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CH 12: The Presidency. Ms. Bittman’s AP Gov. Who can become president?. Founding fathers created a chief executive, to balance Congress. Requirements from Art II, Sec. 1 of Constitution. Natural born citizen 35 years old. Resident for 14 years within the US.
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CH 12: The Presidency Ms. Bittman’s AP Gov
Who can become president? • Founding fathers created a chief executive, to balance Congress. • Requirements from Art II, Sec. 1 of Constitution. • Natural born citizen • 35 years old. • Resident for 14 years within the US. • Usually lawyers (26/44), usually wealthy. • Average age @ inauguration is 54. • JFK was 43, Reagan was 69. • All have been male, all but one has been white, all but one are Protestant. • JFK, Obama. • Great men (George Washington) and not so great (Warren Harding)
Process of Becoming President • Major and minor parties nominate @ national convention • Rep: Tampa, FL, Dem: Charlotte, NC. • Nation does not vote, rather votes for presidential electors. • Stupid Electoral College. • Possible to loose popular vote and become Prez. • No president has ever won a majority of votes from the entire voting age population. • Occasionally Electoral College does not elect a majority. • Goes to the House of Representatives, only happened in 1800, 1824. • 1804, 12th Amendment clarified Prez and VP elected separately.
Constitution is brief on the roles of the Pres. • Presidency has grown over time into a very complicated role. • One person plays all of the following 5 roles at the same time, and they often conflict with each other.
1. Chief of State • Ceremonial head of state, engages in a number of symbolic activities • Decorating war heroes • Throwing the first baseball to open the season • Dedicating parks and post offices • Receiving visiting chiefs of state at the White House • Going on state visits to other countries • Making calls to astronauts (not any more ) • Representing the nation at times of national morning • President gets lots of public exposure, good for reelection campaign, if its positve
2. Chief Executive • Constitutionally bound to enforce acts of Congress, judgments of the courts, and treaties signed by the US • President has a federal bureaucracy (2.8 million employees) • Powers of Appointment and Removal • Only nominally runs the bureaucracy (filled with civil service employees) • Appointment limited to cabinet and sub-cabinet level, federal judges, agency heads and about 2,000 lesser jobs. • Most federal employees have no political allegiance to president. More likely to owe loyalty to congressional committees or IGs
2. Chief Executive Continued… • Power of the Prez to remove is not granted in constit. and is limited • Can remove the following at any time… • Arms Control and Disarmament Agency • Commission on Civil Rights • Environmental Protection Agency • General Services Administration • Postal Service • Small Business Administration • All head of cabinet departments • All individuals in the Executive Office of the President • All political appointees
2. Chief Executive Continued… • Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons • Sec 2 of Art II of the constit. except in cases of impeachment. • Administered by the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the Dept. of Justice. • Granted to remedy a mistake in a conviction. • Supreme Court has confirmed it. Grant reprieves for all offenses “either before trial, during trial, or after trial, by individuals, or by classes, conditionally or absolutely, and this without modification or regulation by Congress”
3. Commander in Chief • Armed forces are under civilian, not military, control • President is the ultimate decision maker. • Only he can nuke countries! • Who can declare war? Congress. But the prez can fight one. • 1973 War Powers Resolution (over Nixon’s veto) • Prez must report w/in 48 hours. • Unless congress approves use in 60 days or extends it 60, forces must be withdrawn. • Powers of the president are still broader today, than they were.
4. Chief Diplomat • Power to recognize foreign government, make treaties (w/ the Senate) and to make special agreements. • Nominates ambassadors • Prez, not Congress, dominates foreign affairs. (SC ok with it) • Diplomatic Recognition: power to recognize or not recognize • Prez receives foreign diplomats • The recognition of legitimacy of another country is a prerequisite to diplomatic relations. • Not always simple. Taiwan, Palestine?
4. Chief Diplomat • Proposal and Ratification of Treaties • Sole power to negotiate. • Senate must approve with 2/3. • President can withdraw the treaty if the Senate changes it too much. • Executive Agreements • Made b/t president and heads of states • Do not require Senate approval. House can deny $ though. • Not binding without each new president’s consent. • Speedy and secret • 9,000 of these, 1,300 treaties. • Secret provision for military assistance or support.
5. Chief Legislator • Presidents must recommend legislation. • Modern, president sets congressional agenda • Through State of the Union, given in late January. • Broad, comprehensive view • Message to American people, world, Congress • Can impact public opinion -> how Congress responds. • Getting legislation passed • How does the Prez get legislation passed? • Power of Persuasion • Veto • We went over this.
5. Chief Legislator Continued… • Line-Item Veto: Reagan wanted it. 1996 passed. • Challenged in court, ruled as an unconstitutional delegation of legislative powers to the executive branch. • Congress’s override w/ 2/3rd of both houses. • Measuring the president’s success… • Strong president is one who achieves much, weak achieves little
Other Powers • 1-5 are constitutional powers. • Powers given by Congress are called statutory powers. • Both constitutional and statutory are expressed powers • There are also inherent powers • Loosely defined in the constitution. • Things like emergency powers during wartime.
The President as Party Chief and Super-Politician • Chooses the national committee chairperson, can try to discipline party members. • Able to exert power through patronage: appointing individuals to government or public jobs. • Clinton, Bush, Obama • Fundraiser!!! President can raise unlimited soft money for the party. • Obama Fundraiser • President can logroll on federal judgeships with congresspeople. • Can campaign for a particular program • Reward supporters in congress with funding for local projects, tax breaks, and other forms of “pork”
Constituencies and Public Approval • Have many ppl to represent. Beholden to all Americans. • Party membership, opposing party. • Often focuses on the Washington Community, or people who are intimately familiar with the workings of gov. • Criticisms of president’s focus on the public • Speak more to public, less to Congress. • 1800s 7% to public, 1900s 50%. • Why? • Influence of TV • President’s often go over Congress, called “going public” • Persuasive and manipulative.
Presidential Powers • Prez gets stuff no one gets. • Emergency Powers: inherent power, period of national crisis. • SC: “emergency does not create power” • Executive Orders: rule or regulation issued by prez, has the effect of law. • Can do the following… • Enforce legislative actions, constitution, treaties. • Establish or modify rules and practices of agencies. • Executive order is the legislative power of the prez. • Only requirement comes from Administrative Procedure Act of 1946, must be published in the Federal Register. • Used to establish • National affirmative action standards, restructure the bureaucracy, ration consumer goods, wage and price controls, classify things, regulate exports.
Presidential Powers Continued… • Executive Privilege: Prez and prez advisors can refuse to appear before or withhold information from Congress or the courts. • Relies on checks and balances • Critics argue it shields the executive from public actions. • Limits to executive privilege were not challenged until Watergate • US v. Nixon (1974): SC unanimously ruled Nixon could not claim privilege in handing over the tapes. • Executive privilege did not extend to criminal trials. • Impounds of Funds: before the 1970s many prez did not spend all the $ congress appropriated. • This issue came up during Nixon. He would veto appropriations, congress would override. • Nixon would refuse to spend it. SC ruled that unconstitutional. • “Take care that the laws be faithfully executed”
Abuses of Executive Power and Impeachment • Art I, II authorizes House and Senate to remove the president, VP, or other civil officers. • Begins in House, which impeaches the federal officer. • Then draws up articles of impeachment and sends them to… • Senate then conducts the trial. If a president is impeach, the chief justice oversees the trial. • No president has ever been impeached and convicted. • Andrew Johnson, seen as too lenient on the southern states. • Richard Nixon, resigned before the house could impeach. • Bill Clinton, impeached for lying under oath, not convicted.
Organization • Not until 1857, congress authorized a secretary. • FDR, 37 employees, New Deal and WWII caused increase. • Today, ~600 ppl. 350 work in the WH, these concern themselves with the president’s reputation. • The Cabinet • Originally just 4 (state, treasury, war, attorney general) • Use is not mandated by law. • Some presidents rely more heavily. • Some replace them with a kitchen cabinet an informal group of advisors. • Department heads are usually more loyal to their staff, not the prez.
Executive Office of the President • FDR had congress create the Executive Office of the President, it contains the following… • White House Office(1939): Personal and political advisors. • Legal counsel, secretary, press secretary, appointments secretary. • Chief of Staff: coordinating the office, chief advisor to prez • Appointments Secretary: Grant or deny senators, reps, cabinet to prez • Press Secretary: Press and TV journalists access to info and prez. • Council of Economic Advisors(1946): • 3 advisors. Employment Act of 1946. • Advise serves as the president’s annual econ report to cong. • Prepares the annual report.
Executive Office of the President Continued… • National Security Council(1947): Link b/t foreign and military advisors and the president. • Members are prez, VP, secretaries of state, defense, military. • NSA works for them. (protect communications, foreign intelligence) • Office of the US Trade Representative (1963) • Council of Environment Quality (1969) • Office of Management and Budget (1970) • Headed by a director, write the annual budget. • Broad fiscal powers, planning and estimating for all agencies. • Office of Science and Technology Policy (1976) • Office of Administration • Office of National Drug Control Policy
Job • Constitution gives him v. little to do. • Presides over Senate • Modern times… • VP are chosen to balance the ticket or to appease party factions. • Outsider (Bush, Obama) brings in an Insider (Cheney, Biden)= powerful VP • Few have been elected as president. • Usually spend their time advising and supporting the President.
Succession and the 25th Amendment • 8 have taken over from the death of a prez • What happens if the president is incapable, not dead? • 25th amendment: When the president is incapable, he informs Congress in writing. • VP acts a president till prez is back. • If prez cannot communicate, a majority of the cabinet and VP, declare it to Congress. • Then VP serves as acting president till president comes back. • If a dispute arises, 2/3 vote of congress is required to decide whether the VP or President is in charge.
Succession and the 25th Amendment • If the VP dies or resigns, President nominates a new one and a majority of congress approves. • 1973, Spiro Agnew resigns, Nixon nominates Gerald Ford • 1974 Nixon resigns, Fored becomes president and nominates Nelson Rockefeller • First time in history, both prez and VP were not elected. • What happens if Prez and VP dies? • Succession Act of 1947: Speaker of the House… see next slide for line of succession.
In 2003 the Continuity of Government Commission suggested that the current law has "at least seven significant issues ... that warrant attention", including: The reality that all figures in the current line of succession work and reside in the vicinity of Washington, D.C. In the event of a nuclear, chemical, or biological attack, it is possible that everyone on the list would be killed or incapacitated. Doubt (such as those expressed above by James Madison) that Congressional leaders are eligible to act as President. A concern about the wisdom of including the President pro tempore in the line of succession as the "largely honorific post traditionally held by the longest-serving Senator of the majority party". For example, from January 20, 2001, to June 6, 2001, the President pro tempore was then-98-year-old Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. A concern that the current line of succession can force the presidency to abruptly switch parties mid-term, as the Speaker and the President pro tempore are not necessarily of the same party as the President. A concern that the succession line is ordered by the dates of creation of the various executive departments, without regard to the skills or capacities of the persons serving as their Secretary. The fact that, should a Cabinet member begin to act as President, the law allows the House to elect a new Speaker (or the Senate, a new President pro tempore), who could in effect remove the Cabinet member and assume the office themselves at any time. The absence of a provision where a President is disabled and the vice presidency is vacant (for example, if an assassination attempt simultaneously wounded the President and killed the Vice President).
