Abstract

Since the beginning of the American constitutional experience, the US President has been periodically accused by both statesmen and public opinion to act like a monarch. In the past two centuries many scholars have resorted to the monarchic metaphor whenever the President was deemed to exceed his constitutional powers and some authors, such as David Cannadine and Frank Prochaska, have even dubbed the United States' form of government either an elective or an American Monarchy. This essay discusses the monarchic nature of the American Presidency in the light of the best examples of modern literature which, in various ways, have resorted to the monarchic metaphor. In doing this, it suggests that the analysis of the Presidency's main political issues through the lens of the Monarchy could also solve some difficulties of interpretation, especially regarding the symbolic aspects of the Presidency