b'Department of Political ScienceAn Analysis of Persuasion and Personality on Presidential Gains of PowerVanessa I. OkojieSponsor: Dr. Marc PufongSince its inception, the office of the United States President has increased in power, scope, and responsibility while Congress has continued to lose power. Presidents take advantage of multiple strategies to gain access to this increasing power. In this paper, I explored two facets of presidential power using President George W. Bushs War on Terror and, ultimately, the Iraq War as a case in point. The first facet I surveyed was Neustadts theory of persuasion. Neustadt asserts that persuasion power ultimately equates to presidential power. After analyzing Bushs war mobilization strategy, it is quite clear that persuasion and framing were the most consequential in getting Congress and the American people on board among other factors. I then reviewed Barbers Presidential character model as a second facet. Barbes model states that Presidents are predisposed to gain or lose power based on personality type. Barbers theory did hold up in the case of President Bush. However, after further analysis, the model left many questions unanswered and assumed presidential power to be in a vacuum uninfluenced by external constraints. When comparing both theories in regard to the presidents quest for power, it became quite clear that Bushs negotiation acted as the main contributor to his success in pushing the war effort forward. Although Bushs personality type may have played a role, it is hard to discern whether other influences had any bearing on decision making. This paper found that bargaining was not the only source of power utilized by President Bush (unilateral action was used a great deal), however it was the turning point in the balance of power struggle between Congress and the executive. It is this very struggle that makes persuasion power so important.56'