Aim: How powerful is the
President?
I. Terms
A. The president is elected to a four year term
1. He or she may run for reelection
B. The president is allowed to serve a maximum of
two full terms
C. George Washington
1. The Constitution as originally written did not
set a term limit
2. George Washington voluntarily stepped down
after two full terms and set a precedent for
others to follow
3. He did not want to be seen as a power hungry
monarch and believed serving longer would
violate the principles of democracy
4. Every president until FDR followed this
tradition
D. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
1. Elected to four separate terms
a. 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944
i. The Great Depression and World War II
II. Term Limits
A. After FDR, the nation became fearful that the
office of the president could become too
powerful if strict term limits were not instituted
B. In 1951, the 22nd Amendment was passed
1. the 22nd Amendment limit the president to two
full terms
2. A vice president who served two years of
another president’s term may serve two full
terms of there own
3. Thus, today it is possible for a president to
serve a maximum of 10 years
Presidential Term Trivia
• 12 Presidents have served a single elected term - John Adams,
John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, James K Polk, Franklin
Pierce, James Buchanan, Rutherford B Hayes, Benjamin Harrison,
William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter and George HW
Bush.
• 4 Presidents - Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry S
Truman and Lyndon B Johnson - have succeeded to the Presidency
through death, and then gone on to serve a single elected term of
their own.
• 3 Presidents were elected to second terms but failed to complete
them. - Abraham Lincoln and William McKinley served only a few
weeks or months of their second terms before being assassinated,
and Richard M Nixon, resigned 19 months into his second term.
• 5 Presidents - William H Harrison, Zachary Taylor, James A.
Garfield, Warren G Harding, and John F. Kennedy - died during their
first terms and so had no opportunity to seek a second.
• 5 Presidents - John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson,
Chester A. Arthur, and Gerald Ford - succeeded from the VicePresidency but did not win elected terms of their own.
• Grover Cleveland is the only president to serve two nonconsecutive
terms: he is the 22nd and 24th president
III. Executive Order
A.
B.
A legally binding order given by the president as
head of the Executive Branch
They are used to guide departments or officials
in the carrying out of Congressional laws – often
they relate to national defense, war, or
homeland security
1. Examples: Lincoln suspends writ of habeas corpus and
issues Emancipation Proclamation, FDR orders
internment of Japanese-Americans
2. Youngstown v. Sawyer – invalidated an executive order
made by Truman placing all steel mills under federal
control
3. Legislative Veto – the authority of Congress to block a
presidential action after it has taken place. This power
of Congress was declared unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court
IV. Executive Agreements
A. An agreement made between the
president and the leader of a foreign
nation
1. Similar to a treaty, but does not need to be
approved by the Senate
V. Executive Privilege
A. The right of the president to withhold
information from Congress, the courts, or
anyone else, even when faced with a
subpoena
1. It is not mentioned in the Constitution
2. United States v. Nixon – Executive
privilege does exist, but it is not
absolute
VI. Line-Item Veto
A. In 1996, the Line-Item Veto Act was passed.
1. Gave the president power to veto specific parts (line
items) of appropriations bills the way state governors do.
2. In the case of Clinton v. City of New York (1998), the act
was considered unconstitutional because it gave the
President legislative powers. An Amendment would be
needed to give the president such power.
3. In 2012, the House voted to give President Obama limited
Line Item veto power in a method that would not violate
the Constitution, but the bill did not pass the Senate.
3. The president DOES NOT have the power of line item
veto.
4. Similarly, Congress cannot use Legislative Vetoes: The
power of Congress to block a presidential action after it
has taken place.
VII. The Imperial Presidency
A. The idea that the power of the president
has grown without regard to
Constitutional boundaries or limits
1.
2.
3.
4.
Executive Privilege
Power to make war
Executive Orders
White House staff, Chief of Staff, Executive
Offices
VII. Impeachment
A. Congress has the power of impeachment
1. an impeachment is a formal accusation
a. An impeachment is brought for “high crimes and
misdemeanors”
2. Charges are drawn up in the House of Representatives
a. If a majority of the House votes to pursue the charges, the
accused official is officially impeached, or formally accused
B. The Impeachment Trial
1. The impeachment trial is carried out in the Senate
2. The Vice President acts as judge
a. If the President or Vice President is being impeached, the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court presides instead
3. The members of the Senate act as the jury
a. If two-thirds of the Senate find the official guilty, he or she can
be dismissed from office