Transcript Chapter 1
Chapter 8
The Presidency
American Government: Continuity and Change
9th Edition
(to accompany Comprehensive, Alternate, Texas, and Essentials Editions)
O’Connor and Sabato
Pearson Education, Inc. © 2008
The Origins and Rules Governing the
Office of President of the United States
Royal Governor
Earliest example of executive power in the
colonies
Appointees of the King
“Powers of appointment, military command,
expenditure, and — within limitations — pardon
as well as with large powers in connection with
the powers of lawmaking”
Disdained and distrusted by colonists
After the American Revolution, state
constitutions limited the powers of governors.
Those who were directly elected, as in NY, were
given greater powers.
Origins and Rules of the
Presidency
Under the Articles
No executive branch
18 different men served as president of the
Continental Congress in name only
Had no actual authority
Delegates to the Constitutional Convention
believed an executive was needed.
Difficulty determining how to select the
president
Created the Electoral College
Other areas less difficult to resolve
Presidential Qualifications and
Terms of Office
Must be a natural-born citizen
At least 35 years of age
Resident of the U.S. for at least 14 years
Serves a four-year term with eligibility for
reelection
First president, Washington, sought reelection
once - set tradition/precedent
Franklin D. Roosevelt elected four times
Twenty-Second Amendment (ratified in 1951)
limits presidents to two four-year terms
Office of Vice President
Vice President
Orderly transfer of power if official, immediate
stand in for the president required
Death or emergency
Also made vice president the preceding officer
of the Senate (except in cases of impeachment)
Did not want any state short their senator
VP could break ties
Impeachment
Impeachment
The power delegated to the House of
Representatives in the Constitution to charge
the president, vice president, or other “civil
officers” with “Treason, Bribery, or other high
Crimes and Misdemeanors”
First step in the process
Check on the president by Congress
Only two presidents impeached
Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton
Nixon resigned before he could be impeached.
Rules of Succession
Eight presidents have died in office.
William Henry Harrison the first- caught cold at his
inauguration in 1841 and died one month later
Abraham Lincoln first president to be assassinated in 1865
1947 Congress passed the Presidential Succession Act
Lists in order those in line after the vice president to
succeed the president
Speaker of the House of Representatives
President pro tempore of the Senate
Secretaries of state, treasury, and defense, and other
Cabinet heads in order of the creation of their department
Secretary of Homeland Security may get to move to the
8th position, after the Attorney General, if the law is
changed
Never used
There has always been a VP
Twenty-Fifth Amendment
Adopted 1967 to set
procedures for:
filling vacancies in the office of
president and vice president.
procedures to deal with the
disability of a president.
President may appoint a new
VP, subject to the approval of
a simple majority of Congress
Used twice
Nixon to replace Agnew with Ford
Ford to select new VP
Also contains a section that
allows the VP and a
majority of the Cabinet (or
some other body
determined by Congress) to
deem a president unable to
fulfill his duties
President can also
voluntarily relinquish duties
1985, Reagan made
G.H.W. Bush acting
president during Reagan’s
eight-hour surgery
VP Cheney acting president
in 2002 while Pres. Bush
underwent a colonoscopy
Constitutional Powers of the
President
Appointment Power
Power to convene Congress
Power to make treaties
Veto Power
Formal constitutional authority of the president to reject bills passed by
both houses of Congress, thus preventing their becoming law without
further congressional action
Line-item veto
War Powers Act 1973
Pardon: An executive grant providing restoration of all rights and
privileges of citizenship to a specific individual charged or convicted of
a crime
Executive agreements
Formal government agreement entered into by the president that
does not require the advice and consent of the Senate
Commander in Chief
Pardoning Power
The Development and Expansion of
Presidential Power
President’s authority is limited by the
formal powers found in Article II of
the Constitution
Crises may trigger expansions of
presidential power
Presidents face limitations as well as
opportunities as the nature of the times
may dictate.
Establishing the President’s Authority:
The First Presidents
President Washington’s precedents
Established the primacy of the national government
Held regular meetings with his advisers (establishing
the Cabinet system)
Asserted the prominence of the chief executive’s role
in foreign affairs
Claimed inherent power of the presidency
Powers that can be derived or inferred from what is
formally described in the Constitution
John Adams
Emergence of political parties
Thomas Jefferson
Role of president in the legislative process
Incremental Expansion of
Presidential Powers: 1809-1933
Most presidents from
Madison to Hoover failed
to exercise the powers of
the presidency in any
significant manner
Andrew Jackson was the
first president to act as
strong national leader.
Made extensive use of
veto power
Reasserted the
supremacy of the
national government
(and the presidency) by
facing down South
Carolina’s nullification of
a federal tariff law
Incremental Expansion of
Presidential Powers: 1809-1933
Lincoln argued that the inherent powers of
his office allowed him to circumvent the
constitution in a time of war or national
crisis in order to make sure the laws of the
U.S. were faithfully executed
Suspended the write of habeas corpus
Expanded the size of U.S. army above
Congress’s mandates
Ordered a blockade of southern ports (initiating
war without congressional approval)
Closed the U.S. mails to treasonable mailings
The Growth of the Modern
Presidency
Today Congress often is
just too slow to respond
to fast-changing events
(esp. in foreign affairs).
In the 20th and 21st
centuries, the trend has
been for presidential
decision making to be
more important.
Trend began with the
four-term presidency of
F.D.R.
New Deal brought new
bureaucracy
F.D.R. personalized the
presidency
The Presidential Establishment
Vice President
The Cabinet
No basis in the
Constitution
Informal institution
Major function: advisory
The First Lady
Abigail Adams
Edith Bolling Gait
Wilson
Eleanor Roosevelt
Hillary R. Clinton
Laura Bush
The Executive Office of the
President
EOP
Establishment created in 1939 to help
the president oversee the executive
branch bureaucracy
Most important members:
National Security Council
Council of Economic Advisors
Office of Management and Budget
Office of the Vice President
U.S. Trade Representative
The White House Staff
Personal assistants to the president,
including senior aides, their deputies,
assistants with professional duties,
and clerical and administrative aides
Chief of Staff
Size increased over time
Bill Clinton cut staff by 15%
Current White House has 435 staffers
President as Policy Maker
FDR sent a legislative package to
Congress and broke tradition.
He said, “It is the duty of the President
to propose and it is the privilege of the
Congress to dispose.”
Shifted the presidency into a law- and
policy-maker role
President’s Role in Proposing and
Facilitating Legislation
Today the public expects the president to formulate
legislative plans to propose to Congress.
Presidents must construct coalitions within
Congress that will work for passage of his
legislation.
Difficult task, particularly when president presides
over divided government
More likely to win on bills central to their announced
agenda
Better to initiate early in term (honeymoon)
Can use patronage and personal rewards to gain
support
Use political party as a support
The Budgetary Process and
Legislative Implementation
Congress had primary responsibility for the
budget process until 1930
1921- Creation of the Bureau of the Budget
1930 - Bureau of Budget moved to EOP
1970 - Nixon changed its name to Office of
Management and Budget
OMB prepares the president’s annual budget
proposal, reviews the budget and programs of
the executive departments, supplies economic
forecasts, and conducts detailed analyses of
proposed bills and agency rules.
Policy Making Through Regulation
Executive Order:
A rule or regulation issued by the president that has
the effect of law
All executive orders must be published in the Federal
Register
Truman ordered an end to segregation in the military
via an executive order
Affirmative action was institutionalized as national
policy through Executive Order 11246 by L.B.
Johnson in 1966
G.W. Bush executive orders
Stem cell research
Military tribunals
1978 Presidential Records Act
Presidential Leadership
Often the difference between great and
mediocre presidents centers on their ability
to grasp the importance of leadership style.
Seat of power from which decisions could
flow to shape the national destiny
Neustadt - presidential power is the power
to persuade
The Power to Persuade
Going Public
Mobilizing public
opinion by going
directly to the
public
Going over the
heads of Congress
to gain support
from the people
who can then put
pressure on their
elected officials in
Washington
Public’s Perception of Presidential
Performance
President has the best chances of convincing
Congress to follow his policy lead when his public
opinion ratings are high
Presidential popularity, however, follows a cyclical
pattern
Highest level of approval at the beginning of their
terms
Each action the president takes is divisive (some will
approve, others will not)
Disapproval tends to have a cumulative effect so in
general approval wanes over time
Since Lyndon Johnson’s presidency, only four
presidents have left office with approval ratings of
more than 50%