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When looking at how the office of the President has become what it is today, it is helpful to focus on the more modern Presidents, meaning the office in the Twentieth Century. "Franklin D. Roosevelt is credited most often with ushering in a "modern presidency" that contrasts the "traditional presidency"." (Thomas and Pika 444) Roosevelt was the first to really expand the role of the office and use the office to give assistance to American citizens. Before him, the federal government was very out of sight and most employees were postal workers. Roosevelt realized that the federal government must take some sort of action to help the nation's economy, and so came the New Deal. The government took responsibility for the well being of the nation and started government sponsored programs such as welfare. Thus began the idea that citizens pay taxes and in return, the government will take care of them. The President was now someone who would fight for the American people and become a leader. .
Some have divided the modern president's into three groups, the heroic, the imperial, and the post-imperial. The heroic presidency was considered be during the 1950s and 1960s. It was during this time that many glorified the office of the president and saw it as "the only institution in the political system that can understand the needs of all Americans." (Thomas and Pika 6) Then in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the institution started to lose credibility and this period is thought of as the imperial presidency. It was during the imperial presidency that many thought the men who held this office to be abusing their power and using to their advantage and not the advantage of the American people. (Thomas and Pika 6-7) The reason for this switch in attitude towards the president was a mixture of factors, but two in particular were the Vietnam War and Watergate. After the Nixon presidency, many Americans had a hard time putting their faith into the office of the president.
