Transcript The Presidency

Chapter Fourteen
The Presidency
Key Questions for Presidency Chapter
• How is a president different from a prime
minister?
• How did the framers view executive power?
• What is the current state of executive power?
• How has the presidency changed since 1789?
• How is the Executive Branch organized?
• How is the character of the President related to
the accomplishments of various presidents?
• What FORMAL and INFORMAL powers does the
president possess?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 2
THEME A: THE POWER OF THE PRESIDENT VERSUS
OTHER INSTITUTIONS
Presidential and Parliamentary Systems
• Presidents may be outsiders; prime ministers are
always insiders, chosen by the members of the
majority party in parliament
• Presidents have no guaranteed majority in the
legislature; prime ministers always have a
majority
• Divided government: one party controls the
White House and another controls one or both
houses of Congress
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 3
Electoral College
• Almost all states use a winner-take-all
system
• If no candidate won a majority, the House
would decide the election
• The Electoral College ultimately worked
differently than expected, because the
Founders did not anticipate the role of
political parties
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 4
Map 12.1: Electoral Votes per State
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 5
The First Presidents
• The office was legitimated by men active in
independence and Founding politics
• Minimal activism of early government
contributed to lessening the fear of the
presidency
• Relations with Congress were reserved:
few vetoes; no advice from Congress to the
president
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 6
Powers of the President
• Potential for power found in ambiguous clauses
of the Constitution—e.g., power as commander in
chief, duty to “take care that laws be faithfully
executed” (executive power)
• The Military Commisions Act of 2006
• Part 2
• CNN’s view of Presidential Signing Statements
• Fox News Point of View on Signing Statements
• Bill O’Reilly responds!
• Greatest source of power lies in politics and
public opinion
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 7
The Power to Persuade
• Presidents try to transform popularity into
congressional support for their programs
• Presidential coattails have had a declining
effect for years
• Popularity is affected by factors beyond
anyone’s control – consider Bush’s
approval ratings following the September
11th attacks
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 8
Figure 14.2: Presidential Popularity
1.
2.
What happens to a president’s popularity over time? Why?
How might this trend affect a president’s power and strategy?
Thomas E.Cronin, The State of the Presidency (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975), 110-111. Copyright © 1975 by Little, Brown
and Company, Inc. Reprinted by permission. Updated with Gallup poll data, 1976-2004. Reprinted by permission of the
Gallup Poll News Service.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 9
Figure 14.2: Presidential Popularity
Thomas E.Cronin, The State of the Presidency (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975), 110-111. Copyright © 1975 by Little, Brown
and Company, Inc. Reprinted by permission. Updated with Gallup poll data, 1976-2004. Reprinted by permission of the
Gallup Poll News Service.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 10
Figure 14.3: Presidential Victories on
Votes in Congress, 1953-2002
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 11
Discussion Questions for Theme A
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Given the resources and constraints that confront presidents and
prime ministers, which office would you prefer to hold if you were
allowed such a choice?
The text concludes that presidential authority began to increase as a
result of national crises. Why didn’t presidential power increase
after the nation’s first three wars (War of 1812, the Mexican
American War, and the Spanish-American War)? Were the wars
different or the nation different?
If the expansion of presidential power occurred because of political
events and has been fostered by public opinion, under what
circumstances might presidential power begin to be limited? Will
the historical in favor of expanding presidential power be reveresed?
How has President Bush expanded executive power? Is the new
powers he claims constitutional? Is it a good thing that President
Bush has expanded the executive’s power?
The text suggests that Congress generally hesitates to chellenge a
popular president. Under what circumstances might this maxim not
hold true? How can you explain the Clinton impeachment, given
the president’s successful re-election campaign and strong approval
ratings? How does that compare to the Democrats support of
President Bush’s decision to go to war with Iraq?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 12
THEME B: THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THE
PRESIDENCY
White House Office
• Rule of propinquity: power is wielded by
people who are in the room when a
decision is made
• Pyramid structure: most assistants report
through hierarchy to chief of staff, who then
reports to president
– Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Clinton
(late in his administration)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 13
White House Office
• Circular structure: cabinet secretaries and
assistants report directly to the president
– Carter (early in his administration)
• Ad hoc structure: task forces, committees,
and informal groups deal directly with
president
– Clinton (early in his administration)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 14
Figure 14.1: Growth of the White House
Staff, 1945-2002
Harold W. Stanley and Richard G. Niemi, Vital Statistics on American Politics, 2003-2004 (Washington,
D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2003), 254-255.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 15
Figure 12.1: Growth of the White House
Office, 1935-1985
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 16
The Importance and Power of White
House Staff: A Case Study
Karl Rove
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 17
The Cabinet
• Not explicitly mentioned in Constitution
• Presidents have many more appointments
to make than do prime ministers, due to
competition created by the separation of
power
• Presidential control over departments
remains uncertain—secretaries become
advocates for their departments
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 18
Table 14.1:
The Cabinet
Departments
1. What are the
responsibilities
of each cabinet
department?
2. Which
departments
are most
important?
Why?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 19
Presidential Character
• Kennedy: bold, articulate, amusing leader;
improviser who bypassed traditional lines of
authority
• Nixon: expertise in foreign policy; disliked
personal confrontation; tried to centralize
power in the White House
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 20
Presidential Character
• Reagan: set policy priorities and then gave
staff wide latitude; leader of public opinion
• Clinton: good communicator; pursued
liberal/centrist policies
• George W. Bush: tightly run White House;
agenda became dominated by foreign
affairs following the September 11th attacks
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 21
The Veto Power
• Veto message sent within ten days of the bill’s
passage
• Pocket veto (only before Congress adjourns at
the end of its second session)
• Congress rarely overrides vetoes
• Commentary on Bush’s first veto and Congress’s
failure to overide.
• President does not hold line-item veto power
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 22
Table 12.5: Presidential Vetoes,
1789-2000
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 23
The President’s Program
• Resources in developing a program include
interest groups, aides and campaign
advisers, federal departments and
agencies, and various specialists
• Constraints include public and
congressional reactions, limited time and
attention, and unexpected crises
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 24
Discussion Questions for Theme B
1.
2.
3.
4.
Why has the president’s staff grown? Many presidents enter office
with a commitment to cutting the size of their staff. Why isn’t this
goal achieved? Why do presidents rely more on the White House
staff than on the various other offices in the Executive Office of the
President? Why don’t presidents rely on their cabinets?
The text describes the connections between president’s character
and their staffing arrangements. But why would a president’s
personality have much to do with the staffing method (circular,
pyramidal or ad hoc)? Why must the president rely on staff to
devise policy when the executive branch bureaucracy already
exists for this purpose?
Presidents frequently sign legislation with which they disagree.
Why doesn’t the president simply veto such laws, since Congress
seldom manages to override a veto? What kinds of veto strategies
would you recommend to a president whose party controlled
Congress? Or whose party was in the minority in Congress?
Should the president be grated absolute executive privilege? Have
the courts placed too many constraints on the White House staff, in
denying them confidentiality in so many of their communications?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 25
THEME C: PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION
Presidential Transition
• Only fourteen of forty-one presidents have
served two full terms (George W. Bush will
be the 15th if he finishes his full 2nd term)
• Eight vice presidents have taken office
upon the president’s death
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 26
The Vice President
• Prior to 2000, only five vice presidents won
the presidency in an election without having
first entered the office as a result of their
president’s death
• The vice president presides over Senate
and votes in case of tie
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 27
The 25th Amendment (1967)
• Allows vice president to serve as acting
president if president is disabled
• Illness is decided by president, by vice
president and cabinet, or by two-thirds vote
of Congress
• The new vice president must be confirmed
by a majority vote of both houses
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 28
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
--10
11
12
13
14
15
16
This is a list of the current presidential line of succession, as specified by the
Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (3 U.S.C. § 19).
Office
Officer
Vice President and President of the Senate Dick Cheney
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Nancy Pelosi
President pro tempore of the Senate
Robert C. Byrd
Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of the Treasury
Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates
Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales
Secretary of the Interior
Dirk Kempthorne
Secretary of Agriculture
Mike Johanns
Secretary of Commerce
Carlos Gutierrez
(ineligible; not a natural-born citizen)†
Secretary of Labor
Elaine Chao
(ineligible; not a natural-born citizen)†
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Michael Leavitt
Secretary of Housing and Urban Dev.
Alphonso Jackson
Secretary of Transportation
Mary Peters
Secretary of Energy
Samuel W. Bodman
Secretary of Education
Margaret Spellings
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Jim Nicholson
Secretary of Homeland Security
Michael Chertoff ††h
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 29
Impeachment
• Indictment by the House, conviction by the
Senate
• Presidential examples: Andrew Johnson,
Richard Nixon (pre-empted by resignation),
Bill Clinton
• VIDEO: Summary of Clinton Impeachment
• Neither Johnson nor Clinton was convicted
by the Senate
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 30
Constraints on the President
• Both the president and the Congress are
more constrained today due to:
– Complexity of issues
– Scrutiny of the media
– Greater number and power of interest groups
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 31
Discussion Questions for Theme C
1.
2.
3.
What does the peaceful and orderly transfer of power from one
president to the next have to do with presidential legitimacy? Can
a revolutionary government or a military junta ever be legitimate?
What factors have precluded vice presidents from succeeding
“their” presidents in office? Recent vice presidents who have failed
in this effort include Nixon 1960, Humphrey 1968, Ford 1976, Gore
2000. The two who have recently succeeded are LBJ 1964 and
Bush Sr. 1992.
Unless a president resigns, the chief executive can be politcally
removed only through impeachment proceedings. These
proceedings are extremely involved and are undertaken only in
extraordinary circumstances. Is it a strength or a weakness of the
presidential system that its chief executive is so difficult to remove?
Does this provide the system with greater stability or does it
increase the likelihood of corruption in the executive branch? In
other words, does this practice contribute to or detract from the
legitimacy of government? Answer your question in light of the
Clinton impeachment proceedings and President Bush’s conduct of
the Iraq War.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 32
Wrap Up for the Presidency
• 31W--What are the three most important
lessons you learned in this chapter? Which
is the most important? Why?
• Questions from Chapter 11 worksheet?
• Key ideas from supplemental readings:
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14 | 33