Jeffrey E. Cohen looks at US presidents' legislative proposals to Congress from 1789 to 2002, analyzing why presidents submit one proposal rather than another and what Congress does with the proposals. He investigates trends in presidential requests to Congress, the substantive policies of the proposals and the presidential decision process in building legislative agendas.

Jeffrey E. Cohen asks why presidents send to Congress the legislative proposals that they do and what Congress does with those proposals from 1789 to 2002.