FiveThirtyEight has put together some fantastic graphics showcasing how the last dozen presidents first hundred days went (Figures 1 and 2). As we can see, no president has even passed half as many laws as FDR since Truman did in the following presidency. This level of productivity is unmatched in American History. This may just be in part due to the unprecedented challenges that FDR was facing when he took office and therefore needed to act fast right out of the gate. Could any president even come close to this level of effectiveness in the modern political era?
A great deal of what a president focuses on in their first months in office boils down to what they inherited from the previous administration. Very little new material is discussed that does not correlate to the state of the nation prior to their rise to office. Throughout the next few weeks, the NHIOP blog will look at some of the more interesting takes on a president’s first one hundred days in office.
Looking into how a president’s first one hundred days is spent while in wartime, we will dive into a comparison between Harry Truman and Gerald Ford’s presidencies. We will look at how current President Joe Biden’s responses to the economy and the global pandemic during COVID-19 may or may not mirror those responses from President Warren G. Harding when he took office amidst the Spanish Flu.
We will also explore how a president’s approval rating may coincide with the number of executive orders he signs in the first one hundred days. Lastly, we will take a deeper look at what Joe Biden was able to get done in his first one hundred days and if he was able to make a “return to normalcy” as he has so often been pushing.