The Presidency / The First Year

Gold plate on back of chair that says "the president"

Joe Biden at one year

Presidential experts evaluate the 46th president's first year in office

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Donald Trump at one year

White House veterans and Miller Center scholars evaluate the 45th president's first 365 days

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Featured Video

First Year Project Introduction

Watch this overview of the First Year Project

Microphone

Media and the Press

Not so bully pulpit

If a president gave an Oval Office address and the networks refused to air it, would it make a sound? This is not, most likely, a question that occupies philosophers, but it does cause White House communications staffers to wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.
Jeff Shesol
West Wing Writers
Young adults on their phones

Media and the Press

Manage the micro-moments

In the not-too-distant past, many of us got our political news either from the print copy of a local newspaper on our doorstep at daybreak or from the broadcast networks’ nightly news. There wasn’t a whole lot of choice. These days, we curate our own content. 
Mary Kate Cary
Miller Center
FDR Memorial

Media and the Press

The hundred days myth

A rookie president, entering office with as much goodwill as he (or she) is ever likely to enjoy, has room to maneuver and opportunities to act that seldom last long. At least since FDR presidents have intently followed the media’s short-term judgments about success and failure.
David Greenberg
Rutgers University
Smartphone screen

Media and the Press

Up close and personal

What must the next president do in the first year to manage the overheated, ubiquitous, yet fragmented media environment in which we find ourselves today?
Susan Douglas
University of Michigan
Cameras

Media and the Press

Do more with less

There is a romanticized view of the White House communications and press office that West Wing viewers bring to the table when contemplating the suite of offices across from the Roosevelt Room. There is a cynical view held by the press and some in the public of the operation as an information control, state media propaganda machine—the so-called “permanent campaign.”
Anita Dunn
SKDKnickerbocker