The Presidency and Women: Promise, Performance and Illusion.

By Janet M. Martin. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2003. 350p. $55.00.

As Americans await the election of the first woman president, we can at least appreciate the increased role that women have played within both the White House and the executive branch in recent decades. And while the current Bush administration, as well as the Clinton administration, made concerted efforts to place women in key roles within both the cabinet and White House staff positions, this change from women as political anomalies within an administration to the expectation that high-profile positions can and should be held by women has only been a recent development. In this thorough and detailed analysis of the role that women have played in several presidential administrations during the latter part of the twentieth century, Janet M. Martin eloquently shows the struggle for women's voice to be heard within the executive-branch corridors of power, in terms not only of women's leadership in key staff and cabinet positions but also of the representation of women's issues on the national policy agenda.

In documenting the extensive influence on the executive branch that women have enjoyed in recent decades, particularly in the formation of policy, Martin includes five administrations—Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter—for an in-depth, case-study analysis. Stating that most presidential biographies and other studies include little or no information on women or women's issues (with the exception of the first lady), Martin makes a compelling case for the need to study the intricacies and nuances involved in presidential policymaking, particularly the attention that is paid to particular constituencies (such as women) and interest-group activities. In the introductory chapters, she provides a helpful overview on major works on the presidency as well as an historical overview, beginning with the Washington administration, which explains how presidents have reacted to both institutional and political pressures concerning women's appointments to federal positions as well as important public policies affecting women.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower were the first Democratic and Republican presidents, respectively, to appoint women to cabinet positions. These early cabinet appointments of Frances Perkins in 1933 (as Secretary of Labor) and Oveta Culp Hobby in 1953 (as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare) were considered rare exceptions to the political rule for their time. The next woman to be appointed to a cabinet position would not come until 1975, when Gerald Ford selected Carla Anderson Hills as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Because no women served in the Kennedy, Johnson, or Nixon cabinets, one might assume that these administrations did not strongly support women's issues. But as Martin aptly demonstrates, one must look beyond a cursory examination to consider the events taking place behind the closed doors of the White House to truly determine the influence that women had on policymaking and in setting the national agenda. For example, while the Kennedy administration did not publicly support the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), Kennedy took several steps to address the issues presented to him from the President's Commission on the Status of Women, a committee that he established in 1961. Those steps included the opening of several positions within the federal civil service for women, passing equal-pay legislation, and promoting the courts as an appropriate vehicle for change on the basis of the Fourteenth Amendment as a means for eliminating sexual discrimination. As Martin notes, under Kennedy, the federal government “had become involved in issues of women's rights, and in the policy concerns of women, in a systematic and ongoing fashion, fostering dialogue as well as action in new areas” (p. 85).

As Martin details, Johnson continued the progress made within the Kennedy administration, and made the appointments of women to high-ranking positions within the federal government a priority. Many aspects of his “Great Society” policy program also benefited women. Nixon, whose years in the White House corresponded with rapid growth in the women's movement across the nation, went on record as a presidential candidate in 1968 in support of the ERA (as all Republican platforms had done since 1940). Nixon would also create an office for women's issues within the Executive Office for the President, and while the administration's efforts at promoting women's issues may have been partially motivated by politics as well as a real effort to include women in government, “the striking thing is that the Nixon administration felt the need to stay consistently involved with the question of the role of women in government” (p. 166). For Johnson and Nixon, the absence of women in the cabinet did not mean that progress was not made on behalf of women and pertinent public policies. Change was slow but steady from 1961 through Nixon's departure in 1974. The rest of the 1970s would see a decline in momentum for legislative efforts to end discrimination, in spite of strong support from both Ford and Carter for passage of the ERA. According to Martin, Ford missed an opportunity for strong leadership on women's issues, opting instead for the “caretaker” model of presidential leadership. And while Carter appointed more women to high-level department and agency positions than any president before him, progress for the inclusion of women in the executive branch, as well as attention paid to important women's issues, stagnated throughout the 1980s with the election of Ronald Reagan.

The clear strength of Martin's research comes from the methodology that she employs—the depth and breadth that a qualitative, case-study approach offers. This work also shows the wealth of information available to political scientists in presidential libraries, as she garners much detail of the strategies and inner workings of the White House from the many archival files available to key White House staffers in each administration. This book also demonstrates the important overlap between two subfields within political science—presidency research and women and politics research. As such, the author continues as a leader in the small but growing ranks of other scholars—most notably Mary Anne Borrelli—who provide a fresh perspective on the institutional aspects of the executive branch through a gender-conscious lens.

In sum, this is an excellent addition to both presidency and women and politics literature, and The Presidency and Women is appropriate for both graduate and undergraduate courses. For graduate students, Martin offers a thorough institutional analysis intertwined with the intricate political maneuverings that occur within the White House and executive branch. The book is also well written and highly readable, making it an accessible text for undergraduates. The only weakness, as often occurs, comes with the necessary end of this particular manuscript: Ending with the Carter administration provides no clear answers as to how the story continues to unfold throughout the next four administrations, yet poses several important questions for further research. For example, how did women play a role within the Reagan administration, given the distinct shift in ideology? The momentum was somewhat recaptured with Bill Clinton's election in 1992, but as Martin concludes, while women's presence within the White House and executive branch has been solidified, only stronger presidential leadership in the area of women's issues will bring about significant legislative and societal change.