The Presidency
From Chief Clerk to Chief Policy Maker
10 key questions at Convention
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Shall the executive be one
person or several?
Will Congress select the
president?
Shall all citizens select the
president?
Shall the president have
any role in legislative
matters?
Who shall conduct
foreign policy?
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Who has responsibility
of making war ?
How long shall a
president serve?
Should a president be
removable between
elections?
Shall the president alone
carry out the will of
Congress?
Shall the president have
real powers?
An energetic president

Hamilton-argues for a limited
President…
 Fed 69: 4 year term, limited length,
removed by impeachment, vetoes
overridden, C-in-C, treaties
approved by Senate, can’t dissolve
Congress

But a energetic president
 Fed 70: “energy” in the executive
through unity, duration, adequate
provision for support, competent
powers(“a feeble executive implies
feeble execution of the
government”)
◦ The executive also a product of
many compromises. (Name them)
Today, the perception of
the President’s power is
due mainly to the growth
of the mass media,
primarily television and
radio, as well as the decline
in party leadership in
Congress
President as Head of State
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People look to him for guidance
and help
◦ 9/11
◦ Hurricane Katrina
Teddy Roosevelt first 20th century
president meaning he believed the
president is owed an opportunity
to be president, i.e. the bully
pulpit; Taft, however, believed in
enumerated powers
Who else can do it? The Speaker,
the Chief Justice?
President as Chief Executive

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“He shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully
executed.”
Are there limits to the power to “take care”?
“I felt that measures otherwise
unconstitutional might become
lawful by becoming indispensable to
the preservation of the Constitution.”
Lincoln and Presidential
prerogative, powers the president
may use under certain
circumstances
Truman and Steel Seizure
Youngstown Sheet and Tube v. Sawyer
On Executive Powers:
“Their use can make a Lincoln
or Jefferson administration; their
non use can make a Buchanan or
Grant administration.
Lawmaking through Executive Order
legally binding orders given by the President, to Federal Administrative Agencies to direct federal
agencies and officials in their execution of congressionally established laws or policies, however,
in many instances they have been used to guide agencies in directions contrary to congressional
intent.

Truman and the desegregation of the
military (E.O. 9981)
It is hereby declared to be the
policy of the President that there
shall be equality of treatment
and opportunity for all persons in
the armed services without
regard to race, color, religion or
national origin. This policy shall
be put into effect as rapidly as
possible . . .
Lyndon Johnson and E.O. 11246

“all Government contracting
agencies shall include in every
Government contract hereafter
entered into the following
provisions:” “The contractor will
take affirmative action to ensure
that applicants are employed, and
that employees are treated during
employment, without regard to
their race, color, religion, sex or
national origin.”
Other Executive Orders
Desegregation of schools under
Eisenhower
 E.O. 9066 established Japanese internment
camps during WW II
 Kosovo War under Clinton
 E.O. 13233 decreed that the papers of
Reagan and H.W. Bush were restricted to
the public
 Only two E.O.’s have ever been
overturned

Executive Privilege
Clinton and the Lewinsky case
Bush Administration and Executive
Privilege

Argued that
Executive Privilege
precluded
Congressional
testimony of Harriet
Miers and others
regarding U.S.
Attorney firings.
Vice president
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This job “wasn’t worth a bucket of warm piss” John Nance Garner
“The most insignificant office that ever the invention of man
contrived.” John Adams
There were two brothers, “One ran away to sea, the other elected
vice president, and nothing was ever heard of either of them again.”
Thomas Marshall, Wilson’s V-P, who was so out of the loop that he
found out about Wilson’s paralytic stroke from a reporter and then
continued to simply entertain dignitaries because didn’t’ want job
No details in Constitution for his role except to break ties; given no
official residence until the 1970s
Historically, given very little power and in most cases not even
recognized or noticed by the very president he served under
Truman changed that tradition by raising the salary, given a seal and
was included on Cabinet meetings and part of National Security
Council
◦ Now they have a West Wing office, large salaries and staffs
Vice President Cheney—Executive or
Not

Vice-president is president in
waiting (LBJ - “a heartbeat away
from presidency”)

Did Cheney run the show?

2001: Congressional probe into
energy policy “would
unconstitutionally interfere with
the functioning of the executive
branch.”
Cheney in 2007
Regarding issue of handling of classified material:
the Vice Presidency is not “an entity within the
executive branch.”
 Claim later withdrawn

President as Chief Legislator:
Innovative uses of “the veto”

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Pocket or “recess” veto, but Congress never really
recesses
Veto: FDR 635; Bush 12 (11 when Dems took over)
Item veto: originally passed for a future Bush victory, but
Clinton won instead
◦ Item veto declared unconstitutional in Clinton v. New York
The Court held that by canceling only
selected portions of the bills at issue, under
authority granted him by the Act, the
President in effect "amended" the laws
before him. Such discretion, the Court
concluded, violated the "finely wrought"
legislative procedures of Article I as
envisioned by the Framers.
The Signing Statement

600 total before Bush, 1,100 by Bush
challenging constitutionality of laws-so
not enforced
◦
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Domestic spying
“secret operations”
Torture ban
Obama has continued
President as Commander-in Chief
The President shall
be Commander in
Chief of the Army
and Navy of
the United States

Strategic Placement of Troops: Theodore
Roosevelt and the “White Fleet”
But how can he be controlled?
Korea and Vietnam:
Undeclared Wars
War Powers Act, 1973
The president is required to:
(1) consult Congress “in every possible
instance” before deploying forces abroad
(relies on their collective judgment);
(2) report to both houses within forty‐eight
hours and periodically (3) terminate
deployment within sixty days of the initial
report unless Congress specifically
approves or the president requests a
thirty‐day extension to protect the safety of
personnel.
“Act now, inform later”:
Iran (Carter)
Lebanon, Granada, Persian Gulf (Reagan)
Panama (Bush I)
Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia (Clinton)
IV. President as Chief Diplomat
 “He shall have power, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, to
make treaties, provided two thirds of
the Senators present concur”
◦ Executive Agreements: Prior to
1940 the US Senate ratified 800
treaties and presidents made 1,200
executive agreements; from 1940
to 1989, presidents signed 800
treaties and approximately 13,000
executive agreements
◦ Bricker Amendment (failed)
◦ Destroyers for Bases;Yalta
Conference; Laos
Other Duties
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Appoints heads of government agencies, which
approved by the Senate
The President appoints federal judges
Recess appointment—can fill positions in
government if Senate is out of session (NLRB v.
Noel Canning [2014] court says Senate must be
out at least 10 days)
He must give a State of the Union address and can
recommend legislation
The President can grant pardons to those
convicted of federal crimes
The Executive Branch
Inner Cabinet:
V-P, NSA,
State,
Defense, A-G,
Treasury
Cabinet is independent of
president and each other;
advisors to president;
position by patronage,
tradition says the president
must meet with them
Executive Branch continued
“runs” government; heads of agencies chosen by
president, but can’t be fired by him
Executive Office of the President
Agencies that
perform
management
tasks; give advice
to president
Make budget
Advise president on
security matters
Advise president on
the economy
The White House Office
Gatekeeper
Friend and advisor to
president
The President

Constitutional requirements
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Natural born citizen
35 years of age
US resident for 14 years
Serve 2 terms (22nd amendment)
Impeached by House for “high crimes or
misdemeanors”, trial in Senate (only 2 impeached)
Unwritten requirements
◦ White males
◦ Protestant
◦ Paid $400,000/year; $50,000 spending
allowance
Benefits
White House: 132 room mansion on 18.3
acres
 Air Force One; fleet of cars; Camp David

Line of Succession-25th Amendment

The Vice President Joseph Biden

Speaker of the House John Boehner

President pro tempore of the Senate1 Patrick Leahy

Secretary of State John Kerry

Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel

Attorney General Eric Holder

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell
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Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
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Secretary of Commerce John Bryson
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Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis
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Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius
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Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan
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Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood
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Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz
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Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
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Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki
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Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
Determined by when
each department was
created
Power of President is power to persuade

Through election victory a president can declare he has a
“mandate of the people” and can achieve many of this goals
with their support (not so true today)
◦ Honeymoon period of President

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President helped by same party domination in Congress
unless he is good at appealing to bipartisanship
President can use the media for an unprecedented source of
power and persuasion
◦ Bully pulpit used through the media to build support for policies and
programs
◦ He is one man whereas the Congress is many

President is the opinion maker, and not the follower, thanks
again to the media
◦ Press secretary gets word out through sound bites
◦ Presidents becomes “great explainers”
LBJ and “The
Treatment”
Other factors of success
High Public approval ratings
 Presidential lobbying
 Threat of presidential veto
 Use of patronage powers
 Clear presidential priorities
 National emergencies

Growth of Presidency-George
Washington
First “head of state”
◦ Sets many precedents that other presidents
followed such as 2 terms, cabinet, “Mr.
President”
 Asserts the president’s control of foreign
affairs by declaring neutrality in the war
between France and Britain
 Establishes the role of Commander in Chief by
defeating the Whiskey Rebellion
 He shied from policy initiatives and actually
avoided the office and its trappings

Thomas Jefferson
Ceases delivering State of the
Union addresses in person,
instead a clerk in the House read
the letter for the President (a
trend not broken until Wilson in
1913)
 Kept a low profile, but expanded
presidential authority with the
Louisiana Purchase and fight with
the Barbary Pirates

Abraham Lincoln
Expands army beyond legal limits
and takes military action without
approval of Congress
 Repeals habeas corpus rights for
captured soldiers
 Sets the political agenda and waited
for Congress to approve it, which it
did

◦ (Congress doesn’t regain its authority
until after the Civil War)
Rise of the Rhetorical Presidency
newspaper circulation increases from 2.6 million to 15 million and
population increases from 4 to 76 million (1790-1900)

Teddy Roosevelt
◦ “speak softly and carry a
big stick”
 Woodrow Wilson
◦ Recognizes the power of the
◦ Wilson believed that the
media and creates the “bully
President should employ
pulpit”
speeches to create an
◦ Creates a good relationship
active public opinion that
with the press corps
will pressure Congress
◦ The President should also
articulate the public’s wishes to
advance HIS legislative
program (create a sense of
vision)
FDR
President becomes
communicator in chief
 Presidential voice
becomes the dominant
voice in political dialogue
 FDR creates a personal
and direct link with the
people becomes skilled at
molding public opinion
 http://www.americanrheto
ric.com/speeches/fdrfirstfi
residechat.html
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President makes
“personal appeals” to
the public and looks for
their support
FDR ushers in the age of
“image”, which is why
photographs and
information on his health
was controlled
Rise of television and Ronald
Reagan
President always has
cameras following
him
 There is only 1 of
him, 535 members of
Congress therefore
he can monopolize
its time and present
a focused and unified
message

Reagan a masterful
communicator whose
speeches avoided
“unpleasant specifics”
 Transforms State of
Union address into
second inaugural address
 Reagan helped by his
acting experience and
sense of timing
