What to Expect in the Second Term: Presidential Travel and the Rise of Legacy Building, 1957-2009 1 James A. McCann is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Purdue University. Kathryn Dunn Tenpas is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania and a non- resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Emily J. Charnock is a Ph.D. candidate in American Politics at the University of Virginia. What to Expect in the Second Term: Presidential Travel and the Rise of Legacy Building, 1957-2009 Emily J. Charnock, James A. McCann, Kathryn Dunn Tenpas EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ut for a glossy, twenty- page pamphlet released two weeks before election day, President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign offered up little in the way of specific plans for a second term. Our study of presidential travel from President Eisenhower through George W. Bush provides some hint of what’s in store during the next four years. If President Obama follows in the footsteps of his predecessors, he will spend less time in swing states and more time abroad. To date, little attention has been dedicated to the study of the “public presidency” in the second-term, despite the fact that securing reelection represents an achievement capable of granting one entrance to our nation’s pantheon of “great” presidents. Prior studies of first-term presidential travel reveal the profound impact of the permanent campaign and the accompanying tendency for presidents to focus their travel in swing states. Without such an electoral incentive, we became interested in the factors that guide a second term president’s travel decisions. Our analysis of second-term presidents reveals a distinct uptick in international travel and the demise of the permanent campaign strategy. We suggest that such a change in priorities reflects an emphasis on legacy building. B Number 54 December 2012 Reuters