Rethinking the Basic Models of Presidential Leadership: Eisenhower, Greenstein, and Federal Highway Expansion.

This article critically examines President Dwight D. Eisenhower's leadership in the passage of the 1956 Federal Highway Act, challenging Fred Greenstein's portrayal of Eisenhower's "hidden hand" leadership style as effective. Through archival research, it demonstrates that Eisenhower's secretive and manipulative approach to advancing this ambitious legislative program was a decisive failure, undermining both Greenstein's and Richard Neustadt's shared assumption that presidential success depends on controlling governing elites. Instead, the article proposes an alternative model of presidential leadership aligned with the Constitution's separation of powers, emphasizing transparency, deliberation, and accommodation of Congress's independent agency. Case studies of Theodore Roosevelt's Hepburn Act and Ronald Reagan's 1986 tax reform illustrate how presidents can achieve legislative success by negotiating core priorities while allowing Congress meaningful input, thereby working with rather than against constitutional constraints.