With the stroke of a pen executive orders and presidential power with the stroke of a pen executive orders and presidential power the conventional wisdom holds that the president of the united states is weak hobbled by the separation of powers and the short reach of his formal legal authority. A valuable systematic and insightful examination of an important presidential power in the wake of terrorist threats and economic recession with the stroke of a pen might well lead one to expect significant executive orders and perhaps other unilateral presidential action karen m hult the journal of politics. With the stroke of a pen executive orders and presidential power by kenneth r mayer. With the stroke of a pen executive orders and presidential power by kenneth r mayer princeton princeton university press 2001 298 pp 3995 if one looks at the scientific progression of congressional and presidential stud ies it is evident that the two began to pursue separate evolutionary paths in the 1960s. With the stroke of a pen executive orders and presidential power is o ne of the most important books on presidential power published this century by professor buzzkill 2017 02 15t093439 0500 february 15th 2017 bookshelf comments off on with the stroke of a pen executive orders and presidential power