12 the presidency. 2 presidential power prime ministerial power party leader, selects cabinet...

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The Presidency

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Presidential Power• Prime Ministerial Power

• Party leader, selects cabinet officers. Cabinet officers must support policy or resign. Minister in charge of failed policy must resign (WMD)

• Presidential Power- Much weaker• Nominated by non-party officials. • Little experience in DC, Cabinet as “spoils”• President and Congress were meant to share power• Few Powerful Presidents, JQ Adams-FDR:

– Jackson, Polk, Cleveland, Lincoln

• New Powers, supported by Supreme Court:– Independent offensive military capabilities– Domestic policy initiatives- internment, air traffic

control– Neustadt: Power ultimately from PERSUASION

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Figure 12.2: Presidential Popularity

Source: Thomas E. Cronin, The State of the Presidency (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975), 110-111. Copyright 1975 by Little, Brown and Co., Inc. Reprinted by permission. Updated with Gallup poll data, 1976-1993. Reprinted by permission of the Gallup Poll News

Service.


Figure 12.2: Presidential Popularity (cont’d)

Source: Thomas E. Cronin, The State of the Presidency (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975), 110-111. Copyright 1975 by Little, Brown and Co., Inc. Reprinted by permission. Updated with Gallup poll data, 1976-1993. Reprinted by permission of the Gallup Poll News

Service.


Table 12.3: Partisan Gains or Losses in Congress in Presidential Election Years


Table 12.4: Partisan Gains or Losses in Congress in Off-Year Elections


Table 12.5: Presidential Vetoes, 1789-2000

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Presidential Institutionalization I• Necessities of a vast Bureaucracy

• Brownlow Commission, 1937: Pres. needs help• White House Office and Executive Office of

President created; staffed near 400 people

• Three Organizational Strategies• Pyramid (Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Bush I/II• Circular (Carter early in administration)• Ad Hoc (Clinton early in administration)

• EOP: includes WHO and OVP• Agencies mandated by law; Senate confirms • Office of Management and Budget, National S.C.

• Cabinet: Little, expandable fiefdoms• Few nominatable positions

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Pres. Institutionalization II• Three Persuasive Audiences

– Fellow Politicians in DC– Party Activists and Officeholders outside DC– The Public

• Three Policy Prerogatives– The Veto

• Only 4% overrident• Line-item veto struck down

– Executive Privilege (controversial)• US v. Nixon (1971), Cheney’s “energy” policies

– Impoundment: Budget Reform Act of 1974– President has short window to act


Figure 12.1: Growth of the White House Office, 1935-1985

Sources: For 1935-1977: Congressional Record (April 13, 1978), 10111; for 1979-1985: annual reports filed by the White House with the House of Representatives Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, titled "Aggregate Report on Personnel; Pursuant to Title 3, United States Code, Section 113"; and Budget of the United States Government. From Samuel Kernell and Samuel Popkin,

eds., Chief of Staff (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), 201.

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Presidential Succession• Key problem: legitimacy

• FDR: only 4-termer

• 8 VP’s have ascended

• 25th Amendment provides for succession

• Impeachment: an Indictment only– Senate must convict

• Andrew Johnson: missed removal by one vote

• Nixon: resigned to avoid impeachment; removal?

• Clinton: impeached but not removed (2/3 required)


Map 12.1: Electoral Votes per State


Table 12.1: The Cabinet Departments


Table 12.2: Number of Political Appointments in Cabinet Departments

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