The Executive Branch:

1. The Executive Branch: The Presidency

2. The Presidency • Demographics, Roles, Formal and Informal Powers of the President

3. The Presidency • List of Presidents

4. The Presidents • Great Expectations • Americans want a president who is powerful and who can do good like Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Kennedy. • Yet Americans do not like a concentration of power because they are individualistic and skeptical of authority.

5. “It is a great advantage to a president, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man. When a man begins to feel that he is the only one who can lead in this Republic, he is guilty of treason to the spirit of our institutions.” -Calvin Coolidge-

6. Formal Qualifications for the Presidency U.S. Constitution: Article II Section 1 No person except a natural born citizen…shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall nay person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. What are the three formal qualifications to be President of the United States?

7. Informal Qualifications For President • Military service • Government experience • Television presence – name recognition, photogenic and articulate • College education • Married with kids • Money (inherited, by marriage, personal fortune) • Religious faith • Character • A “story” – war hero, peanut farmer, actor, etc. • So far, male • Perceived as being in the political mainstream JFK and his son John in the Oval Office

8. Demographic Characteristics of U. S. Presidents • Male - 100% • Caucasian - 98% • Protestant - 97% • British ancestry - 82% • College education - 77% • Politicians - 69% • Lawyers - 62% • Top 3% wealth & social class - At least 50% • Elected from large states - 69%

9. $400,000 salary (tax free). $50,000/year expense account. Spend as President chooses. $100,000/year travel expenses. Campaign, speeches…What do you think he would spend his money on? A nice house (White House)…i.e. Room and Board paid for. 132 rooms, 18.3 acres, fleet of automobiles. Secret Service protection (up to 10 years after leaving office) Country home (Camp David) Personal airplane (Air Force One). Staff of 400-500 full-time employees Salary and Benefits

10. Presidential Quotations

11. President Harry S. Truman "I sit here all day trying to persuade people to do the things they ought to have the sense to do without my persuading them. That's all the powers of the President amount to." Truman, 33rd President, 1945-53

12. President John F. Kennedy “No easy problem ever comes to the President of the United States. If they are easy to solve, somebody else has solved them.” President Kennedy’s nationally televised address during the Cuban Missile Crisis, October, 1962

13. President Lyndon B. Johnson “The presidency has made every man who occupied it, no matter how small, bigger than he was; and no matter how big, not big enough for its demands.” President Johnson, 36th President, 1963-69

14. President Richard M. Nixon "Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the manner in which the president personally exercises his assigned executive powers is not subject to questioning by another branch of government." In the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, President Nixon departs the White House after his resignation, Aug., 1974

15. President George W. Bush “To those of you who received honors, awards, and distinctions, I say 'Well done.' And to the C students, I say 'You, too, can be president of the United States.'” President George W. Bush, speaking at Yale University's 300th commencement ceremony President Bush, 43rd President, 2001-2009

16. The Presidents • How They Got There • Elections: The Normal Road to the White House • Since 1960, the Presidential Election process has been affected by an increase in all of the following: • proportion of independents in the electorate • influence of politicalconsultants • number of primaries • role television. • Once elected, the president serves a term of four years. • In 1951, the 22nd Amendment limited the number of terms to two. • Most presidents have been elected to office. Who was the only unelected president?

17. The Presidents • How They Got There (Succession) • Problems of Succession: • Who runs govt? • Role of VP? • 8 VP’s have become President. • Example: John Tyler. • The vice president succeeds if the president leaves office due to death, resignation, or removal. • Under the 25th Amendment, the vice president becomes acting president if the vice president and president’s cabinet determine that the president is disabled. • What does the president consider when selecting a vice-presidential running mate?

19. Quotes on the Vice Presidency “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived” –John Adams- “I do not choose to be buried until I am really dead.” –Daniel Webster (in rejecting the VP nomination in 1848)- “the job is not worth a pitcher of warm spit” –John Nance Garner-

20. Roles of the President • Chief of State- chief symbol of the United States • Chief Executive- Administrator of the federal government. “Most powerful office in the world.” • Broad in foreign and domestic powers. • Chief Administrator- i.e. director of the Federal Government • Chief Diplomat- Architect of foreign policy • Commander in Chief- Civilian commander of the U.S. Armed Forces.

21. Roles of the President • Chief Legislator- National agenda setter; proposes bills for consideration in Congress. • Chief of Party- Head of party who assists in members’ elections or appointments in office. • Chief Citizen- Expected to be the “representative of all the people.” work for and represent all the people. • Crisis Manager-Leads country through disasters, both natural and man-made. • Moral Persuader- The White House as a bully pulpit. (from Teddy Roosevelt, which means a platform from which to persuasively advocate an agenda. He used the word “bully” as an adjective to mean “superior.” )

22. The Presidents • Impeachment • Impeachment is an accusation, requiring a majority vote in the House. • Charges may be brought for “Treason, Bribery, or other highCrimes and Misdemeanors.” • If impeached, the president is tried by the Senate (2/3 vote convicts) with the ChiefJustice presiding. • Only two presidents have been impeached—Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton—and neither was convicted.

23. Formal Powers of the President

24. Presidential Powers • The Expansion of Power • Presidents may develop newroles for and expandpower of the office. • Concern of Founders- use of militia; re-election • Early Presidents • Jacksonians- broad changes in powers • Reemergence of Congress- weak presidents with few exceptions • Perspectives on Presidential Power • During the 1950’s and 1960’s people favored a powerful president. • By the 1970’s, presidential power was checked and distrusted by the public.

25. Why Presidential Power Has Grown • Champions of a stronger executive have almost always won out partly because they have the unity of the presidency, which represents the entire executive branch. (2 houses of Congress with 535 members) • Complex social and economic life has caused people to demand federal government play a greaterrole (labor, civil rights, health, welfare, communication, education, and environment) • NationalEmergencies like war. • Congress. (Lack of time or technical knowledge to provide more than a basic outline for government action. President carries out details.) • Presidents use of the media to build support for policies.

26. Presidential Powers

27. The president cannot veto • Joint resolutions that propose constitutional amendments

28. When the President nominates a person for Supreme Court Justice, he generally takes into account • Whether or not the person can be confirmed in the Senate • The age of the person • The political party the person belongs to • Whether public opinion will be favorable towards the person nominated

29. Informal Presidential Powers

33. To influence policy making by the federal courts, the president may • take partisanship into account in making judicial appointments • take political ideology into account in making judicial appointments • make public statements about issues that might appear before the courts • encourage the Justice Department to get involved in cases that test certain issue

34. Powers of the President Homework • Article II of the US Constitution lays out many powers of the President. • Chapter twelve of the textbook gives further detail on these powers. • Print out and fill in the entire chart on the following slide. • The chart should include a description of each of these powers, along with a ranking of them in order of importance (1=most important, 8=least).

35. Powers of the President

36. Analyzing Presidential Decisions • Directions: In this activity, your team will discuss the hypothetical scenarios shown, and evaluate the president’s decision in each of the cases below. • You should draw upon your knowledge of the formal powers of the president outlined in Article II of the Constitution as well as the informal powers and roles enjoyed by modern presidents. • Record your answers on your own paper. • You will then share your findings with the rest of the class.

37. The Budget

38. Discretionary & Mandatory Spending The size and scope of the federal budget makes it difficult to control. Because of prior spending commitments, it is difficult to reduce spending in any given year. The expenditures in the current budget are 80% uncontrollable; they are based upon prior years decisions. (Mandatory Spending) The remaining 20% of the budget is for discretionary fiscal spending. Simply put, only 20% of the budget is “up for grabs” in any given year.

39. An example of a discretionary item in the federal budget is • spending on national parks

40. An example of a mandatory spending in the federal budget is • social security

41. Formal Checks on Presidential Power

42. 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 navalforces

43. War Powers Resolution • The War Powers Resolution of 1973(50 USC 1541-1548) is a federal law intended to check the President's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of Congress. • The resolution was adopted in the form of a United States Congress joint resolution; this provides that the President can send the military into action abroad only by authorization of Congress or in case of "a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces."

44. War Powers Resolution • The War Powers Resolution requires the President to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days, with a further 30 day withdrawal period, without an authorization of the use of military force or a declaration of war. • The resolution was passed by two-thirds of Congress, overriding a presidential veto.

45. War Powers Resolution • The War Powers Resolution was disregarded by President Reagan in 1981 by sending military forces to El Salvador and later the Contras in Nicaragua. • Also by President Clinton in 1999, during the bombing campaign in Kosovo. • Also by President Obama in 2011, when he did not seek congressional approval for the attack on Libyan forces, arguing that the Resolution did not apply to that action. • All incidents have had congressional disapproval, but none have had any successful legal actions taken against the president for violations. • All presidents since 1973 have declared their belief that the act is unconstitutional.

46. Congressional Checks (cont.) • Impeachment Power (House) • Impeachment Trial (Senate) President Clinton’s impeachment trial, January, 1999

47. Limits on Presidential Power (Article II) • President elected indirectly by the people through the ElectoralCollege • Selection of president by the House in case of nomajority of electoral vote • President must deliver State of the Union address • Senate approves treaties, and ambassadors

48. Limits on Presidential Power (Article II) • Senate approves departmentappointments • “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.

49. Judicial Checks on the President • Judicialreview (Marbury v. Madison) • Chief Justice presides over presidentialimpeachment trial (Article I)

50. Judicial Checks on the President • U.S. v. Nixon (1974)- Though the President is entitled to receive confidential advice, he can be required to reveal material related to a criminal prosecution. • Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982) The President may not be sued while in office. • Clinton v. Jones (1997) The President may be sued for actions taken before he become president.