H. R. Haldeman, President Nixon's former chief of staff, is said to
have boasted: "Every president needs a son of a bitch, and I'm
Nixon's. I'm his buffer and I'm his bastard. I get done what he
wants done and I take the heat instead of him."
Richard Ellis explores the widely discussed but poorly
understood phenomenon of presidential "lightning rods"-cabinet
officials who "take the heat" instead of their bosses. Whether by
intent or circumstance, these officials divert criticism and blame
away from their presidents. The phenomenon is so common that it's
assumed to be an essential item in every president's managerial
toolbox. But, Ellis argues, such assumptions can oversimplify our
understanding of this tool.
Ellis advises against indiscriminate use of the lightning rod
metaphor. Such labeling can hide as much as it reveals about
presidential administration and policymaking at the cabinet level.
The metaphor often misleads by suggesting strategic intent on the
president's part while obscuring the calculations and objectives of
presidential adversaries and the lightning rods themselves.
Ellis also illuminates the opportunities and difficulties that
various presidential posts-especially secretaries of state, chiefs
of staff, and vice presidents-have offered for deflecting blame
from our presidents. His study offers numerous detailed and
instructive examples from the administrations of Truman (Dean
Acheson); Eisenhower (Richard Nixon, John Foster Dulles, Herbert
Brownell, and Ezra Taft Benson); LBJ (Hubert Humphrey); Ford (Henry
Kissinger); and Reagan (James Watt).
These examples, Ellis suggests, should guide our understanding
of the relationship between lightning rods and presidential
leadership, policymaking, and ratings. Blame avoidance, he warns,
does have its limitations and may even backfire at times.
Nevertheless, President Clinton and his successors may need to rely
on such tools. The presidency, Ellis points out, finds itself the
object of increasingly intense partisan debate and microscopic
scrutiny by a wary press. Lightning rods can deflect such heat and
help the president test policies, gauge public opinion, and protect
his political power and public image. Ellis's book is an essential
primer for helping us understand this process.
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