ADVANCED AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS
 “the true test of a good government is its aptitude and tendency to produce a good administration.”—Alexander Hamilton (Federalist #76)
 Much of the work in government is done by 15 cabinet-level executive departments
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Original (1789): State, War, Treasury
As the workload grew, more departments were created
 CHIEF OFFICERS AND STAFF
 Each department is headed by a SECRETARY except Justice whose leader is the
ATTORNEY GENERAL

 Each department has an under secretary and assistant secretaries to aid the
Secretary
 SUBUNITS
 Each department is divided up into subunits and those subunits are divided up further
 Example: Veterans Health Administration is a part of the Department of Veterans
Affairs
 This organization provides medical care to eligible veterans at over 150 medical centers and over 800 outpatient clinics

 THE DEPARTMENTS TODAY
 Department of State is the oldest and smallest department with about 25,000 employees
 The Department of Defense is the largest with 670,000 civilian employees and 1.4 million people in uniform
 The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has the largest budget (about
¼ of all federal spending)
 The Department of Homeland Security is the newest, having been created in 2002.
 (Chart p. 426-427)

THE CABINET
 CABINET—informal advisory body brought together by the President to serve his needs.
 Not created by the Constitution or Congress
 1789—Four top-level executive posts
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Secretary of State—Thomas Jefferson
Secretary of the Treasury—Alexander Hamilton
 Secretary of War—Henry Knox
 Attorney General—Edmund Randolph
 By tradition, the heads of the 15 executive departments form the Cabinet

 Additional Cabinet members—OMB Director, Chief Domestic
Policy Advisor
 Also attending: Vice President, White House Counselor, WH
Chief of Staff, US Trade Representative, National Drug Policy
Director, EPA administrator

 CHOOSING CABINET MEMBERS
 President appoints people and the Senate must approve the appointments
 Appointments have been made based on a person’s role in a president campaign
 Usually a person’s qualifications to do a particular job are taken into account as well
 Gender, race, management abilities and experience are also considered

 WOMEN AND MINORITIES
 First women—Frances T. (“Ma”) Perkins—Labor—1933-1945 (appointed by FDR)
 First African American—Robert C. Weaver—HUD—1966-1969
(appointed by LBJ)
 First Hispanic—Lauro F. Cavazos—Education—1988 (appointed by
Reagan)

 More women and minorities have been chosen for the cabinet since the 1980’s
 THE CABINET’S ROLE
 Two major roles for the Cabinet members:
 1) Individually—administrative head of their department
 2) Together—advisors to the President
 The amount of influence the Cabinet has depends on the President
 President Lincoln once made a proposal to his seven-member Cabinet and all members opposed it

 The President then replied, “Seven nays, one aye: the ayes have it.”
 President William Howard Taft suggested that if the president desired to eliminate the Cabinet he could do so.
 No President has suggested eliminating the Cabinet
 Presidents have in the past relied more heavily on a more informal group of advisors instead of the Cabinet
 THE END