AMERICAN POLITICS QUARTERLY / JANUARY 2000 Fleisher et al. / DEMISE OF TWO PRESIDENCIES THE DEMISE OF THE TWO PRESIDENCIES RICHARD FLEISHER Fordham University JON R. BOND Texas A&M University GLEN S. KRUTZ Arizona State University STEPHEN HANNA Texas A&M University Presidential-congressional relations scholars have long debated whether the president is more successful on foreign policy than on domestic policy (Wildavsky, 1966). The debate has focused on differential success rates between foreign and domestic policy and whether the gap has nar- rowed over time. This focus, however, neglects an important dimension of Wildavsky’s argu- ment. Wildavsky also argued that presidents should dominate Congress in foreign policy. Hence, the thesis predicts high levels of success on foreign policy as well as differences between foreign and domestic policy. Looking at the trends in success on foreign and domestic votes, we observe that whereas the difference between foreign and domestic success rates shows up consistently for minority presidents, the absolute level of support on foreign and defense issues has declined since the second Reagan administration. Analysis of opposition party base behavior reveals that foreign policy voting has become considerably more partisan. Since publication of Aaron Wildavsky’s (1966) classic article, “The Two Presidencies,” students of presidential-congressional relations have debated whether the president is more successful on foreign pol- icy than on domestic policy. The debate has focused mainly on differ- ential success rates between foreign and domestic policy and whether the gap has narrowed over time. Preoccupation with the gap, however, neglects an important dimension of Wildavsky’s argument. Because Authors’Note: We wish to thank the Department of Political Science, the Center for Presidential Studies, and the Program in American Politics at Texas A&M University, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Fordham University for the support provided for this study. None of these organizations bear responsibility for the interpretations and conclusions reported here. We also gratefully acknowledge helpful comments from Jeff Cohen, Steve Shull, and George Edwards. Much of the data for the analysis reported are from LEGI-SLATE. AMERICAN POLITICS QUARTERLY, Vol. 28 No. 1, January 2000 3-25 © 2000 Sage Publications, Inc. 3