Rose Garden Strategy

THE TERM Rose Garden strategy refers to the re-election strategy of incumbent American presidents who focus on events in the White House, taking advantage of the grandeur and aura of their office to look presidential. By following this strategy, presidents hope to underscore their competence in office. While challengers must work hard to look presidential, incumbent presidents appear presidential by staying focused on the business of governing, often remaining above the political fray.

A classic Rose Garden strategy is filled with photo opportunities and presidential imagery. The term makes reference to the Rose Garden because this setting reflects the majesty and grandeur of the presidency. It is a lush, impeccably landscaped garden, covering an area approximately 125 by 60 feet, that borders the Oval Office just outside the West Wing of the White House. Known as the Rose Garden since 1913, it is used as a venue for informal and official White House events, including formal announcements, bill-signing ceremonies, press conferences, and photo opportunities with foreign dignitaries and notable Americans. As incumbents take part in these highly-staged, but relatively low-cost events, they hope the media coverage will cast a positive light on their stewardship.

For a Rose Garden strategy to be effective, the president has to emphasize the presidential, highlighting the image of a competent leader, and de-emphasize the political, downplaying the image of a partisan candidate. The strategy, however, does not dictate that the president has to remain exclusively in the White House. The exigencies of modern presidential campaigns require that candidates, including incumbent presidents, travel extensively throughout the country. The strategy does involve making choices about when to go on the campaign trail and when to stay in the Rose Garden. These choices determine whether the president can, at any one time, improve the odds of re-election by campaigning on the road or by staying in the White House.

President Gerald Ford, campaigning for the presidency in 1976, made extensive use of the Rose Garden strategy. For much of the early campaign season, he stayed in the White House, seeking to covey the message that he enjoyed his job and that he was good at it. As his opponent, Jimmy Carter, struggled to get media attention, Ford enjoyed the free publicity that came with his Rose Garden strategy. Although it proved successful in gaining positive attention for him, the president wanted to campaign more actively and, thus, abandoned this strategy late in the summer.

Interestingly, President Jimmy Carter, who had criticized Ford's use of the Rose Garden strategy when he was running against him, used the same strategy four years later when running for re-election against Ronald Reagan. Preoccupied with the Iran hostage crisis, Carter rarely left the White House during the early months of the campaign. As the crisis worsened and the media portrayed him as an isolated, ineffective president, he abandoned his Rose Garden strategy in favor of a more aggressive campaign.

The Rose Garden strategy has been used at various points and to different degrees by all successive presidents. Possibly President Richard Nixon used the Rose Garden strategy best in his 1972 re-election campaign against Democratic rival George McGovern, even refusing to debate him. McGovern, a severe critic of Nixon's Vietnam policies, became a frustrated campaigner because Nixon, way ahead in the polls, largely ignored him. Nixon's strategy was to simply to act presidential, frequently presenting his issue stands from the calm of the Rose Garden.

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