Richard W. Waterman | University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences

Richard W. Waterman

Professor

Richard W. Waterman is a Political Scientist and Presidency Scholar with specialties in the American Presidency, the Executive Power, the Article II of the US Constitution, the Bureaucracy, the Courts, and the Environment.

He also has published copiously in such august academic journals as the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, the Presidential Studies Quarterly, the Legislative Studies Quarterly, Law and Society Review, Public Administration Review, the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, the Western Political Quarterly, and the Social Science Quarterly. He has published 15 books such university presses as Oxford, Michigan, SUNY. He has been awarded funding by the National Science Foundation, Leverne Burchfield Award from American Society for Public Administration, appeared on CNN, PBS and Local Television Channels, and testified about his research before a U. S. Senate Committee.

He is a huge fan of science fiction, film (including film noire and silent movies), and is a long time fan of the Boston Red Sox baseball. And published an epic Science Fiction and Fantasy novel, The Oracle: The Succession War.

Dr. Waterman is currently working on two books on The Derivation of the President's Authority as Commander-in-Chief. He also has another book manuscript entitled, Presidential Power: Separate and Unbalanced. He recently published two books in 2025 on The President and the Constitution with SUNY Press.

Contact Information

Richard.Waterman@uky.edu

1637 Patterson Office Tower

859-257-1118

Education

1986: Ph.D. in Political Science University of Houston
1983: MA in Political Science University of Houston
1976: M. Ed Bridgewater State College (now Bridgewater University)
1974: BA in History Rhode Island College

Research Interests

American Presidency
Presidency
US Constitution Article II

Affiliations

Political Science

Curriculum Vitae (CV)
Constitutional Ambiguity and the Interpretation of Presidential Power
Amazon Books
Walmart Books
Barnes and Nobles Books
Research Gate

Research Books

Teaching and research interests include the presidency, policy, and film and politics. He is the author or co-author of fifteen books including:

Through the Constitution’s Eyes: An Historical Analysis of the President’s Article II Powers and Duties

Constitutional Ambiguity and the Interpretation of Presidential Power

The Politics and Sociology of Silent Comedy Films: Early American Cinema 1895-1915

Trump Twitter and American Democracy: Political Communication in the Digital Age

The Presidential Expectations Gap: Public Attitudes Concerning the Presidency

Checking the Courts: Law, Ideology and Contingent Discretion

Presidential Leadership: The Vortex of Power

Bureaucrats, Politics, and the Environment.

The Changing American Presidency: New Perspectives on Presidential Power, 4 Editions

The Image-Is-Everything Presidency: Dilemmas in American Leadership

Enforcing the Law: The Case of the Clean Water Acts

Bureaucratic Dynamics: The Role of Bureaucracy in a Democracy

The Presidency Reconsidered

Presidential Influence and the Administrative State

The Oracle: The Succession War

Research Articles

Dr. Richard Waterman has published articles in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Legislative Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and other political science journals.

Area of Specialization - The Presidency, The Article II of US Constitution, The Bureaucracy, Public Policy, Film and Politics

Articles:

Waterman, Richard W. 2024. “The Initiator or Responder in Chief? Reconciling Two Prominent Theories of Presidential Power.” Social Science Quarterly. 105 (7): 2067-2079.

Waterman, Richard W., Sherelle Roberts, Yu Ouyang, and Seth Shockley. 2024. “How America’s 18^th and 19^th Century Presidents Invoked Power.” Congress and the Presidency. 51 (2): 123-147.

Waterman, Richard W. and Yu Ouyang. 2020. “Rethinking Loyalty and Competence in Presidential Appointments.” Public Administration Review. 80 (No. 5): 717-732.

Waterman, Richard W. 2019. “The Dark Side of the Farce: Racism in Early Cinema, 1894-1915. Politics, Groups, and Identities. 9 (4): 784-806.

Warber, Adam, Yu Ouyang, and Richard W. Waterman. 2017. “Landmark Executive Orders: Presidential Leadership Through Unilateral Action.” Presidential Studies Quarterly. 47 (4): 124-134.

Ouyang, Yu, Evan T. Haglund, and Richard W. Waterman. 2017. “The Missing Element: Examining the Loyalty-Competence Nexus in Presidential Appointments.” Presidential Studies Quarterly. 47: (1): 62-91.

Waterman, Richard W., John Bretting, and Joseph Stewart. 2015. “The Politics of U. S. Ambassadorial Appointments: From the Court of St. James to Burkina Faso.” Social Science Quarterly. 96: (2): 503-322.

Ouyang, Yu and Richard W. Waterman. 2015. “How Legislative (In)Activity Impacts Executive Unilateralism: A Supply and Demand Theory of Presidential Unilateralism.” Congress and the Presidency. 42: 317-241.

Lewis, David and Richard W. Waterman. 2013. “The Invisible Presidential Appointments: An Examination of Appointments to the Department of Labor, 2001-2011.” Presidential Studies Quarterly. 43 (1): 35-57.

Olson, Jeremiah, Yu Ouyang, John Poe, Austin Trantham, and Richard W. Waterman. 2012. “The Teleprompter Presidency: Comparing Obama’s Campaign and Governing Rhetoric.” Social Science Quarterly. 93: Special Volume: 1402-1423.

Randazzo, Kirk A., Richard W. Waterman, and Michael P. Fix. 2011. “State Supreme Courts and the Effects of Statutory Constraint: A Test of the Model of Contingent Discretion.” Political Research Quarterly. 64 (4): 779-789.

Randazzo, Kirk A. and Richard W. Waterman. 2011. “Statutory Influences on the U. S. Supreme Court: The Effects of Constraint and Discretion.” Justice Systems Journal. 32 (4): 269-292.

Walker, Lee D. and Richard W. Waterman. 2010. “Gubernatorial Elections and Attitudes Toward the Police: State Elections as Focusing Events.” Electoral Studies. 29 (1): 117-127.

Waterman, Richard W. 2009. “The Administrative Presidency, Unilateral Power, and the Unitary Executive Theory.” Presidential Studies Quarterly. 39 (1): 5-9; Reprinted in James P. Piffner and Roger H. Davidson (eds.). 2011. Understanding the Presidency. New York: Pearson: 244-249.

Walker, Lee D. and Richard W. Waterman. 2008. “Elections as Focusing Events: Explaining Attitudes Toward the Police and the Government in Comparative Perspective.” Law and Society Review. 42 (2): 337-365.

Carol L. Silva, Richard W. Waterman, and Hank C. Jenkins-Smith. 2007. “Why Did Clinton Survive the Impeachment Crisis? A Test of Three Explanations.” Presidential Studies Quarterly. 37 (3): 468-485.

Randazzo, Kirk A., Richard W. Waterman, and Jeffrey A. Fine. 2006. “Checking the Federal Courts: The Impact of Congressional Statutes on Judicial Behavior.” Journal of Politics. 68 (November): 1103-1114.

Jenkins-Smith, Hank C., Carol L. Silva, and Richard W. Waterman. 2005. “Micro and Macro Models of the Presidential Expectations Gap.” Journal of Politics. 67 (August): 690-715.

Gill, Jeff and Richard W. Waterman. 2004. “Solidary and Functional Costs: Explaining the Presidential Appointment Contradiction.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 14 (December): 547-569.

Waterman, Richard W., Hank C. Jenkins-Smith, and Carol L. Silva. 1999. “The Expectations Gap Thesis: Public Attitudes toward an Incumbent President.” Journal of Politics. 61 (November): 944-966.

Waterman, Richard W. and Amelia A. Rouse. 1999. “The Determinants of the Perceptions of Political Control of the Bureaucracy and the Venues of Influence.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 9 (October): 527-569.

Waterman, Richard W. and Kenneth J. Meier. 1998. “Principal-Agent Models: An Expansion?” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 8 (April): 173-202.

Waterman, Richard W., Amelia A. Rouse, and Robert L. Wright. 1998. “The Venues of Influence: A New Theory of Political Control of the Bureaucracy.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 8 (January): 13-38.

Waterman, Richard W. 1996. “Storm Clouds on the Political Horizon: George Bush at the Dawn of the 1992 Presidential Election.” Presidential Studies Quarterly. XXVI (Spring): 337-49.

Wood, B. Dan and Richard W. Waterman. 1993. “The Dynamics of Political-Bureaucratic Adaptation.” American Journal of Political Science. 37 (May): 497-528.

Waterman, Richard W. and B. Dan Wood. 1993. “Policy Monitoring and Policy Analysis.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 12 (Fall): 685-699.

Waterman, Richard W. and B. Dan Wood. 1992. “What Do We Do with Applied Research?” PS: Political Science & Politics. (September): 559-564.

Hunter, Susan and Richard W. Waterman. 1992. "Determining an Agency's Regulatory Style: How Does the EPA Water Office Enforce the Law?” Western Political Quarterly. 45 (June): 401-417.

Wood, B. Dan and Richard W. Waterman. 1991. “The Dynamics of Political Control of the Bureaucracy.” American Political Science Review. 85 (September): 801-828.

Waterman, Richard W., Bruce Oppenheimer, and James Stimson. 1991. “Sequence and Equilibrium in Congressional Elections: An Integrated Approach.” Journal of Politics. 53 (May): 372-393.

Waterman, Richard W. 1990. “Institutional Realignment: The Composition of the U. S. Congress.” Western Political Quarterly. 43 (March): 81-92.

Waterman, Richard W. 1990. “Comparing Senate and House Electoral Outcomes: The Exposure Thesis.” Legislative Studies Quarterly. XV (February): 99-114.

Oppenheimer, Bruce, James Stimson, and Richard W. Waterman. 1986. “Interpreting U.S. Congressional Elections: The Exposure Thesis.” Legislative Studies Quarterly. XI (May): 227-247. Reprinted in Silbey, Joel H. (Ed.) 1991. The Congress of the United States 1789-1989. Volume 4, The United States Congress: The Electoral Connection, 1789-1989. Brooklyn: Carlson Publishing Company.

Frendreis, John and Richard W. Waterman. 1985. “PAC Contributions and Legislative Behavior: Senate Voting on Trucking Deregulation.” Social Science Quarterly. 66, 2 (June): 401-412.

Research Book Chapters

Waterman, Richard W. 2017. Second edition 2020. “The Speech of a Lifetime.” In Lydia M. Andrade and James W. Riddlesperger, Jr. (eds.) Considering American Government: A Reader. Dubuque: Iowa: Kendall Hall Publishing Company.

Waterman, Richard W. 2009. “Assessing the Unilateral Presidency.” In George C. Edwards III and William G. Howell (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of the American Presidency. New York: Oxford University Press: 477-498.

Waterman, Richard W. 2009. “Maintaining Political Control: George W. Bush and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.” In Colin Provost and Paul Teske (eds.) President George W. Bush’s Influence Over Bureaucracy and Policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Press: 203-218.

Waterman, Richard W. 1999. “Bureaucratic Views of the President.” In Steve Shull (ed.) Presidential Policymaking: An End-of-Century Assessment. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe: 150-167.

Waterman, Richard W. and Thomas E. Garman. 1997. “The Role of the President in the Consumer Movement.” The Encyclopedia of the Consumer Movement. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc.: 433-438.

Other Publications

Waterman, Richard W. 2015. “Rulemaking: Pursuing a Policy Agenda.” Emerging Trends in Behavioral and Social Sciences, Robert A. Scott and Stephen M. Kosslyn (eds.). New York: Wiley.

Waterman, Richard W. 2015. “How Do You Become an Ambassador?” The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/how-do-you-become-an-ambassador-36934

Waterman, Richard W. 2008. “Presidential Signing Statements: The Constitution versus the New Government Models.” In AP Government and Politics: United States. Balance of Power Between Congress and the President. College Board: Princeton: 23-30.

Waterman, Richard W. 2005. “The Myth of the Envirocrat.” The Environmental Forum. 22 (2) March/April 18-23.

Waterman, Richard W. 2005. “Put Your Tongue Back: A Muffled Response to the Ken Meier’s Politics of Ideas.” Policy Studies Journal. 33: 117-120.

Waterman, Richard W. “Unilateral Politics.” 2004. Public Administration Review. 64: 219-221. Winner of the Laverne Burchfield Award from the American Society for Public Administration.

Waterman, Richard W. 2002. “Executive-Legislative Relations and the Functioning of the Federal Bureaucracy: Case Examples from an Analysis of Views of the President and Congress by Enforcement Personnel in the Environmental Protection Agency.” In National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA) and the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). Tokyo: NIRA.

Waterman, Richard W. 2000. Excerpts from: “Bureaucratic Views of Congress and the President: An Analysis of the Attitudes of Environmental Protection Agency Enforcement Personnel.” In (National Institute for Research Advancement) NIRA Policy Research: International Conference: Sustainable Development, Environmental Conditions, and Public Management. 13 (12): 23-24.

Grants

2015: University of Kentucky, College of Arts and Sciences, Summer Research Grant, $3,000.

2007-2008: National Science Foundation. “An Invitation to Struggle: Statutory Constraint and Judicial Decision Making,” Kirk Randazzo and Richard W. Waterman. $75,000.

1989-91: US Geological Survey, Water Research Institute. Susan Hunter and Richard W. Waterman. $35,000.

Research Awards and Honors

2023: Nominated for UK Excellent Undergraduate Research Mentor Award.

2017: Featured Author, Presidential Studies Quarterly, March issue.

2014: Panel Commemorating the 20^th Anniversary of the publication of Bureaucratic Dynamics: The Role of Bureaucracy in a Democracy. Western Political Science Association, Seattle, WA.

2014 and 2016: Nominated for University Research Professorship, University of Kentucky.

2005: American Society for Public Administration’s “Laverne Burchfield Award” for the best book review or TOPS article in Public Administration Review.

1997: Best Paper Award." From the University of New Mexico's Institute for Public Policy for: Waterman, Richard W., Amelia A. Rouse, and Robert L. Wright. “The Venues of Influence: A New Theory of Political Control of the Bureaucracy.”

Special Invited Conferences

Ouyang, Yu. and Richard W. Waterman. 2015. “How Legislative (In)Activity Impacts Executive Unilateralism: A Supply and Demand Theory of Presidential Unilateralism.” Conference on Executive Unilateral Politics. University of Houston. Houston, TX.

Participant. 2012. Appointee Politics and the Implications for Government Effectiveness. Virginia Tech. Alexandria, VA.

Waterman, Richard W. 2007. “Putting Politics into the Politics-Administration Dichotomy: The Case of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.” Paper presented for a Conference on George W. Bush and the Bureaucracy at the University of Oxford, Nuffield College.

Participant. 2006. “Presidential Power in America: The Constitution, the Defense of a Nation, and the National Ethos.” Massachusetts School of Law. Andover, MA.

Gill, Jeff and Richard W. Waterman. 2003. “The Presidential Appointment Contradiction.” Paper presented at the 7th National Public Management Research Conference. Georgetown University.

Waterman, Richard W. 2000. “Executive-Legislative Relations and the Functioning of the Federal Bureaucracy: Case Examples from an Analysis of Views of the President and Congress by Enforcement Personnel in the Environmental Protection.” Paper Presented for the International Conference on Sustainable Development, Environmental Conditions, and Public Management: Public Reform Sector Reform and Strategies for Sustainable Development in the United States, Japan, and other Public Rim Nations. National Academy of Public Administration and National Institute for Research Advancement. Tokyo, Japan.

Book Review

Constitutional Ambiguity and the Interpretation of Presidential Power

Waterman, Richard W. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2025. 324 pages. $120 (hardcover); $35.95 (softcover)

Jeﬀrey Crouch

To cite this article: Jeﬀrey Crouch (04 Sep 2025): Constitutional Ambiguity and the Interpretation of Presidential Power, Congress & the Presidency, DOI: 10.1080/07343469.2025.2556548

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/07343469.2025.2556548

https://polisci.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/Review%20of%20Constitutional%20Ambiguity%20and%20the%20Interpretation%20of%20Presidential%20Power.pdf

Latest Books

Selected Publications

Selected Publications:

2006, June 28: Provided congressional testimony, upon request of the US Senate Committee, before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee regarding findings from my books Bureaucrats, Politics and the Environment and Enforcing the Law. The subject of the hearing was regional variations in Environmental Protection Agency enforcement.