chapter fourteen the presidency. copyright © houghton mifflin company. all rights reserved.14 | 2

Chapter Fourteen

The Presidency


Key Questions for Presidency Chapter

• How is a president different from a prime minister?

• How did the framers view executive power?• What is the current state of executive power?• How has the presidency changed since 1789?• How is the Executive Branch organized?• How is the character of the President related to

the accomplishments of various presidents?• What FORMAL and INFORMAL powers does the

president possess?


Presidential and Parliamentary Systems

• Presidents may be outsiders; prime ministers are always insiders, chosen by the members of the majority party in parliament

• Presidents have no guaranteed majority in the legislature; prime ministers always have a majority

• Divided government: one party controls the White House and another controls one or both houses of Congress

THEME A: THE POWER OF THE PRESIDENT VERSUS OTHER INSTITUTIONS


• “The United States in Congress assembled shall have authority to appoint a committee, to sit in the recess of Congress, to be denominated 'A Committee of the States', and to consist of one delegate from each State; and to appoint such other committees and civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs of the United States under their direction -- to appoint one of their members to preside, provided that no person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one year in any term of three years…”

--Articles of Confederation


Electoral College

• Almost all states use a winner-take-all system

• If no candidate won a majority, the House would decide the election

• The Electoral College ultimately worked differently than expected, because the Founders did not anticipate the role of political parties


Map 12.1: Electoral Votes per State


The First Presidents

• The office was legitimated by men active in independence and Founding politics

• Minimal activism of early government contributed to lessening the fear of the presidency

• Relations with Congress were reserved: few vetoes; no advice from Congress to the president


Powers of the President

• Potential for power found in ambiguous clauses of the Constitution—e.g., power as commander in chief, duty to “take care that laws be faithfully executed” (executive power)

• The Military Commisions Act of 2006• Part 2• CNN’s view of Presidential Signing Statements• Fox News Point of View on Signing Statements• Bill O’Reilly responds!• Greatest source of power lies in politics and

public opinion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww9S9MqoaQc&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV90dYnIYqs&watch_response

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65k6teVuVj0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBWntimIsz4


The Power to Persuade

• Presidents try to transform popularity into congressional support for their programs

• Presidential coattails have had a declining effect for years

• Popularity is affected by factors beyond anyone’s control – consider Bush’s approval ratings following the September 11th attacks


Figure 14.2: Presidential Popularity

Thomas E.Cronin, The State of the Presidency (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975), 110-111. Copyright © 1975 by Little, Brown and Company, Inc. Reprinted by permission. Updated with Gallup poll data, 1976-2004. Reprinted by permission of the

Gallup Poll News Service.

1. What happens to a president’s popularity over time? Why?2. How might this trend affect a president’s power and strategy?


Figure 14.2: Presidential Popularity

Thomas E.Cronin, The State of the Presidency (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975), 110-111. Copyright © 1975 by Little, Brown and Company, Inc. Reprinted by permission. Updated with Gallup poll data, 1976-2004. Reprinted by permission of the

Gallup Poll News Service.


Figure 14.3: Presidential Victories on Votes in Congress, 1953-2002


Discussion Questions for Theme A1. Given the resources and constraints that confront presidents and prime

ministers, which office would you prefer to hold if you were allowed such a choice?

2. The text concludes that presidential authority began to increase as a result of national crises. Why didn’t presidential power increase after the nation’s first three wars (War of 1812, the Mexican American War, and the Spanish-American War)? Were the wars different or the nation different?

3. If the expansion of presidential power occurred because of political events and has been fostered by public opinion, under what circumstances might presidential power begin to be limited? Will the historical in favor of expanding presidential power be reversed?

4. How has President Bush expanded executive power? Is the new powers he claims constitutional? Is it a good thing that President Bush has expanded the executive’s power?

5. The text suggests that Congress generally hesitates to chellange a popular president. Under what circumstances might this maxim not hold true? How can you explain the Clinton impeachment, given the president’s successful re-election campaign and strong approval ratings? How does that compare to the Democrats support of President Bush’s decision to go to war with Iraq?


White House Office• Rule of propinquity: power is wielded by

people who are in the room when a decision is made

• Pyramid structure: most assistants report through hierarchy to chief of staff, who then reports to president– Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Clinton

(late in his administration)– New Faces in Obama White House

THEME B: THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THE PRESIDENCY


West Wing Layout


White House Office

• Circular structure: cabinet secretaries and assistants report directly to the president– Carter (early in his administration)

• Ad hoc structure: task forces, committees, and informal groups deal directly with president– Clinton (early in his administration)


Figure 14.1: Growth of the White House Staff, 1945-2002

Harold W. Stanley and Richard G. Niemi, Vital Statistics on American Politics, 2003-2004 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2003), 254-255.


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


The Importance and Power of White House Staff: A Case Study

Karl Rove

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.


The Cabinet

• Not explicitly mentioned in Constitution• Presidents have many more appointments to

make than do prime ministers, due to competition created by the separation of power

• Presidential control over departments remains uncertain—secretaries become advocates for their departments

• http://www.whitehouse.gov/2010-Cabinet-Reports


Table 14.1: The Cabinet Departments

1. What are the responsibilities of each cabinet department?

2. Which departments are most important? Why?


Presidential Character

• Kennedy: bold, articulate, amusing leader; improviser who bypassed traditional lines of authority

• Nixon: expertise in foreign policy; disliked personal confrontation; tried to centralize power in the White House


Presidential Character• Reagan: set policy priorities and then gave staff wide

latitude; leader of public opinion• Clinton: good communicator; pursued liberal/centrist

policies• George W. Bush: tightly run White House; agenda

became dominated by foreign affairs following the September 11th attacks

• http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/educational/watch/v392794WSqW8n5b

• The Jesus Factor Part 2• Jesus Factor Part 3• Jesus Factor part 4


The Veto Power

• Veto message sent within ten days of the bill’s passage

• Pocket veto (only before Congress adjourns at the end of its second session)

• Congress rarely overrides vetoes • Commentary on Bush’s first veto and Congress’s

failure to overide.

• President does not hold line-item veto power

http://video.msn.com/v/us/fv/msnbc/fv.htm??f=00&g=9b234ea8-b4f5-4b31-9f7f-1e449c281ecc&p=source_nightly%20news&t=c24&rf=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13934199/&fg=





Table 12.5: Presidential Vetoes, 1789-2000


The President’s Program

• Resources in developing a program include interest groups, aides and campaign advisers, federal departments and agencies, and various specialists

• Constraints include public and congressional reactions, limited time and attention, and unexpected crises


Discussion Questions for Theme B1. Why has the president’s staff grown? Many presidents enter office with a

commitment to cutting the size of their staff. Why isn’t this goal achieved? Why do presidents rely more on the White House staff than on the various other offices in the Executive Office of the President? Why don’t presidents rely on their cabinets?

2. The text describes the connections between president’s character and their staffing arrangements. But why would a president’s personality have much to do with the staffing method (circular, pyramidal or ad hoc)? Why must the president rely on staff to devise policy when the executive branch bureaucracy already exists for this purpose?

3. Presidents frequently sign legislation with which they disagree. Why doesn’t the president simply veto such laws, since Congress seldom manages to override a veto? What kinds of veto strategies would you recommend to a president whose party controlled Congress? Or whose party was in the minority in Congress?

4. Should the president be grated absolute executive privilege? Have the courts placed too many constraints on the White House staff, in denying them confidentiality in so many of their communications?


Presidential Transition• Only fourteen of forty-one presidents have

served two full terms (George W. Bush will be the 15th if he finishes his full 2nd term)

• Eight vice presidents have taken office upon the president’s death

THEME C: PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION


The Vice President

• Prior to 2000, only five vice presidents won the presidency in an election without having first entered the office as a result of their president’s death

• The vice president presides over Senate and votes in case of tie


The 25th Amendment (1967)

• Allows vice president to serve as acting president if president is disabled

• Illness is decided by president, by vice president and cabinet, or by two-thirds vote of Congress

• The new vice president must be confirmed by a majority vote of both houses


This is a list of the current presidential line of succession, as specified by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (3 U.S.C. § 19).

# Office Officer1 Vice President and President of the Senate Joe Biden2 Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner3 President pro tempore of the Senate Daniel Inouye4 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton5 Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner6 Secretary of Defense Robert Gates7 Attorney General Eric Holder8 Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar9 Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsak10 Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke11 Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis12 Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebalius11 Secretary of Housing and Urban Dev. Shaun Donovan12 Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood13 Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu14 Secretary of Education Arne Duncan15 Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki16 Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano


Impeachment

• Indictment by the House, conviction by the Senate

• Presidential examples: Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon (pre-empted by resignation), Bill Clinton

• Clinton Impeachment 10 Years later

• Neither Johnson nor Clinton was convicted by the Senate


Constraints on the President

• Both the president and the Congress are more constrained today due to:– Complexity of issues– Scrutiny of the media– Greater number and power of interest groups


Discussion Questions for Theme C1. What does the peaceful and orderly transfer of power from one president

to the next have to do with presidential legitimacy? Can a revolutionary government or a military junta ever be legitimate?

2. What factors have precluded vice presidents from succeeding “their” presidents in office? Recent vice presidents who have failed in this effort include Nixon 1960, Humphrey 1968, Ford 1976, Gore 2000. The two who have recently succeeded are LBJ 1964 and Bush Sr. 1992.

3. Unless a president resigns, the chief executive can be politically removed only through impeachment proceedings. These proceedings are extremely involved and are undertaken only in extraordinary circumstances. Is it a strength or a weakness of the presidential system that its chief executive is so difficult to remove? Does this provide the system with greater stability or does it increase the likelihood of corruption in the executive branch? In other words, does this practice contribute to or detract from the legitimacy of government? Answer your question in light of the Clinton impeachment proceedings and President Bush’s conduct of the Iraq War.


Wrap Up for the Presidency

• 31W--What are the three most important lessons you learned in this chapter? Which is the most important? Why?

chapter fourteen the presidency. copyright © houghton mifflin company. all rights reserved.14 | 2

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