The heir apparent presidency

"Some presidents transform the American political system. Presidents Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan are examples of leaders who came to power at a time when the old political order was collapsing and created a new political order. What happens to their successors? In all of these cases the presidents were succeeded by members of their own party who were close supporters of the new political regime. These successors were bound by the beliefs and practices of the new regime limiting their ability to strike out in new ways. Don Zinman looks at the successors to regime-changing presidents and finds that they follow some combination of three courses of action. First, in some areas they continue their predecessor's policies with almost total devotion. Second, they expand the agenda of the new regime picking up their predecessors' unfinished objectives. Third, they deal with the defects of the new regime, making changes that confront the regime's failures. What they rarely do with any success is significantly change the policies and politics of the new regime. Zinman looks at James Madison (Jefferson's successor); Martin Van Buren (Jackson's successor); Grant (deemed to be Lincoln's successor since Andrew Johnson was not a Republican and was repudiated by the Republicans); Truman (Roosevelt's successor); and George H.W. Bush (Reagan's successor). He is building on the theoretical work of UPK author Stephen Skowronek who talks about how the ability of a president to succeed is conditioned on their place in time in the political order"--