AP Government
“Executive Branch”
Opening Video
Zach Galifianakis Interviews President Obama
Creating the Office of the President
• Delegates to the Constitutional
Convention were wary of
creating an unchecked
presidency
• They wanted to provide national
leadership without risking
tyranny
• The debated whether there
should there be a single
president or presidential council
• They debated whether the
president should be elected
separately or chosen by Congress
• They debated what checks they
should have on the president
King George III
Requirements for the Presidency
Informal Requirements
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Experience (Senator/Gov./ General)
Educated
Male
White
Protestant
Married
Member of Major Party
Charisma
Photogenic
Character
The Presidents
The Presidents
• How they got there…
• 22nd Amendment
– Response to FDR
– Limit to 2 terms or 10 years if a
VP assumes a portion of
remaining term
• Presidential Succession Act
of 1947
– Established order of succession
– VP; Speaker of House; Pres. Pro
Tem of Senate; Sec. of State;
Sec. of Treasury; Sec. of
Defense…in order of Cabinet
department creation
• 25th Amendment
– Determining if President is
incapacitated
– Replacing VP: Appointment
requires approval of majority
vote of both houses of
Congress
The Presidents
• How They Got There…
– Impeachment
• Impeachment is an accusation, requiring a majority
vote in the House.
• Charges may be brought for “Treason, Bribery, or other
high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
• If impeached, the president is tried by the Senate with
the Chief Justice presiding.
• Only two presidents have been impeached—Andrew
Johnson and Bill Clinton—and neither was convicted.
The Presidents
Vagueness of
Presidential Duties
• Fear of tyranny
– Don’t want another King
George
– But….needs enough
authority to be effective
The Executive Branch
General Power: Enforce laws and
otherwise administer public policies
of the country
Major Duties of the
President
• Serve as administrative head
of the nation
– “he shall take care that the
laws be faithfully executed”
– Leads the various depts. of
gov’t and agencies
• Act as commander in chief of
the military
– A civilian is the highest
ranking officer in the armed
forces
• Convene Congress
– can call Congress into special
session and delivers State of
the Union Address
• Chief Legislator
Military Power
• Congressional Checks
– Congressional Resolution
• In place of declaration of war; Joint Resolution has force of law
– War Powers Resolution (1973)
• W/in 48 hrs. of committing troops to combat abroad, President
must report to Congress
• Combat commitment must end w/in 60-90 days unless Congress
agrees to extension
• Congress may end combat commitment at any time with passage
of concurrent resolution
– “Power of the Purse”— Congress may withhold funding
• Politically Risky
• Congress can be ignored by presidents in commitment
of combat troops
– Why is it essential for President to be able to take action
before receiving Congressional approval?
Chief Legislator
Chief Legislator
Chief Legislator
(3) Major Duties of
the President
• Appoint various officials
Appointments of Supreme Court
Justices Roberts and Sotomayor
– (first 3 minutes)
– Appoints federal judges,
ambassadors, cabinet members,
and other officials (most subject to
Senate approval)
• Make treaties
– Makes treaties with foreign powers
– Needs 2/3 majority of Senate to
approve them
• Grant pardons
– For federal crimes
Judicial Powers
• Reprieve: postpone execution of a sentence
• Pardon: legal forgiveness for a crime
– Gerald Ford pardoning of Richard Nixon
– 10 Most Notorious Presidential Pardons
• Commutation: Reduce length of sentence
• Amnesty: blanket pardon to group of violators
– Jimmy Carter—Vietnam Draft Dodgers
Formal Powers of the President
• Presidents have always had the
previous duties, but modern
presidents have become more
aggressive in using these formal
powers
• Vetoes have become more
frequent (especially when the
president is a different party from
Congress)
• First 16 presidents issued 59 total,
FDR 635, Eisenhower 181, Reagan
78, Obama 2 (but soon to change)
• Modern Presidents are sending
more legislation to Congress
• Modern presidents also are more
willing to use the military to enter
foreign conflicts (so much so that
the War Powers Act of 1973 was
passed to set rules for its use)
Inherent Powers of the President
• Inherent powers – authority
claimed by the president that
is not clearly specified in the
Constitution (inferred from the
Constitution instead)
• Use of these powers forces
Congress and the federal
courts to allow it or restrict it
• Approval by Congress and the
courts and repeated use of the
power by future presidents
legitimizes this use
• Executive orders – presidential
directives that create or
modify laws and public
policies without the direct
approval of Congress
Executive Orders
• Presidents use executive
orders to see that laws
are “faithfully executed”
• Orders give directions to
federal agencies on how
to carry out their
executive branch duties
• They can be challenged
by congressional bills and
court challenges
(Congress can cut off
funding for carrying out
executive orders)
• Obama immigration order
(Speech is 1st 15 minutes)
Congress’ Relationship
with the Executive
Branch
• Congress can both give power to
the executive branch and take it
away
• Delegation of powers – the process
by which Congress gives the
executive branch the additional
authority needed to address the
new problems (when Congress
views a problem as needing
flexibility in solving it)
• When Congress believes the
executive branch has too much
power it enacts legislation
reasserting congressional authority
Presidential
Advisors
• Chief of Staff – runs the White
House staff and is the top
individual advisor to the
president
• National Security Advisor –
provides daily briefings on
foreign and military affairs
and long-range analysis of
events
• Council of Economic Advisors
• Senior domestic policy
advisors – advise the
president on their areas of
expertise
• Press Secretary – briefs the
White House correspondents
Rahm Emanuel (Former Chief of Staff)
and Denis R. McDonough (current CoS)
Andrew Card (Chief of Staff)
Presidential
Advisory Styles
• Presidents can organize and run
their White House staffs in
different ways:
– Competitive management
system – where advisors have
overlapping authorities with
different views so the president
can hear all sides of an issue
– Hierarchical staff model – staff
arranged with clear lines of
authority and a hierarchical
structure that mirrors a military
command
– Collegial staffing arrangement –
a loose staff structure that gives
many top staffers direct access
to the president
Vice
Presidency
• Vice-presidential official duties
– presides over the Senate
– casts tie-breaking votes in
the Senate
– Succeeds the president if the
president is unable to carry
out his duties
• Unofficial duties VPs have taken
on particularly recently
– Can be used to help guide
legislation through congress
– Can be consulted to advise
presidents on policy and
foreign relations
The Vice President and Cabinet
• Cabinet is the collection of presidential advisers that includes the head of
the executive departments
• Modern presidents have relied little on their advice:
– Cabinet is large, so difficult to have give-and-take discussions with
– Most cabinet members have specific expertise in their area, but not in
the others so they can offer little in great advice on them
– Cabinet members are pulled from many different areas, so they typically
are not personally close to the president which limits their influence
Running the Government:
The Chief Executive
Running the Government:
The Chief Executive
• The Executive Office
– Made up of policymaking and advisory bodies
– Three principle groups: NSC, CEA, OMB
Running the Government:
The Chief Executive
• The Executive Office
– National Security Council (NSC)
• Created in 1947 to coordinate the president’s foreign and military
policy advisers
• Members include the president, vice president, secretary of state
and defense, and managed by the president’s national security
adviser
– Council of Economic Advisers (CEA)
• A three-member body appointed by the president to advise on
economic policy
– Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
• Performs both managerial and budgetary functions, including
legislative review and budgetary assessments of proposals
Running the Government:
The Chief Executive
• The White House Staff
– Chief aides and staff for the president—some are more for
the White House than the president
– Presidents rely on their information and effort but
presidents set tone and style of White House
• The First Lady
– No official government position, but many get involved
politically
– Recent ones focus on a single issue, e.g., Hillary Clinton
and health care
Running the Government:
The Chief Executive