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The Presidency
Produced by Dr Peter Jepson
Edited by Mrs W Attewell.
Read & précis Chapter 6 of
‘US Govt & Politics’
By Anthony J Bennett.
Rules to follow …
• Read & précis notes will be checked
before the start of the lecture.
• Do NOT chat during a lecture.
• Raise your hand if you have question.
Both King and Prime Minister?
What did President Theodore Roosevelt mean
when he said that he was both “King and
Prime Minister”?
The Founding Fathers created:
1. Head of state who is both Head of State and
Head of Government?
2. A singular executive
3. They created an indirectly elected President
(use of Electoral College)
Powers of the President
The powers of the President derive from Article
II of the Constitution. Essentially the powers
have been the same for all Presidents from George Washington to Barak Obama.
1. To propose legislation
2. Submit the annual budget
3. Sign legislation passed by Congress
4. Veto legislation
5. Act as Chief Executive
6. Nominate Executive Branch Officials
7. Nominate all Federal Judges
8. Act as Commander in Chief
9. Negotiate treaties
10. To give a pardon
All these powers are subject to check via
Congress. However, as is common in
politics, Congress is often reluctant to
undermine a President.
Presidential paradoxes
• Look at Cronin and Genovese’s 9
presidential paradoxes.
• Is it ever possible to be a successful
President?
• http://spot.colorado.edu/~mcguire/presp
aradox.htm
Vice President
• In the US candidates for President and VicePresident usually run for election together on what is often described as a ‘balanced
ticket’. Can you give examples?
• Need a Vice-President be directly elected?
If not, what mechanism exists to enable an
appointment?
Powers of the Vice-President
The US Constitution - as amended in 1967 gives five powers to a VP.
1. Presiding Officer of the Senate (rarely
performed)
2. To break a tied vote (e.g. Cheney in 2001
for $1.6 trillion tax cut - did not vote for
another 2 years)
3. To announce the result of the Electoral
College election (Gore in Jan 2001
announced his own defeat)
Powers of the Vice-President
4. VP becomes President upon the death,
resignation, or removal from office of the
President - Can you give examples?
5. Become Acting President should the
President become disabled (have an
operation etc).
Open Discussion: Why - and in what ways has the importance of the VP increased over
the past 50 years?
Break into pressure groups (preferably less than
3 students in a group) to consider one of the
below topics - presenting your findings to
the whole class.
1. The role and historical background of the US
Cabinet.
2. The recruitment, membership and composition
of the cabinet (race and gender etc) over the
years.
3. Do cabinet meetings reflect political balance
and does this aid their functions?
4. Assess the prime importance of the cabinet.
EXOP
• What does EXOP stand for?
• Why did the Brownlow Committee of 1932
conclude that the President needs help (give
3 reasons)?
• EXOP now consists of 1600 staff.
• The White House Staff include the
president’s most trusted and closest aides
and advisors. Can you give some examples?
• What is the role of the Chief of Staff and why
is it so important?
Methods of organising the
White House…
• Spokes of the wheel system - in which all
advisers have access (Kennedy, Carter and
Clinton approach). Advantage is accessibility danger is some advisers may take advantage.
• Pyramid system (Nixon, Reagan & Bush
approach) - President at the top and key
advisers below. Advantage of a highly
disciplined White House. Disadvantage of
President only hearing what he wants and
becoming isolated.
What is the role of …
• The National Security Council?
• The Office of Management & Budget?
Possible conflicts …
• Is there a danger that the system of
having both EXOP and a Cabinet could
lead to divisions and rivalries?
• Are both really needed?
President & Congress
• Almost every power that the President
possesses is checked by Congress thus he needs their agreement.
• Re-produce Table 6.14 (page 276)
using colour coding to improve.
A persuasive President
To use power effectively a President must
persuade others in Congress.
1. He can work through his Vice-President (five
of the last six have been former members of
Congress).
2. Work through his Congressional Liaison
Staff.
3. Cabinet Officers can be deployed.
4. Work through Party Leaders in Congress
Game of chance …
• Each student is asked to explain to the
class an example of presidential
persuasion and problems of such (you
cannot repeat a point already made).
Theories of Presidential Power
• In the administration of FDR (what does that
stand for?) the pendulum swing in favour of
presidential power - with EXOP etc
established.
• Schlesinger talked of an Imperial
Presidency deriving from Pearl Harbour and
a need for a strong leader that could break
free from the shackles of Congress’s
conventional ties on the executive. An
example of this is how Pres Truman sent
troops to South Korea in 1950 with
congressional authority.
Imperial Presidency
• Provide some examples of Imperial
Presidency.
• How did Congress respond to this talk
of an Imperial Presidency? Did the view
of Schlesinger prevail?
• What did ‘Imperilled Presidency’
refer to and mean?
• What is the current theory?
Limits on presidential power
There are limits on presidential power
which fall into seven broad categories.
1. Congress - checks and balances are
highly sufficient and can lead to
removal from Office.
2. The Supreme Court - has power to
declare actions unconstitutional (case
of US v Richard M Nixon [1974]
resulted in his resignation).
Limits on presidential power
3. Public Opinion - Bill Clinton demonstrates
how popularity can shield at times of scandal.
The results of good PR could also provide
Congress election results that may assist.
4. Pressure groups can mobilise public opinion
for or against the President or his policies.
5. The media can influence/limit what a
president does (Johnson and Vietnam).
Limits on presidential power
6. The federal bureaucracy can frustrate.
It consists of 3 million civil servants from around 60 federal government
agencies. One powerful man can be
frustrated by the unwillingness of federal
governments to acquiesce to reform
proposals (e.g. Eisenhower, Kennedy
and Johnson over civil rights reforms).
Limits on presidential power
7. Other factors such as his own
professional reputation are also
important.
(a) His White House staff - do they aid or
aggravate? (Clinton first years).
(b) External events - Iranian Hostages
crisis of 79/80.
Discussion time
• Break up into three small groups. Each
student member of the group then draws out
of a hat a number (out of a selection of 1-8)
which relates to one of the essay questions
on page 293 of ‘US & Politics’. The student
then leads a discussion within their group on
that topic.
• A member of each group finally summarises
each of the discussions for the whole class.