The Presidency - Scott County, Virginia Public Schools
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The Presidency
Magruder Chapter 13
The President’s Roles
Chief of State
Rules and reigns
Chief Executive
Vested with immensely broad powers in
both domestic and foreign affairs
Chief Administrator
Head of one of the largest government
machines in the world
Chief Diplomat
Speaks for the nation around the world
Commander-in-Chief
Head of the American military
Chief Legislator
Main architect of public policies
Chief of Party
Leader of his respective party
Chief Citizen
Representative of the people
Each role is played simultaneously and is
inseparable from the others
Formal Qualifications
The President must be:
Article II, Section 1, Clause 5
35 years of age
Has lived in the United States for at least
14 years
Is a natural-born citizen, or a citizen at
the time of the adoption of the US
Constitution
The President’s Term of Office
The President is elected for a four-year term
Article II, Section 1, Clause 1
Originally could serve as long as the
Electoral College would elect him
Today, can only be elected to two full terms
Twenty-Second Amendment
Pay and Benefits
The pay of the President
$400,000 per year
Fixed by Congress
Washington paid $25,000 per year
$50,000 taxable expense account
Pension of $181,100 per year
Many other perks.
Presidential Succession
The Constitution and Succession
If the President dies, resigns, or is removed
from office, the Vice President succeeds to
the office
The Constitution and Succession
The Constitution states: “In case of the
removal of the president from office, or of
his death, resignation, or inability to
discharge the powers and duties of the said
office, the same shall devolve upon the Vice
President.”
Article II, Section 1, Clause 6
The Constitution and Succession
John Tyler took the office in 1841 instead of
becoming acting president
25th Amendment
“In case of the removal of the President
from office or his death or resignation, the
Vice President shall become President”
The Constitution and Succession
Presidential Succession Act of 1792
President, Vice President, President pro
tempore, Speaker of the House
Special Election to fill the Vacancy
The Constitution and Succession
Presidential Succession Act of 1886
President, Vice President, Secretary of
State, Secretary of the Treasury, etc.
The Constitution and Succession
Presidential Succession Act of 1947
President, Vice President, Speaker of the
House, President pro tempore, Secretary of
State, etc.
Presidential Disability
Disability
The Constitution made no provision for the
disability of the President
Dwight David Eisenhower had three serious
illnesses
James Garfield
Woodrow Wilson
Disability
25th Amendment meets this problem
Vice President will become acting President
If the President informs Congress in
writing that he cannot discharge the
powers
The Vice President and a majority of
Cabinet inform Congress that the
President is incapacitated
The Vice Presidency
The Importance of the Office
The Constitution pays little attention to the
office itself
Vice President has only two formal duties
Preside over the US Senate
Article I, Section 3, Clause 4
Help decide presidential disability
25th Amendment, Section 3 & 4
The Importance of the Office
The Vice President is only a heartbeat away
from the Presidency
Eight presidents have died in office
One president resigned
Vice Presidency has been vacant 18 times
9 times by succession to President
2 by resignation, 7 by death
The Importance of the Office
25th Amendment changes this
When a vacancy occurs, the President will
nominate someone who will take the office
upon a majority confirmation vote of both
houses of Congress
1973 – Gerald Ford
1974 – Nelson Rockefeller
The Importance of the Office
President has made the Vice President more
important of late
Sits in on Cabinet meetings
Head of NASA
National Security Council
Special Ambassador of President
Still not an assistant President
The Importance of the Office
Basic bottom line is that the President of the
United States cannot fire the Vice President
The Electoral College
The Electoral College
Created in Article II of the US Constitution
Not well understood by most people
Combination of the Constitution, a few
State and federal laws, and a number of
practices born of the nation’s political
parties
Original Provisions
Many debated this plan
James Wilson (PA) “this was the most
difficult of all on which we had to decide”
Most favored selection by Congress
A few by the people
This would lead to tumult and disorder
Original Provisions
George Mason: “The extent of the country
renders it impossible that the people can
have the requisite capacity to judge the
respective contentions of the candidates.”
Plan that was approved was originally put
forward by Alexander Hamilton
The President would be chosen by electors
The College
Each State would have as many presidential
electors as it has representatives and
senators in Congress
These electors would be chosen in each
State in a manner the State legislature
directed
The College
The electors, meeting in each State, would
each cast two votes – each for a different
person for President
The electoral votes would be opened before
a joint session of Congress and counted
The person receiving the largest number of
votes (if a majority) would become
President
The College
The person with the second largest number
would become Vice President
If a tie occurred, the President would be
elected by the House of Representatives,
voting by States
If a tie occurred for the second spot, the
Vice President would be chosen by the
Senate
The College
The Framers intended the electors to be the
“Most enlightened and respectable citizens
from each State”
They were to be “free agents” who would
be “deliberate freely” in selecting the
person’s best qualified to fill the nation’s
top two offices.
The Rise of Parties
System works only as long as Washington
was President
Only President elected unanimously
In 1796, political parties began to play a
role.
John Adams is elected President
Thomas Jefferson is elected Vice
President
The Election of 1800
Each party nominates a presidential and
vice presidential candidate
Each party also nominates candidates to
serve as electors (would vote for party)
Each of the 73 electors elected voted for
Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr
House took 36 ballots to decide on Jefferson
The Election of 1800
Election marked the introduction of three
elements in the nomination of the president
Party nominations for president
Party nominations for electors pledged to
vote for the candidate
Automatic casting of electoral votes in line
with those pledges
The
th
12 Amendment
Added in 1804
Separates election of President and Vice
President
The fiasco of 1800 will never happen again
Nominating Candidates Today
Nominations
First method devised to nominate
candidates was the Congressional Caucus
Used from 1800 to 1824
Both parties turned to the nominating
convention in 1832 and used it ever since
The Nominating Convention
Largely a creation of the political parties
Constitution is silent on this and have few
federal or state laws controlling it
The national committee makes the
arrangements for the national convention
Will set the time and date of the convention
The Nominating Convention
Will select the city for the convention
Must have facilities
Gain support of a swing state
Many larger cities bid on a convention
Will make a bundle of money
Apportionment of Delegates
The national committee issues a call for the
convention
Tells each state’s party organization how
many delegates it is allowed to send.
1996
Republicans – 1,990 delegates
Democrats – 4,320 delegates
Really are two campaigns for president
Primaries and election
State laws and/or party rules fix the
procedures for picking delegates in each
State
Can use primaries, conventions, and
caucuses
Presidential Primaries
The Election
The Electoral College Today
One of the least understood parts of the
American political process
Constitution provides for the election of the
President by the Electoral College
Each State has the same number of electors
that it has members of Congress
Founders expected the electors would use
their own judgment
The Electoral College Today
Today, the electors are really just a rubber
stamp of the popular vote.
They are expected to vote for their party’s
candidates.
They go through the form
It is a far cry from the original intent
The Electoral College Today
Electors are chosen by popular vote in every
State on the same day
Electors are chosen at large except for
Maine and Nebraska (district)
Electors are chosen on a winner-take-all
basis
Names of the electors are found on less than
one-fourth of the ballots in the US
The Electoral College Today
The electors meet in their respective State
capitals on the Monday following the
second Wednesday in December
They cast their ballots for President and
Vice President
The ballots are signed, sealed, and sent to
the President of the Senate
The Electoral College Today
Formal election of the President does not
take place until January 6th
Ballots are opened by the President of the
Senate and counted before a joint session of
Congress
The candidate who receives a majority of
Electoral College votes will be the President
The Electoral College Today
The candidate who receives a majority of
the Electoral College votes in the vice
presidential race will be the vice president.
If no one receives a majority of votes (270
out of 538), the election is thrown into the
House of Representatives
House chooses from the top three
candidates
The Electoral College Today
Each State delegation has one vote
26 votes necessary to win
1800 – Thomas Jefferson/Aaron Burr
1824 – John Quincy Adams, Andrew
Jackson, William Crawford, Henry Clay
If no one receives a majority of votes in the
vice presidential race, the Senate chooses
from among the top two
It takes a majority of Senators to elect
1837 – Richard Johnson
Flaws in the Electoral College
The First Major Defect
The winner of the popular vote does not
become President
Winner-take-all in the voting
1992 – Clinton won 50% of the vote in New
York and all 33 electoral votes
Bush won 2.2 million votes
Perot won 1.1 million votes
The First Major Defect
Way that electoral votes are distributed
California – 55 electoral votes
1 for every 652,614.5 persons
Alaska – 3 electoral votes
1 for every 218,478 persons
The First Major Defect
Popular vote winner has failed to win the
presidency four times
1824
1876
1888
2000
The Second Major Defect
Nothing in any federal statute or the
Constitution requires an elector to vote for
the person who wins the state popular vote
States can and do require this
Not sure of the constitutionality of states
laws
Virginia and Tennessee do require this
The Third Major Defect
Contest will be decided in the House of
Representatives
Voting is by state, not by individuals
If the state is so divided that it cannot
decide, it loses its vote
If strong third-party candidate, then might
not have a winner by inauguration day
Proposed Reforms
The District Plan
Choose electors as one would do members
of Congress
Two for the senators, and one per
congressional district
Much more accurate reflection of popular
returns
Would not eliminate possibility of winner of
popular vote losing presidency
The District Plan
1960 – Richard Nixon wins
Gives another reason for Gerrymandering
The Proportional Plan
Each candidate would receive the same
share of the electoral vote as he won of the
popular vote
40% of popular vote, 40% of electoral vote
Cure winner-take-all problem
Remove faithless electors
Yield a more accurate count with states
The Proportional Plan
Would not necessarily produce the same
idea nationally
1896 – William Jennings Bryan wins
1880 – Winfield Scott Hancock wins
1876 – Samuel J. Tilden wins
1888 – Grover Cleveland wins
The National Bonus Plan
Keep the electoral college as it now is
A pool of 102 electoral votes would be
added to the total of the popular vote winner
Need 321 electoral votes to win
If no received 321, a national run-off
election between the top two candidates
Direct Popular Election
Remove the electoral college altogether
“I am Vice President. In this I am nothing,
but I may be everything.
“The most insignificant office that ever the
invention of man contrived or his
imagination conceived.”
“Honorable and easy”
“Tranquil and unoffending”
“The Vice Presidency isn’t worth a warm
pitcher of spit”
“A woman had two sons. One of them went
away to sea and the other one became Vice
President and neither of them was ever
heard from again.”