THE PARAMETERS OF PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS.

The article discusses the parameters of presidential politics in the U.S. This paper analyzes data that have been by-and-large neglected, the State of the Union Messages. The 26 Messages delivered by former U.S. Presidents Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1946 through 1969 have been studied by means of a computer content analysis. Since the unit of analysis is the sentence, there are approximately 7,500 data points drawn from a 24 year time period. This data set is certainly comprehensive enough to sustain analysis. The State of the Union Messages are exceedingly useful vantage points because they are important statements of administration policy. Another point about the State of the Union Messages is that they are comparable from one year to the next. They come in January after the president and his aides have completed the intensive policy review that is occasioned by the State of the Union Message, Budget, and Annual Economic Message.