How Congress Goes Public During Times of War: Examining the Influence of Divided Government on Congressional Behavior.

Mayhew's publication of Divided We Govern set off a spirited debate among Congress scholars about the influence of divided government on the legislative process and on relations between Congress and the president. In considering nonlegislative functions of Congress, what influence does divided government have on the public strategies that members of Congress use to influence the president's foreign policy during times of war? Through content analysis of the New York Times, for selected periods of unified and divided government during the Vietnam and Iraq wars, this paper examines who in Congress went public to try to influence the course and content of the president's war policies. The paper finds evidence that unified and divided government have different effects on majority and minority party behavior.The paper also finds, contrary to expectations, that the form of party government has no impact on the amount of press coverage devoted to criticism of the president's war policies by his own party in Congress. Finally, the paper finds that whereas the form of party government seems to have had an impact on the public strategies employed by members of Congress during the Vietnam war, no such impact is evident during the Iraq war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]