By: Mark DiSalvi, Matt Garner, and David Miller
Powers of the President
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Formal Powers (Powers specially defined in Article II
of the Constitution)
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Commander-in-chief
Appointment of Supreme Court Justices
Executive clemency (pardoning of criminals)
Foreign affairs
Veto
Emergency powers(can use full force of military without
congressional approval).
Informal Powers (Powers that are not specified but
given by the people and other government branches)
 Executive Orders (has to be constitutional and be in the
president’s jurisdiction)
 Executive Agreement (An unofficial foreign treaty)
 Party Leader
The President’s Roles
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Chief of State – symbolic leader of the
country
Chief Executive – Executes the laws,
appoints federal officials
Commander in Chief – Commands armed
forces
Chief Diplomat – In charge of foreign
affairs
Chief Legislator – Signs or vetoes
legislation, writes legislation, helps create
the federal budget
Presidential Advisors
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White House Staff
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Unofficial cabinet
Head is called White House Chief of Staff
This staff contains the president’s closest friends and most trusted advisors
Cabinet
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President can appoint cabinet members but congress must accept them with a majority vote
Congress determines which cabinet positions exist
President can fire cabinet members at will
Some of the cabinet positions include:
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Secretary of State
Secretary of the Treasury
Secretary of Defense
Attorney General
Secretary of the Interior
Secretary of Agriculture
Secretary of Commerce
Secretary of Labor
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary of Transportation
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Education
Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs
Secretary of Homeland Security
Process of Becoming President
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Presidents must meet these criteria to run for office:
 At least 35 years old
 Resident of United States for at least 14 years
 Natural-born citizen
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How presidents campaign for office
 Major parties select their presidential nominee at their national
conventions
 The presidential candidate chooses a running mate who will become
vice president
 The presidential candidate tries to win a majority of the electoral college
by focusing on swing states and states worth a high number of votes
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Presidential Succession
 If the president dies or becomes unable to fulfill his duties the person
below him takes office:
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Vice President
Speaker of the House
President Pro Tempore of the Senate
Cabinet members in order of power (how they are listed on that slide)
Process of Impeaching
Presidents
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In House of Representatives
 The House Judiciary Committee decides whether to start
the process
 The House is called to vote on each Article of
Impeachment (for each crime charged)
 If any one crime gets a simple majority the case is tried in
the Senate
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In the Senate
 The president is represented by a select group of House
members who will serve as lawyers against the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court and all 100 senators acting
as the jury
 2/3 vote to convict
 The senate can also vote by a simple majority to prohibit
the president from holding any public office in the future
Impeachment cont.
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Although no president has ever been impeached, 4
have gotten very close:
 Andrew Johnson was impeached when Congress became
unhappy with how he was handling some post-Civil War
matters. Johnson was acquitted in the Senate by one vote
and remained in office.
 John Tyler was tried to be impeached by Congress over
state's rights issues, but the process failed in the House.
 President Richard Nixon was being tried for impeachment
because of the Watergate scandal when he resigned.
 William J. Clinton was impeached by the House on
charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in relationship
to his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Clinton was acquitted by the Senate.
What is a Bureaucracy
A Bureaucracy is a system that
organizes a large number of people who
need to work together.
 Bureaucracy literally means “rule by
desks”
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Roles of the Bureaucracy
The job of a bureaucrat is to implement
policy made by elected officials
 The federal bureaucracy creates rules
that determine how government
programs operate.
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Agencies of the Bureaucracy
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Cabinet Departments
 These departments are line agencies, or agencies that report
directly to the president
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Independent Executive Agencies
 Do not full under the control of any one department
 Includes revenue agencies
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Independent Regulatory Agencies
 Enforces rules and regulations
 Independent of the elected parts of government
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Government Corporations
 Function like private corporations and could be fulfilled by private
corporations
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Presidential Commissions
 Investigate problems in government and make
recommendations to the president as to how to solve these
problems
How Agencies Gain Power
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Cabinet departments
 Created by Congress
 Members appointed by president and approved by senate
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Independent executive agencies
 Created by Congress
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Independent regulatory agencies
 Members appointed by president and approved by senate
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Government corporations
 Created by Congress
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Presidential commissions
 Appointed by Presidents
How Agencies are Ended
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Cabinet departments
 Department disbanded by congress
 Members fired by president
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Independent executive agencies
 Department disbanded by congress
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Independent regulatory agencies
 Members replaced if engaged in illegal activities,
otherwise completely independent of outside control.
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Government corporations
 Department disbanded by congress
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Presidential commissions
 Department disbanded by President
 Members fired by President
Vocabulary
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Public administration - The task of running the government, and
providing services through policy implementation
Veto - the constitutional power of the president to send a bill back to
Congress with reasons for rejecting it. Two-thirds vote in each house
can override a veto.
Bureaucracy - a hierarchical authority structure that uses task
specialization, operates on the merit principle, and behaves with
impersonality. Govern modern states.
executive order - regulations originating from the executive branch.
They are one method the president uses to control the bureaucracy.
iron triangle - entities composed of bureaucratic agencies, interest
groups, and congressional committees or subcommittees, which have
dominated some areas of domestic policymaking.
policy agenda - “the list of subjects or problems to which government
officials, and people outside of government closely associated with
those officials, are paying some serious attention…”
Vocabulary
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independent regulatory agency - responsible for some sector
of the economy, making and enforcing rules supposedly to
protect the public interest. Also, judges dispute over these rules.
independent executive agency - the government not
accounted for by cabinet departments, independent regulatory
agencies, and government corporations. Administration
appointed by the president.
line-item veto - president can reject a part of a bill while
approving the rest; declared unconstitutional.
executive agreement - agreement with another head of state
not requiring approval from the Senate.
executive privilege - the right of the president to withhold
information from Congress or refuse to testify (limited by US v.
Nixon).
lame-duck period - occurs in Congress whenever one
Congress meets before its successor is elected, but before the
successor’s term begins.
Vocabulary
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issue network - alliance of various interest groups and individuals who
unite in order to promote a single issue in government policy.
Impeachment - the political equivalent of an indictment in criminal law
National Security Council - an office created in 1947 to coordinate the
president’s foreign and military policy advisors. Its formal members are
the president, vice-president, Secretary of State, and Secretary of
Defense. Managed by the president’s national security advisor.
pocket veto - takes place when Congress adjourns within 10 days of
having submitted a bill to the president, who simply lets it die by neither
signing it or voting.
presidential coattails - situation when voters cast their ballots for
congressional candidates of the president’s party because they are
supporters for the president. Few races are won this way.
government corporation - provides a service that could be provided
by a private sector and typically charges for this service.
Vocabulary
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standard operating procedures - better known as SOP's
these procedures are used by bureaucrats to bring uniformity to
complex organizations. Uniformity improves fairness and makes
personnel interchangeable.
administrative discretion - the authority of administrative
actors to select among various response to a given problem.
Discretion is greatest when routines, or standard operating
procedures, do not fit a case
street-level bureaucrats - phrase coined by Michael Lipsky,
referring to those bureaucrats who are in constant contact with
the public and have considerable administrative discretion
Regulation - the use of governmental authority to control or
change some practice in the private sector. Regulations
pervade the daily lives of people and institution.
command-and-control policy - according to Charles Schultze,
the existing system of regulation whereby government tells
business how to reach certain goals, checks that these
commands are followed, and punishes offenders.
Vocabulary
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incentive system - according to Charles Schultze, a
more effective and efficient policy than commandand-control; in the incentive system, market-like
strategies are used to manage public policy.
Deregulation - the lifting of restrictions on business,
industry, and professional activities for which
government rules had been established and that
bureaucracies had been created to administer.
22nd Amendment - Passed in 1951, the
amendment that limits presidents to two terms of
office or ten years
25th Amendment - Amendment that creates a chain
of succession for filling in the presidential seat in
case of death/incapacitation
Vocabulary
War Powers Resolution - President must report in
writing to Congress within 48 hours after he places troops
in trouble spots Congress that must then authorize the
action within 60 days. If Congress does not, the president
must withdraw the troops
 Pendleton Civil Service Act - passed in 1883, it created
a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would
be based on merit rather than patronage.
 Hatch Act - federal law prohibiting government
employees from active participation in partisan politics.
 Federal Election Campaign Act - A law passed in 1974
for reforming campaign finances. The act created the
Federal Election Commission (FEC), provided public
financing for presidential primaries and general elections,
limited presidential campaign spending, required
disclosure, and attempted to limit contributions
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Court Cases
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United States v. Nixon - 1974 case in which the
Supreme Court unanimously held that the doctrine of
executive privilege was implicit in the Constitution
but could not be extended to protect documents
relevant to criminal prosecutions
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Buckley v. Valeo - a case in which the Supreme
Court of the United States upheld federal limits on
campaign contributions and ruled that spending
money to influence elections is a form of
constitutionally protected free speech. The court also
stated candidates can give unlimited amounts of
money to their own campaigns