Presidential Advisers and First
Ladies
Executive Office of the President
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For most of our early history
the size of the White House
staff was small and limited to a
handful of cabinet members,
secretaries, and advisers
1939: Franklin Roosevelt
created the Executive Office of
the President in order to
coordinate all the people that
work in a President’s
administration
As the number of
responsibilities the President
had increased so did the need
for a larger staff; today there
about 2,000 employees in the
Executive Branch
Parts of the E.O.P.
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White House Office: consists of
about 500 people who work
directly for the president,
about 10 to 12 close advisers
White house staff can control
what information comes from
the President’s office and who
is allowed to see the President
Office of Management and
Budget: prepares the federal
budget and monitors the
spending of govt. agencies;
budget=what?
Parts of the E.O.P.
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National Security Council:
helps the President coordinate
US military and foreign policy
Members include V.P. the sec.
of defense and state, and the
top commanders from each of
the armed services; President
may invite additional people
Office of Administration:
provides administrative
services for executive branch
Council of Economic Advisers:
give economic advice;
President picks the 3 members
and the Senate approves them
The Cabinet
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Cabinet: is a group of
presidential advisers that
includes the heads of the 15
top level executive
departments; department
heads are called secretaries
except for Attorney General
Secretaries advise the
president on issues related to
their departments and make
important policy decisions
Cabinet is not mentioned in
the Constitution, began as a
tradition under Washington
Presidents decide when the
cabinet meets and he can
decide to largely ignore their
advice
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Condolezza Rice, first black
female Sec. of State
First Ladies
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The Constitution does not
mention the spouse of a
president
President’s wife is called the
“First Lady”, what if we had a
female president?
Some first ladies choose to
become involved in a cause or
politics
Eleanor Roosevelt was a
spokeswomen for the poor,
first US ambassador to the UN
Nancy Reagan spoke out
against drug abuse, Hillary
Clinton was an influential
advisor to Bill Clinton
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Eleanor Roosevelt visiting a
coal mine