Presidents often exercise power differently in foreign versus domestic affairs, and each president approaches these areas in unique ways. This memo asks you to choose two presidential administrations and compare the approaches taken by each in either foreign or domestic affairs, and to expand on how those differences highlight distinctions between administrations and their outcomes.
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What are the key differences in how each administration dealt with foreign or domestic affairs?
You should choose a specific policy outcome or event that occurred during each administration’s time in office to demonstrate the differences between the two. The goal of the memo is to highlight the differences in how two administrations chose to approach foreign versus domestic policy and the possible implications of those approaches (did one approach involve more effort than the other? was one approach more successful than the other? etc.). The events or policies that you choose should be cases that clearly demonstrate a strategic approach from the president, such as attempting to advance a certain policy or make certain foreign policy moves, and should fall within the same area (foreign or domestic) in order to draw the best comparisons.
It should be written in essay format, and should include the following elements as a rough outline:
Title page
Introduction
Brief background on each administration (dates in office, party affiliation, etc.)
Details on administration #1
Details on administration #2
Comparison between administrations
Implications & conclusion
It doesn’t have to be in this order (except for intro and conclusion should remain first and last 🙂) as long as all elements are present somewhere in the paper. You should discuss these topics in no less than 2 but no more than 3 double-spaced pages.
You should use primary sources to provide evidence for your main points. Sources like the White House and other .gov websites will provide a lot of information, as well as news coverage of the president’s actions (from sources like NYT, WaPo, Politico, etc.). These should be cited both within your paper and in a references page included at the end (which does not count toward the 2-3 page limit).