Presidential Power from Reagan to Trump and Beyond

From Ronald Reagan’s transformative approach to the presidency to Donald Trump’s unconventional use of executive power, the modern American presidency has evolved in profound ways. Shifting expectations, media landscapes, and global challenges have continually reshaped what it means to wield presidential authority. How have presidents from Reagan to Trump defined, expanded, or constrained the limits of executive power? And what lessons do those evolutions hold for the future of American democracy?

The USC Center for the Political Future invites you to a conversation on Presidential Power: From Reagan to Trump and Beyond. Veteran political strategists Bob Shrum and Mike Murphy, co-directors of the Center for the Political Future, will join Frank Lavin, former U.S. Ambassador and Reagan White House political director, for a wide-ranging discussion on how presidential leadership has changed over the last four decades. Together, they’ll examine pivotal moments that redefined the presidency, from Reagan’s communication revolution to Clinton’s triangulation, Bush’s wartime authority, Obama’s executive actions, and Trump’s populist disruption, while considering what the balance of power might look like in the years ahead.

Frank Lavin – Former Under Secretary for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce; Former U.S. Ambassador to Singapore; Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution; Director of the Asia Society of Northern California

Bob Shrum – Director, USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future; Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics; Author of “Concessions of a Serial Campaigner”

Mike Murphy – Co-Director, USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future; Republican Strategist