Who Makes Up The Executive
Branch
&
The Cabinet

?

How the Electoral College works.

• The Presidential Election should be viewed as 51 separate elections each with a “winner take all” system
• To win a candidate must get a majority of
538 votes or 270
• Each state is represented in the Electoral
College according to their total number of members of Congress

• Pennsylvania has 2 senators and 19 representatives. This means that
Pennsylvania has 21 electoral votes
• California, the most populous state, has two senators and 52 representatives. This gives California 54 electoral votes
• Wyoming, the least populous state, has two senators and 1 representative. This gives Wyoming 3 electoral votes

• The total electoral vote of 538 is based on
100 senators, 435 representatives for the
50 states. The 23rd Amendment gave
Washington, DC 3 electoral votes
• The candidates compete in 50 states and
DC for electoral votes and the winner must have at least 270
• The Electoral College always works when there are only two candidates

• If there are more than two candidates, the system might not work
• If the system does not work, the House elects the President and the Senate elects the Vice-President. This has not happened since 1824.

• Individual votes count only in the state where they are cast
• When all states have voted, the candidate with the most votes in each state gets all the electoral votes of that state
• In December, following the November
Election, the winning electors in each state go to their respective state capitals and cast their votes and send them to
Congress

• The delegates are chosen by the political parties in each state
• Historically, the delegates have been
99.9% loyal to their party
• After the combined votes in 50 states and
DC are counted by a joint session of
Congress, the election is official

• Complex
• The person with the most votes may not win…
– Unpopular President
• 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes
• 1888, Benjamin Harrison
• 2000, George W. Bush

• Preserves the federal system-winning individual states is important. Without the
Electoral College, state lines mean nothing
• Preserves the two party system
• Keeps our politics moderate-extreme parties have little chance of winning any state

• The system is not likely to change because of the difficulty of amending the
Constitution
• Why fix it if it is not broken?

• What day do we vote in a general election?
• How does the government ensure fair voting?
• How do you register to vote?
• What is an absentee Ballot?
• What is a ward and precinct?
• Who Votes? (American Voting Behavior)

Can the electors stray in their vote?
• Yes
– Since the founding of the Electoral College, there have been 156 faithless Electors.
• 71 of these votes were changed because the original candidate died before the day on which the
Electoral College cast their votes.
• 3 of the votes were not cast at all as three Electors chose to abstain from casting their Electoral vote for any candidate.
• 82 Electoral votes were changed on the personal initiative of the Elector.

• 2000 - Barbara Lett-Simmons (Democrat,
District of Columbia)
In the most recent act of Elector abstention,
Barbara Lett-Simmons, a Democratic Elector from the District of Columbia, did not cast her vote for Al Gore as expected. Her abstention was meant to protest the lack of Congressional representation for Washington, DC.
Lett-Simmons was the first Elector to abstain from voting since 1832. Her abstention did not affect the outcome of the election

Problem Set

What is the job of the Executive
Branch
• To carry out (execute) Laws

What types of laws do they enforce?
• Federal

What individuals/departments make up the Executive Branch?
• Pres.
• Vice Pres.
• Cabinet

• Chief Executive
• Chief Of State
• Commander In Chief

• Grant pardons
• Grant Reprieves
• Negotiate treaties
• Appoint Officials and Judges
• See that the law is carried out.

• Pardon—Forgiveness of a crime
• Reprieve– Temporary delay

• Richard Nixon (Ford, 1974)
• Vietnam draft resisters (Carter, 1977; amnesty)

Pardon Of The Thanksgiving
Turkey

• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvide o/?bcpid=4464161001&bctid=5267313000
1

Possible Changes to Presidential
Pardons
• Constitutional Amendment -

• President makes lawmaking plans known to Congress through formal reports
• State of the Union Address
– Opportunity to push agenda

• Budget Message
– Actual and expected income and expenditures for the federal gov’t
– Budget Overview
– Budget Concerns

Chief Executive: Approve
Legislation
• President’s options
– Sign the bill – making it into law
– Veto
– Do nothing – bill will become law after ten days without the President’s formal consent

F. D. Roosevelt
Truman
Eisenhower
Kennedy
L. B. Johnson
Nixon
Ford
Carter
Reagan
G.H.W. Bush
1
Clinton
G. W. Bush
Total
Regular Pocket Total Overridden
73rd –79th
79th –82nd
83rd –86th
87th –88th
88th –90th
91st –93rd
93rd –94th
95th –96th
97th –100th
372
180
73
12
16
26
48
13
39
101st –102nd 29
103rd –106th 36
107th –108th 1
263
70
108
9
14
17
18
18
39
15
1
—
635
250
181
9
12
21 —
30 —
43
66
31
78
44
37
1
2
7
12
2
9
1
2
—
1,485 1,066 2,551 106

• President can call either or both houses of
Congress into special session
• Cannot determine the legislative agenda

• Emergency Fund
– Money to spend on unexpected crises, national emergencies, etc.
•
Impoundment
– refusing to spend money authorized by
Congress

• Treaty – formal agreements with foreign nations
– Must be ratified by 2/3 of the Senate

• SALT
• SALT 2
• ABM Treaty
• North Korea

• Secretary Of State
• Attorney General
• Judges

• The right to withhold information from congress and the courts
• US v. Nixon (1974)

Chief Of State
• Symbolic Leader
– Tosses out first pitch of Major League season
– Hosts the Whitehouse Easter egg hunt

Presidents tossing first pitch of the
Major League Season

Mrs. Cheney reads to children in attendance of the
Whitehouse Easter Egg Roll

Commander In Chief
• The top leader of our military
– Deploys troops
– Makes strategic decisions
– Orders the use of nuclear weapons

• Salary---$400,000 a year
• Travel account $100,000 a year
• $50,000 expense account
• Living at the Whitehouse rent free
– Private gym, pool, library, bowling alley, and movie room
– 100 staff members including chefs, carpenters, butlers, and florists

• Camp David
– 180 acre resort
– Skeet Range
– Pool
– Tennis
• Transportation
– 12 jets, 8 helicopters, and two Air Force One planes
– The Beast

The Beast Cont’d

•
PHOTOS SHOW DOORS THAT APPEAR TO BE NEARLY 8 INCHES DEEP, WITH THICK, FIXED WINDOWS.
ONLY THE DRIVER'S WINDOW HAS A SMALL SLOT THAT CAN SLIDE OPEN, WHICH WE ASSUME IS FOR
PAYING TOLLS. WITH SO MUCH ARMOR ON BOARD, IT WOULD BE NO SURPRISE IF GM NEEDED TO
RESORT TO USING THE BONES OF A TRUCK TO SUPPORT THE ADDED WEIGHT.
• A SOURCE AT ONE OF THE WORLD’S PREMIER SECURITY VEHICLE MANUFACTURERS SAYS THAT
ARMORED CARS OF THIS MAGNITUDE ARE CAPABLE OF WITHSTANDING NOT ONLY ARMOR-PIERCING
BULLETS, BUT ALSO ATTACKS FROM IEDS. A NUMBER OF ELECTRONIC COUNTERMEASURES ARE
KNOWN TO EXIST THAT CAN DO THINGS LIKE JAM ENEMY COMMUNICATIONS AND PREVENT THEM
FROM DETONATING ROADSIDE BOMBS REMOTELY, BUT MANY OTHERS REMAIN TOP SECRET AND ARE
AVAILABLE ONLY TO CUSTOMERS AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT.
• THE REAL MYSTERY IS WHAT WILL BE UNDER THE HOOD WHEN THE FIRST FAMILY PULLS UP TO THE
CAPITOL BUILDING TO WATCH DAD TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE. ALTHOUGH THE PHOTOS OF THE
VEHICLE WERE TAKEN LONG BEFORE THE OUTCOME OF THE ELECTION WAS KNOWN, BOTH JOHN
MCCAIN AND OBAMA MADE THE DEVELOPMENT OF GREENER, MORE FUEL-EFFICIENT AUTOMOBILES
HALLMARKS OF THEIR CAMPAIGNS.
• •NEVERTHELESS, A VEHICLE THAT NEEDS TO WITHSTAND A DIRECT HIT FROM AN ASTEROID IS LIKELY
TO GET THE KIND OF GAS MILEAGE THAT WOULD MAKE TOYOTA PRIUS OWNERS WEEP, SO THERE
ARE NO EXPECTATIONS OF IT BEING ANYTHING LESS THAN A CERTIFIED GAS GUZZLER. THAT SAID,
GM DOES HAVE A NUMBER OF ETHANOL-BURNING POWERPLANTS AVAILABLE IN ITS PARTS BIN, AND
EVEN OFFERS HYBRID VERSIONS OF ITS FULL-SIZE SUVS. INTERESTINGLY, THE PHOTOGRAPHER
WHO CAUGHT THE BEAST IN THE WILD REPORTS HEARING WHAT SOUNDED LIKE THE DISTINCTIVE
EXHAUST NOTE OF A DIESEL ENGINE COMING FROM THE CADDY, WHICH WOULD GIVE IT AT LEAST A
FEW EXTRA MILES PER GALLON OVER GASOLINE AND BRING A SMILE TO EVERY TEAMSTER ALONG
THE MOTORCADE ROUTE.
•
IN ANY CASE, WE'LL GET A BETTER LOOK AT IT WHEN IT GOES INTO SERVICE ON INAUGURATION DAY,
JAN. 20, 2009. WHETHER IT WILL COME WITH A REBATE, OR LOW INTEREST FINANCING, IS ON A NEED-
TO-KNOW BASIS.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emcrbo
Jnfik&feature=related

• Retirement
– $139,000 a year
– Secret Service Protection for 10 years
– Speaking fees that average $100,000 per speech

• 24/7 JOB
• Privacy
• Stress Of the Job
• Presidential Dilemma
• What is life like for kids in the White House

Tradition & Constitutional Changes
• Two term tradition from Washington to
Hoover
– FDR elected to 4 terms
• 22 nd Amendment limited to two terms
• 25 th Amendment created a plan for
Presidential succession if the President is not able to carry out his functions.

Requirements & Traditional
Qualifications
• 35 yrs.
– Youngest President
• JFK
– Oldest elected President
• Ronald Reagan
• Natural Born
• Live in the US for 14 yrs

• Male
– One Female ran for VP and made it thorough the primary
• Geraldine Ferraro
• Caucasian
• First African American President
– Several other African Americans have run for office
• Rev. Jesse Jackson
• Alan Keyes
• Al Sharpton

• Protestant
– One Candidate running for President in 2004 is Jewish
– One President was catholic
• JFK
• All but one have been married
– James Buchanan
• Ten Have been Prior Military

• Two term tradition
– Although not stated in the Constitution,
Washington began a tradition of serving only
2 terms that was followed until FDR
• After FDR, the ____ Amendment was passed to limit the President to 2 terms.
• Lame Duck Limited the time outgoing
Presidents remained in office.

• President
• VP
• Speaker of the House
• President Pro Tempore of the Senate
• Cabinet Level Officers in the order of creation of their department
– Sec of State
– Sec of Treasury

Invocations of the 25 th
Amendment
• Vice Presidential replacement
• Only twice have Presidents appointed Vice Presidents under the Twenty-fifth Amendment:
• Richard Nixon nominated Gerald Ford on October 13,
1973, following Spiro Agnew's resignation; Congress confirmed Ford on December 6.
• Eleven days after Ford's succession to the presidency, on August 20, 1974 he nominated Nelson Rockefeller to succeed him. Congress, after a long investigation, eventually confirmed him, and he was sworn in on
December 19, 1974.
• Vice President as Acting President

On two occasions the Vice
President of the United States has acted as President
• June 29, 2002
• As he specifically cited Section 3 of the amendment in his letter temporarily transferring his powers and duties,
President George W. Bush invoked the provision on
June 29, 2002 immediately prior to undergoing a colonoscopy, installing Vice President Dick Cheney as
Acting President.
July 13, 1985
• Another transfer occurred on July 13, 1985 when Ronald
Reagan transferred his powers to Vice President George
H. W. Bush prior to undergoing surgery to remove cancerous polyps from his colon.

th
• In 1981, after being shot by John Hinkley ,
President Reagan was rushed to the hospital and nearly died from blood loss.
The president did not invoke the 25th
Amendment, though his aides intensively debated whether he should. In the White
House, Secretary of State Alexander Haig famously claimed that he "was in charge" pending the return of Vice President Bush.

• If the office of Vice President becomes vacant, the President appoints a new VP and the Senate confirms. Same is true for
Cabinet Officers.

• Broken down into 6 categories
– Executive
– Legislative
– Judicial
– Spending
– Diplomatic
– Military

• Executive Order---
– A Presidential order to carry out the law
• Ex. Johnson used it to enforce affirmative action
• Appoint federal officials
• Power of removal
• Executive Privilege

• Recommending legislation
• Approving Legislation
• Call special Sessions of Congress
• Veto
– Regular
– Pocket
– Line Item

• Reprieve
• Pardon
• Amnesty
• Commute

• Emergency Funding
• Budget

• Negotiate Treaties

• Only Congress can create new positions.
• Cabinet members are chosen by the
President and Confirmed by the Senate

• Attitudes toward power
– Strict
• Madison
• Buchanan
• Taft
– Loose
• FDR
• Lincoln

• Character Traits
– Active President
• Exert strong leadership, chart new directions, and devise innovative policy
– FDR ---New Deal
– Passive President
• Devote less time and energy and allow Congress to take charge
– Taft

• Positive President
– Enjoy the power and responsibility of the office, like the challenges and feel confident in meeting them.
• Negative Presidents
– Serve out of a sense of civic duty and wish to prove themselves. They find the job burdensome but think they should do it.

• Gallup Poll
• Best & Worst

• Two term tradition
– Although not stated in the Constitution,
Washington began a tradition of serving only
2 terms that was followed until FDR
• After FDR, the ____ Amendment was passed to limit the President to 2 terms.
• Lame Duck Limited the time outgoing
Presidents remained in office.