The Presidency
Chapter 12
Presidents & Prime Ministers
• Parliaments
– More common
– PM chosen by legislature
– Cabinet chosen from members of legislature
– PM remains in power as long as his party does
Presidents & Prime Ministers
• Presidents
– Outsiders because chosen by the people
– Cabinet chosen from outside Congress
– No guaranteed majority in Congress
– Often works at cross-purposes against Congress
A Divided Government
• 15 of 22
presidential/Congression
al elections since 1952
have provided divided
governments
• Americans don’t like
divided governments—
leads to gridlock
Does Gridlock matter?
• Unified
government is
something of a
myth
• Gridlock can be
consequence of a
representative
democracy
Divided Government
Gridlock
A good thing?
Enacts as many
important laws as a
unified government
Creates better
balanced policies?
Natural part of checks
& balances
• Three formal qualifications
– 35 years old
– Natural born citizen
– Resident of the U.S. for at least
14 years
• Informal
–
–
–
–
Government experience
Well-educated
Communication skills
“Presidential look”
• Oval Office
Presidential Qualifications
Benefits
 $400K salary
 Expense account
 White House
 Suite of offices with large staff
 Pension
 Cars, limos, helicopters & Air Force One
 Secret Service protection
 Camp David retreat
 Free health care
• Casts the official votes to
elect the president & vice
president
• Winner-takes-all effect
Electoral College
Electoral College
• # of senators + # of representatives = state’s electoral votes
Virginia: Senators + Reps =
electoral votes
• Bigger states have more electoral votes
–
–
–
–
–
–
California
Texas
New York
Florida
Illinois
Pennsylvania
Ohio
Michigan
Georgia
New Jersey
North Carolina
271 votes!
Electoral College
• Need a majority or 270
electoral votes to win the
presidency
• If no candidate receives the
magic number of electoral
votes, the House decides.
– Take top three candidates
– Each state delegation casts
one vote
Electoral College
Evolution of the Presidency
Concerns of the Founders
• Fear of anarchy & monarchy
• Feared use of military power to
overpower the states
• Feared corruption by Senate
because of shared powers
• Feared use of bribery to ensure
reelection
Term of Office
• Precedent set by George Washington
• FDR – the exception
• Twenty-second Amendment (1951)
– Maximum of 2 terms or 10 years
• Establishing legitimacy & public acceptance
• Creates the orderly transfer of power
Evolution…
• The 1st presidents
– Prominent men
– Minimal activism
– Appointed people of stature in community
– Relations with Congress were reserved
– Few vetoes
– No advice
• The Jacksonians
–
–
–
–
Strong & independent presidency
Maximize powers
Many vetoes on policy grounds
Challenged Congress
• Reemergence of Congress
– President considered a negative
force
**Dramatic shift in the power of the
presidency over the past 70
years**
Evolution…
 With brief exceptions the next hundred
years was a period of congressional
ascendancy
 Intensely divided public opinion
 Only Lincoln expanded presidential
power
 Asserted "implied powers" and power of
commander in chief
 Justified by emergency conditions
The Reemergence of Congress
Power to the POTUS
•
President mostly a negative force to Congress until the
New Deal
•
Since the 1930s power has been institutionalized in the
presidency
•
Popular conception of the president as the center of
government contradicts reality; Congress often policy
leader
The Presidents
Limitations on the president
Objectives:
•
Describe the informal powers of the president
•
Understand the limits to the president’s power
Bell Ringer:
The President and the Secretary of State negotiate an agreement with North Korea to end its designs on
building a nuclear weapon. In exchange, the U.S. will commit $15 billion in humanitarian aid to the
North Korean people who are suffering from mass starvation and forgive loans owed by the North
Korean government to U.S. banks. The President consulted Congress but did not request a Treaty.
•
•
•
Identify and explain the formal Constitutional powers in this scenario
What are the informal powers the President uses?
Are the President’s actions constitutional? Explain your answer
Agenda:
Informal powers
Limits on power
Homework:
Imperial Presidency packet
Chapter 20 Overview due 03/01(A) and 03/02 (B)
Unit 4 Test 03/07 (A) and 03/08 (B)
Powers of the President
 Formal powers of Article II
 Proposes laws & programs to Congress
 Commander-in-chief
 Appoints Cabinet members, ambassadors & federal judges
 Prepares federal budget
 Receives foreign ambassadors
 Conducts foreign policy of U.S.
 Approves or vetoes all bills passed by Congress
 May call special sessions of Congress
 State of the Union Address
 May pardon people guilty of federal crimes
 Greatest source of power
 Politics & public opinion
Informal Powers
Those powers not explicitly written in
the Constitution
Similar to “necessary and proper”
powers of Congress
In the modern era (since 1933), the
President’s informal powers may be
significantly more powerful than his
formal powers
Executive Orders
Orders issued by the
President that carry the
force of law
Clinton’s “Don’t ask
don’t tell” gays in the
military policy
FDR’s internment of
Japanese Americans
GWB trying suspected
terrorists in military
tribunals
Notice for Japanese “relocation,” 1942
Executive Agreements
• International agreements, usually related to
trade, made by a president that has the force of a
treaty; does NOT need Senate approval
• Jefferson’s purchase of Louisiana in 1803
• GWB announced cuts in
the nuclear arsenal, but
not in a treaty; usually
trade agreements between
US and other nations
Executive Privilege
Claim by a president that he has the right to
decide that the national interest will be better
served if certain information is withheld from
the public, including the Courts and Congress
• United States v. Nixon
(1973) – presidents do
NOT have unqualified
executive privilege (Nixon
Watergate tapes)
Limitations on the president
Objectives:
• Describe the power of the President and Congress concerning war
• Understand the limits to the President’s power
• Legislative and judicial checks on the President
Bell Ringer:
What are at least three different factors that have contributed to the expansion
of presidential power over time? In what ways have these factors enabled such
an expansion beyond the Founding Fathers’ intentions? Do you believe these
developments are for the better or the worse, and why?
Agenda:
War powers
Limits on power
Checks and balances
Homework:
Unit 4 Test 03/07 (A) and 03/08 (B)
Presidential Character
Every President
brings a distinctive
personality
• Affects how the White
House is organized & runs
• Public perception
Power to Persuade
Three audiences
Other politicians & leaders in Washington
Party activists & officials outside Washington
The “public”
Fewer impromptu remarks & more prepared
speeches
Transform popularity into influence
Most popular after election
-- the “honeymoon”
• Veto power
– Returns bill to Congress with list
of reasons
– Pocket veto
– Overrides are rare – need 2/3
vote in both houses
– Line item veto = unconstitutional
Power to Say No
War & Peace - Whose Power Is It?
The War Powers Struggle Between
the President and Congress
War Powers - President
Commander in Chief of the Army & Navy
Commander in Chief of the state militias
(now the National Guard)
Commission all
officers
Appoint ambassadors,
ministers and consuls
Make treaties subject
to senate confirmation
Receive ambassadors
War Powers - Congress
Declare war
Raise & support army
& navy
Ratify treaties (Senate)
Advise & consent of
ambassadors (Senate)
Make rules concerning
captures on land &
water
Organize, arm, train &
provide for the militia
Suppress insurrections
& repel invasions
The War Powers Resolution
1. President must consult w/
Congress before introducing
armed forces into hostilities
2. Consult with Congress
regularly until troops removed
3. If war not declared, President
must submit report to
Congress within 48 hours of
troop deployment
4. President must remove troops
after 60 days (+30 days for
withdrawal) if Congress has
not declared war
War Powers:
The Supreme Court Weighs In
• The Prize Cases
(1862)
• Korematsu v. United
States (1944)
• Youngstown Sheet &
Tube Co. v. Sawyer
(1951)
• Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
(2005)
Key Issue: Did President Lincoln act within
his presidential powers when he blockaded
southern ports without a declaration of war?
Court’s Decision: The President
had the power to act because a state
of war existed.
Discussion Question: Does this
case expand or limit the war powers
of the President and/or Congress?
The Prize Cases (1862)
• Key Issue: Did the Present, with the support of Congress, have
the power to restrict the rights of Japanese Americans by
relocating them to internment camps?
• Court’s Decision: The government’s limitation of rights was
justified during a time of
“emergency and peril.”
• Discussion Question: Does
this case expand or limit the
war powers of the President
and/or Congress?
Korematsu v. U.S. (1944)
Youngstown Sheet Co. v. Sawyer (1951)
• Key Issue: Did President Truman have the power to seize &
operate steel mills to avert a strike during the Korean War?
• Court’s Decision: The President
did not have the authority to seize
private property without a
congressional statute.
• Discussion Question: Does this
case expand or limit the war
powers of the President and/or
Congress?
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2005)
• Key Issues: 1) Were the military commissions set up by the Bush
administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay constitutional?
2) Can Congress pass legislation preventing the Supreme Court
from hearing the case?
• Court’s Decision: Neither an act of
Congress nor the inherent powers of
the President authorize military
commissions that do not comply with
US and international laws.
• Discussion Question: Does this
case expand or limit the war powers
of the President and/or Congress?
Formal Checks on
Presidential Power
Congressional Checks on the
President
(Article I)
Make laws (ex: War Powers
Resolution)
Override presidential vetoes
Power to declare war
Power of the purse (taxes and funding)
Regulation of the land and naval
forces
Congressional Checks
(cont.)
• Impeachment Power (House)
• Impeachment Trial (Senate)
President Clinton’s impeachment trial, January, 1999
Title: "Bill Clinton's
Christmas present
from the U.S.
House."
Artist: John Pritchett
Date: unknown
Source:
http://www.pritchettcartoons.com/
gift.htm
Limits on Presidential
Power (Article II)
President elected indirectly by the
people through the Electoral College
Selection of president (House) in case of
no majority of electoral vote
President must deliver State of the
Union address
Senate approves treaties and
ambassadors
Limits on Presidential
Power (Article II)
• Senate approves department appointments
• “Advice and consent” of federal judge
appointments (Senate)
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testifies at her
Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation
hearing, January, 2005.
Nominee for Chief Justice, John Roberts is sworn in
at his Senate Judiciary committee confirmation
hearing, September, 2005.
Judicial Checks on the President
 Judicial review
(Marbury v.
Madison)
 Chief Justice
presides over
presidential
impeachment trial
(Article I)
Constitutional
Amendments
12th – Choosing president & vicepresident on separate ballots
20th – Presidential succession
22nd – Presidential term limits (2 terms; 10
years total)
25th – Presidential disability and succession
Limits on Presidential
Power: Informal Checks
Public Opinion
In a televised address in March, 1968, President
Johnson announced he would not seek the
Democratic nomination for president due to
sagging public support for his administration and
the war in Vietnam.
Though he enjoyed record public support during the
Persian Gulf War, President George H. W. Bush saw
his numbers dip dramatically in the polls and he lost
his re-election bid to democrat Bill Clinton in 1992.
The ultimate check of public opinion is at the ballot box. Informally, White House
staffs and independent news agencies poll Americans regarding the POTUS’ job
performance, stand on issues, etc. which often forces presidents to change course in
policy.
Jimmy Carter lost the 1980 election
in part due to his failure to secure
the release of American hostages in
Iran
George H.W. Bush loses
re-election in 1992 due in
part to low public opinion
of his handling of the
economy
George W. Bush’s first
nominee to replace SC justice
Sandra Day O’Connor, Harriet
Meyers, withdrew her name
from consideration due to
negative public opinion
against her nomination
Public
Opinion
Partisan Politics
Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic
National Committee and vigorous critic of the
Bush administration, May, 2005
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R) battles
President Bill Clinton (D) over the national
budget resulting in the shutdown of the federal
government in 1995
Congressional Investigations
Senate Banking
Committee begins its
investigative hearings
on the Whitewater
scandal during the
Clinton
administration
(1994)
Oliver North testifies before Congress at the
Iran-Contra hearings during the Reagan
administration (1987)
Former FEMA
director Michael
Brown testifies
before the House
Select Committee
on Hurricane
Katrina, Sept., 2002
Interest Groups & NGO’s
The National Right to Life Committee and other
pro-life interest groups spoke out against President
Clinton’s veto of the ban on partial birth abortion,
1996
The National Organization of Women, Cindy
Sheehan, and others protest the war in Iraq, April,
2006
The Media
The Media
Woodward and Bernstein expose
the Watergate cover up which
ultimately led to Nixon’s resignation
The media reported Ford’s gaffs
(ski accidents, falling down steps of
Air Force I) which contributed to his
Image as clumsy and ill-equipped
The press widely reported Clinton’s
“indiscretions” with Monica Lewinsky
And attempt to “spin” the scandal
Without admitting responsibility.
Article I, Section 7: “Every Bill which shall have
passed the House of Representatives and the Senate,
shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the
President of the United States: If he approve he shall
sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his
Objections to that House in which it shall have
originated. . . . .If after such Reconsideration two
thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it
shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the
other House, by which it shall likewise be
reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that
House, it shall become a Law.”
Line-item Veto
•The power of an executive to nullify or "cancel" specific
provisions of a bill without vetoing the entire legislative
package
•The line-item veto is usually applied to budget appropriations
•The line-item veto is subject to the possibility of legislative
override
•43 governors currently have the line-item veto power
Line Item Veto Act of 1996
Passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton
•Afforded the President with a line-item veto
•Intended to control pork barrel spending that favors a particular region rather than
the nation as a whole
Clinton v. New York City (1998)
•U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the line-item veto as granted in the Line Item Veto Act
of 1966 violated the “Presentment Clause” of the United States Constitution.
•“The Presentment” in Article I, Section 7 outlines how a bill may become law.
• Executive privilege
– Confidential communications
between president & advisers
– Justified by separation of
powers & need for candid
advice
– U.S. v. Nixon
• Not absolute!!
• Military & diplomatic
Power to Say No
• Impoundment of funds
– Presidential refusal to spend
funds appropriated by
Congress
– Budget Reform Act of 1974
Power to Say No
Power from the People:
The Public Presidency
• Presidential Approval
– Receives much effort by the White House
– Product of many factors: predispositions, “honeymoon,” rally events
– Changes can highlight good or bad decisions
Power from the People:
The Public Presidency
 The Executive Office of the
President
 Organization of agencies staffed
by the president’s closest
advisors
 White House Office
 “Nerve Center”
 The West Wing
 The Cabinet
 Informal advisory group
 15 executive departments
 Independent agencies, boards
& commissions
 Who gets appointed
The Executive Branch
• Putting it together
• Reorganizing the executive
branch
The President’s Programs
How Powerful is the President?
• Constraints
• Only real measure is what he/she
accomplishes
The Vice President
• Selected by the presidential nominee
– “Balancing the ticket”
• Two constitutional duties
– Presiding over the Senate & voting in case of a
tie
– Presidential succession
• Today given more duties
Presidential Transition
Causes of succession
Death (natural or assassination)
Resignation
Disability
VP becomes acting president once Congress is notified
Impeachment
House impeaches by majority vote;
Senate tries & may convict with 2/3 vote
For treason, bribery or other high crimes & misdemeanors
Presidential Transition
 Succession is…
 Order of succession
 Vice President
 Speaker of the House
 President Pro Tempore
 Secretary of State
 Then…