Centers for Law and Legal Studies

The New York City–based Center for the Study of the Presidency (CSP) promotes citizenship education, especially for youth. It seeks an understanding of U.S. political and economic systems and relies on a network of college and university faculty and students for its intellectual support. The center conducts high-profile roundtable discussions with political leaders as well as special studies of U.S. political policies. It also maintains a research clearinghouse on the presidency.

The founding of the CSP in 1968 received support from former President DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER who said, "The result [of the center] cannot fail to be good … for the Nation." The New York State Board of Regents chartered the center. Since the center's founding, Dr. R. Gordon Hoxie, a former chancellor of Long Island University, has served as its president and chief executive. Its board of trustees, pursuant to the EDUCATION LAW of the state of New York, is limited to twenty-five members. In 1995, membership in the center as a whole reached five thousand business, professional, and government leaders as well as contributors in academia. Corporations and foundations assist in the center's $1 million budget. The center has remained a nonpartisan, nonprofit educational corporation.

The CSP has several objectives. Primarily, it focuses on securing an understanding of the U.S. constitutional system of government. The center also seeks to make itself an objective, nonpartisan body for public policy research. It provides educational programs for college and university students. It seeks to strengthen democratic institutions both at home and abroad: as part of its comprehensive mission and international scope, the center attempts to build a sense of interdependence and understanding between peoples and nations, while recognizing and respecting cultural differences.

The initiation of most of the center's basic programs occurred before the end of 1970. The Annual Leadership Conference, the Annual Student Symposium, the Fellowship Program, the Annual Lecture Series, and the center's publications (ANNUAL REPORTS and the Center House Bulletin) date to its early days. In 1974, the Annual Awards Program was added to its activities. In the 1990s, the Annual Business Leaders Symposium and a program for White House interns joined its offerings.

The center is exempt from federal INCOME TAX. The INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE has also determined that the center is not a private foundation, making it eligible for "distributions" from foundations.