy (Congressional Quarterly Press, 1980).

External links

• Home Page
• Ezra Klein, “The Unpersuaded,” New Yorker, March 19, 2012.
• NPR Interview on the George W. Bush Presidency
• Predictions for the Obama Presidency: “Five Questions for George C. Edwards III, Author of 'The Strategic President” CQ Weekly. 30 March 2009.
• Lecture on the Electoral College on C-Span, 21 Sept. 2004.