White House Wit: How Presidents Use Humor as a Leadership Tool

This article examines how presidents use humor, specifically wit, as a leadership tool. It uses a sample of more than 500 exchanges between presidents and reporters covering the administrations of Franklin Roosevelt to George W. Bush. Content analysis using deductive coding based on a typology of humor uses reveals presidents most often used neutral humor to deflect questions from reporters in order to avoid answering directly. This type of humor was used consistently throughout the years covered in the study.