The President

1. The President

2. Warm up • Which presidents do you think were the greatest? • What made them great?

3. Quick Facts • Basis of power in Article II of the Constitution • Must be 35 years old, a natural-born citizen, and a resident of the U.S. for 14 years • Chief Executive • Commander in Chief of the armed forces • Power to grant pardons, make treaties, appoint ambassadors ,justices, and other offices, sign or veto legislation • Election by the Electoral College • Duty to give a State of the Union report

4. Differences Between a President and a Prime Minister • Presidents are outsiders whereas pm’s are insiders • Pres. Is popularly elected whereas pm is selected by legislature and is leader of majority party (or coalition party) • Pres. Chooses cabinet members from outside congress whereas pm’s cabinet are always members of parliament • Pres. Doesn’t have guaranteed majority in Congress whereas in parliamentary democracies it is the case. More often we have divided gov. • Even if one party controls both branches there is still no guarantee of getting work done because of the structure of sep. of powers

5. Divided Government • More often than not we have a divided gov. but that doesn’t mean that less gets done • Unified gov. is not guarantee of getting legislation passed especially when the parties are not unified ideologically • Only Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson who had unified govs. Managed to pass a lot of legislation • The key to accomplishing goals when there is a unified gov. is when the party is ideologically in sync • Policy gridlock is a necessary consequence of a representative democracy b/c of the delays and compromises inherent in it • More important is the relative power of the president and Congress and that has changed greatly

6. History of the Office • Concerns of the Founders • Worry that exec. Would use militia to overpower states • Pres. Would try to stay in power b/c most elections would be decided by the House of Reps. When there was no majority in the electoral college • Direct vote or indirect vote of president?

7. Electoral College • States would select electors however they wanted and they would meet and vote for the pres. And vice president • Solution good for small states since they were guaranteed 3 electoral votes and for big states whose populations would have their say • Expectation that the House would end up determining most elections • Right to make treaties and appoint lesser officials then given to the president

8. Electoral College contd. • Winner take all • Allocation of electoral votes does not always reflect the population • 4 occasions when pres. Candidates lost election even though they received the most popular votes • 1824- Andrew Jackson got more popular votes but House decided election and John Quincy Adams became pres. • 1876- Rutherford B. Hayes lost the pop. Vote by a margin but was still elected • 1888- Grover Cleavland won pop. Vote • 2000- Gore had more pop. Votes but Bush more electoral votes

9. Term Limits • No terms until 1951- 22nd amendment limited presidency to 2 terms • George Washington limited himself to two terms and most followed suit • Only FDR ran for more terms • Orderly transfer of power from one president to the next amazing feature (in other countries there are riots or the military gets involved)

10. First Presidents • First presidents were the most prominent men in our nation • 4 of the 5 served two terms • Establishing legitimacy of the office easy in early years since they didn’t actually have that much to do • Presidency kept modest • No president appeared on coins until after he was dead • None received retirement until Eisenhower • Few vetoes every cast • Little collaboration with Congress

11. Reemergence of Congress • After Jackson, Congress reestablished power • For 100 years the presidency was the subordinate branch of government • Only Lincoln broke ground for presidential power • Used many powers in Article II of the constitution that were “implied” or “inherent” • Lincoln raised an army, spent money, issued the Emancipation Proclamation to free slaves- without congressional approval • After Lincoln, congress again reasserted its power and the presidency was more of a negative force than a positive one • Only get real change in pres. Power after the 1930s • In past presidency only powerful in times of national crisis • Reality of legislative process is that congress usually initiates legislation

12. Who influences the President? • Rule of propinquity- power is wielded by people in the room when a decision is made, so political appointments can be classified in terms of their proximity to the president • White House • Executive Office • Cabinet

13. White House • Closest advisor to the presidents • Usually come from ranks of president’s campaign • They have offices in the west wing of the white house • Oversee policy and political interests of the president • Don’t have to be confirmed by the Senate • 3 Structures • Pyramid- hierarchy- only chief of staff really deals with the president, but there is a risk of isolating the pres. Or misinforming him • Circular- cabinet secretaries and assistants report directly to pres.- but can cause confusion because of the amount of info and opinions • Ad hoc- a lot of people deal directly with the president but not necessarily gov. officials and advisors, so pres. May not be dealing with professionals

14. Executive Office of Pres. • These are agencies who are not in the White House but who perform services for him • Top positions are appointed, but must be confirmed by Senate • Principal Agencies • Office of Management and Budget (OMB)- most important- responsible for national budget, organization and operation of exec. branch • Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) • Department of Homeland Security (DHS) • Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) • Office of Personnel Management (OPM) • Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

15. Cabinet • Though not directly mentioned in the constitution, it is alluded to in the 25th amendment • Cabinet officers are the heads of 14 major executive departments • President appoints or directly controls many members of the cabinets • Can reward supporters and friends with appointments