UNIT 4 – The Executive
Branch
Chapter 13 – The Presidency
The President’s Job Description
I. The President’s Roles – the President has 8 roles that
he fills simultaneously
a. Chief of State – the ceremonial head of the
government of the United States
b. Chief Executive – vested with the executive power
of the United States
c. Chief Administrator – director of the huge
executive branch of the Federal
government
Chief Diplomat – main architect of American foreign
policy
Commander in Chief – Head Commander of the
nation’s armed forces
Chief Legislator – main architect of public policy
Chief of Party – acknowledged leader of the political
party that controls the executive
Chief citizen – expected to represent the people and
work for public interest
Formal Qualifications
a.“A natural born Citizen of the United
States”
b.Be at least 35 years old
c. Have been a resident of the United States
for 14 years
The President’s Term
a. 4 year term, believed to be long enough for the
President to have gained experience, demonstrated
his abilities, and established stable policies
b. After Washington, there was a two term tradition
c. Franklin D. Roosevelt won 4 terms. The 22nd
Amendment was passed in 1951 which prevents a
President from serving more than 2 terms or 10 years
Pay and Benefits
a. 400,000 a year and a 50,000 expense allowance
b. 132 room mansion, large office and staff, fleet of
automobiles, air force one, helicopters, Camp
David, finest medical and other health care, large
travel and entertainment funds, etc.
 The Oval Office
Presidential Succession and the
Vice Presidency
I. The Constitution and Succession
a. Presidential Succession is the scheme by which a
presidential vacancy is filled.
b. 25th Amendment in 1967 allowed for the Vice President to
officially follow the President
c. Presidential Succession Act of 1947
i. Vice President, Speaker of the House, President pro
tempore of the Senate, Secretary of State, Sec of
Treasury, Sec of Defense, Attorney General, Sec of the
Interior, etc.
I. Presidential Disability
a. Section 3 and 4 of the 25th Amendment allow for
the Vice President to be acting President if
Congress declares the President unable or the VP
and a majority of the Cabinet members inform
Congress that the President is incapacitated
 In 1985, Reagan transferred the powers of Presidency to
George H. W. Bush for about 8 hours while surgeon’s
removed a tumor from his intestine.
 In 2002, George W. Bush gave presidential powers to
Dick Cheney while he had a routine medical procedure.
I. The Vice Presidency
a. Importance of the Office
i. Two duties – to preside over the Senate and help decide
the question of Presidential disability
ii. Originally this office was of little real consequence
iii.President usually chooses some to “balance the ticket”
– a running mate who will strengthen his chance of
being elected by virtue of certain characteristics
 Joe Biden
The Vice President today
i. Recently, Presidents have made use of their Vice
Presidents.
ii. Dick Cheney was probably the most influential VP in the
nation’s history
Vice President Vacancy – according to the 25th Amendment,
the President nominates a candidate who is confirmed by
Congress
Presidential Selection: The
Framer’s Plan
I. Original Provisions
a. Framers opposed selecting the President by Congress or
popular vote
b. Finally, the Framers agreed to a plan suggested by
Hamilton. The President and Vice President would be
chosen by Presidential electors who would each cast two
electoral votes. The candidate with the most votes would
become President. The candidate with the second most
votes would be Vice President. This worked only as long as
Washington was President. The flaws of this system began
to appear when political parties did.
The Rise of Parties
The Election of 1800
i. By 1800, there were two parties – the Federalists and
the Democratic-Republicans
ii. There was a tie for the presidency. 36 separate ballots
were taken in the House before Jefferson was finally
chosen. This election produced new elements – parties
nominating for President and Vice President,
nominating electors pledged to vote for their party’s
candidate, and automatic casting of votes in line with
those pledges.
The 12th Amendment
i. Separated the Vice President and Presidential elections
Presidential Nominations
I. The Role of Conventions
i. The Constitution says nothing about presidential
nominations. The convention system has been built
from the two major parties in American politics. In
both parties, the national committee makes the
arrangements for the party’s convention.
ii. States are given delegates based on their electoral vote
and some states are awarded bonus delegates for party
support.
iii.There are two campaigns for the Presidency. One for
convention delegates and one between the two major
party candidates
I. Presidential Primaries – election in which a party’s voters choose
delegates to the national convention or express preference among the
contenders for their party’s presidential nomination
a. History of the Presidential Primary
i. Began in the early 1900s as part of the reform movement.
Now, some form of presidential primary can be found in most
states.
b. Primaries Today
i. Must be described on a state-by-state basis because delegateselection is controlled by state law and reform efforts are ongoing.
a. Proportional Representation
i. Winner-take-all - candidate who wins preference vote
automatically won all of the delegates
ii. The Democratic Party prohibits winner-take-all so they use a
proportional representation. Any candidate who receives at
least 15% of the votes gets the number of that State’s
delegates that corresponds with his/her share of that primary
vote.
I. The Caucus-Convention Process – In states that do
not hold presidential primaries, delegates to the
national convention are chosen in a system of
caucuses and conventions
I. The National Convention – meeting at which delegates vote to pick
their presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Three major goals
– name the party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates, bring
various factions together for common purpose, and adopt the party’s
platform (formal statement of basic principles)
a.
Day 1 - welcome delegates and organize convention, dozens of short
speeches
b. Day 2 – adoption of party’s platform and delivery of keynote address
c. Day 3 – Nominate presidential and vice-presidential candidates
I. Who is Nominated? An incumbent is almost certain to get the
nomination
a. Try to select the most electable candidate, may include
governors of large states or Senators
b. Usually Protestant, from larger state, pleasant and healthy
appearance, good speaker
The Election
I. The Electoral College Today – people do not vote for the
President, they vote for presidential electors
a. Electors are chosen by popular vote in every state. Every
state, except Maine and Nebraska, are at large – winner
take all. In most states, the electors names do not appear
on the ballot just the President and Vice President’s names.
a. The Winner of the Popular Vote is not guaranteed the
presidency
i. The Winner-take-all feature of the electoral college
system – if a candidate gets 51% of the vote, he gets all
the electoral votes
ii. Distribution of electoral votes – two are given to each
state for their Senate seats. This means the allotment
of electoral votes does not match the population and
voter distribution
 Election of 2000
Electors are not required to vote in accord with popular vote
i. There is no federal statute that that requires electors to
vote for the candidate favored by the popular vote. This
has happened only 11 times and has never changed the
outcome
May be decided by the House
i. If not candidate receives a majority, the House votes.
Vote is by State not individual so each state, regardless
of population, has equal say.
I. Proposed Reforms
a. The District Plan – Would do away with the winner-take-all
system. Electors would be chosen like Congressmen. 2
from the state at large and 1 per district but would depend
on how district lines were drawn
b. The Proportional Plan – each presidential candidate would
receive the same share of that State’s electoral vote as
he/she received in the popular vote
Direct Popular Election – do away with the electoral college
and allow each vote to count equally.
The National Popular Vote Plan – calls for states to amend
their election laws to provide that all of the state’s electoral
votes are awarded to the winner of the national popular vote
and enter into an interstate compact
Defending the Electoral College - many see flaws in proposed
changes. They see two benefits to the current system – it is a
known process and it identifies the President-to-be quickly
and certainly