I. Qualifications to Become President (presumably, these qualifications apply to the Vice-President as well, since s/he is the next in line of succession, though if the VP is not qualified, the presidency would pass to the Speaker of the House if s/he were qualified, or so on down the line until a qualified candidate was discovered)
A. Natural-born citizen of the United States (if you became a citizen sometime after your birth, you are not eligible for the presidency; other questions about what “natural born citizen” means remain unresolved)
B. 35 years old or older (youngest president at time of taking office was T. Roosevelt, at age 42—Kennedy was 43, though he was the youngest president ever elected directly to the presidency; Ronald Reagan was the oldest elected president at 73 in the 1984 election).
C. Must have lived within the United States for at least 14 (consecutive?) years
D. More than half (26) of US presidents have been lawyers; other occupations include farmers, businessmen, soldiers, one tailor, one actor, a couple of educators, etc.
II. Roles of the President (Specific Constitutional Roles are few)
A. Chief of State (a.k.a. Head of State)—a largely symbolic or ceremonial role, though one that provides significant public exposure that becomes useful, especially during campaign seasons.
i. Decorating War Heroes
ii. Baseball opening pitches
iii. Dedication of parks, monuments, etc.
iv. Receiving foreign heads of state at the White House or other Presidential facility
v. Making official state visits to foreign nations
vi. “National pastor”—the “high priest” of the American Civil Religion (symbol of patriotism, national “sanctity,” common national values, etc.) especially in times of crisis or celebration
B. Chief Executive (a.k.a. Head of Government)
i. Charged with enforcing the acts of Congress, judgments of the federal courts, and treaties
1. signs the bills passed by Congress into law
2. may veto the bills passed by Congress
3. may dispatch officers or agents to enforce judgments of the courts
4. may direct the military or executive officers to enforce national treaties according to the president’s own interpretation
ii. Bureaucracy assists him/her in the enforcement of the laws—(see ch. 12, next unit).
1. Appointment and Removal of cabinet and sub-cabinet officers, federal judges, agency heads, and about 2000 lesser jobs (president appoints approx. 0.33% of all bureaucratic jobs)
2. Most bureaucracy jobs are filled by career civil servants who serve on the basis of merit and not at the whim of the president
iii. IF president does not make the effort to enforce the acts of congress or the judgments of the courts, those simply go unnoticed or remain a matter of contention until someone decides to do something about it. (Andrew Jackson, in a famous court case involving the Cherokee Nation, disagreed with Chief Justice Marshall, saying “Mr. Marshall has made his decision, let him enforce it.” Effectively, the judgment of the court was rendered void, though it remained on the books)
iv. Reprieves and Pardons
1. Reprieve—postponement of execution of a federal sentence in order to allow time to gather new evidence or to show clemency
2. Pardon—full exoneration of all guilt; may be granted before or after a trial/conviction (most notorious use of this was Ford’s pardon of Nixon in 1974; 1992 George Bush’s pardon of six former members of Reagan administration involved in the Iran-Contra affair; more recently, Bill Clinton’s pardon of several folks of dubious quality, including potential terrorists, Whitewater friends, and a convicted millionaire, just hours prior to his leaving the White House)
C. Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
i. Ensures the Army/Navy/Air Force/Marines/Coast Guard/State Militias are under CIVILIAN control, not military control. Designed this way to avert any potential military coups against the civilian government
ii. President is the ONLY person authorized to use nuclear force (the “football” with the nuclear launch codes follows the president everywhere)
iii. War Powers Resolution—1973 law spelling out conditions under which president may commit troops without congressional approval. Nixon vetoed it, Congress overrode the veto
1. President must consult with Congress when sending troops to action
2. President must report to Congress within 48 hrs. – Unless use of troops is approved by Congress within 60 days, or extends this 60-day time limit, forces must be withdrawn
3. Presidential power to wage war are actually greater today, in spite of the War Powers Act
D. Chief Diplomat—role of the president in recognizing foreign governments, making treaties, and making executive agreements
i. President dominates American foreign policy
ii. Recognizing foreign governments—usually by simply welcoming/receiving diplomats from or leaders of a nation. Diplomatic recognition is prerequisite to opening new diplomatic relations with and carrying on negotiations with other nations. (examples include recognition of the USSR in 1933 [after govt. was created in 1917], Peoples’ Republic of China in 1978 [after govt. was created in 1949], Israel within a few hours of creation in 1948; America has not yet recognized Castro’s Cuba)
iii. President alone can negotiate treaties with foreign nations; Senate must ratify all treaties with 2/3 vote before they become effective law for the United States; Senate may add amendments to treaties, which may require further negotiations with the other parties signatory. President may ultimately withdraw from a treaty if Senate’s amendments are found to be too much against his/her wishes (Wilson withdrew from the Treaty of Versailles that officially ended World War I, thus eventually leading the US to refuse to enter the League of Nations, one of Wilson’s own brainchildren). Treaties are binding on all future administrations as well as the current administration responsible for negotiation.
iv. Power to make executive agreements (international agreements made by the president with other heads of foreign governments; made without need of senatorial approval, but Congress ultimately has control of the funds for any such agreement and may choose not to appropriate them; new presidents must also agree to these previous agreements if they want to be bound by them; executive agreements are more expedient and more accurate when it counts—these have outnumbered treaties nearly 9 to 1)
E. Chief Legislator of the U.S.—presidential influence in the lawmaking process
i. Presidents may propose legislation, but all proposed legislation MUST go through Congress before it becomes law
ii. Annual State of the Union Address allows the president to put for the major legislative proposals he wants considered during that session of Congress. It is also an address to the American people and a good chance to rally public support for his legislative agenda. How well this speech is received may determine the speed with which measures pass through Congress or whether they are considered at all
iii. Power of persuasion—writing, telephoning, personal meetings with Congressional leaders; public announcements to rally public opinion to his side and pressure Congress; pressures Congressional party leaders of his own party; power to veto or threaten to veto legislation that does not meet his expectations (only about 7 percent of all presidential vetoes have been overridden)
iv. Presidential strength may be partly determined by his ability to push legislation through Congress (stronger presidents have more of their agenda passed; weaker presidents have little if any of their legislation passed)
F. Statutory Powers of the President—presidential powers created by Congressional act (along with Constitutional powers, these are considered “expressed powers”)—an example is the power to call a national emergency, declare federal disaster areas, etc.
G.
Inherent Powers of the President—defined through practice
rather than explicit constitutional or statutory provisions—examples are the
emergency wartime powers, like FDR’s decision to place Japanese-
Americans in concentration camps during the Second World War
III. The President and His/Her Party
A. Chief of the Party (G. W. is de facto head of the Republican Party; Bill Clinton was de facto head of the Democratic Party)
i. Is responsible for choosing the national committee chairperson of his/her party, while still the party’s nominee for president
ii. Use of patronage—appointing party faithful to important govt. offices or providing them with important govt. contracts
iii. Party Fund Raiser—dinners, speaking engagements, social occasions, etc.
iv. Wheeling/Dealing with members of Congress—quid pro quo
B. Maintaining a Constituency and Public Approval—For additional notes on public opinion, click here.
i. Entire electorate is their major constituency—all those who voted, were eligible to vote, and those who did not vote or were not eligible to vote
ii. Party Constituency—those who are chiefly responsible for the majority (in the electoral college tally, not necessarily the popular vote) vote that won him/her the office
iii. Opposing party members who are key to passing important legislation or accomplishing other parts of the president’s agenda
iv. “The Washington Community”—those intimately familiar with the inner workings of the political system, whether or not they are currently in public office, and who thrive on day-to-day gossip or polls
v. Higher public approval ratings/popularity are golden resources to use for persuading hesitant legislators or bureaucrats to push through pieces of legislation
Power to “go public”—going over the heads of Congress to generate support for legislation (more speeches are now made directly to the American people than has been the case in the past. Before 1900, only about 7 percent of all presidential speeches were made to the people; after 1900, around 50 percent are made to the people; increased media capabilities has also helped spread the presidential speeches around the country and around the world—makes compromises with Congress more difficult and weakens Congresspersons’ positions on several issues, simply because they do not have the clout to compete with the attention the president receives)
For additional notes on Presidential Elections, click here.
Presidential
Personality and Success
A. Personality: Four Basic Types
a. Active-Positive
i. Enjoys
exercising power; does not delegate
ii. Energetic/charismatic
iii. FDR/JFK
b. Active-Negative
i. Sees
exercise of power as a duty or burden; does not delegate
ii. Energetic/charismatic
iii. Becomes
Rigid in his actions, incapable of acting otherwise
iv. Lincoln/Wilson/LBJ/Nixon
c. Passive-Positive
i. Enjoys
exercising power; tends to delegate important tasks
ii. Less
personally energetic
iii. Reagan
is best example
d. Passive-Negative
i. Sees
exercise of power as a duty or burden; tends to delegate important tasks
ii. Less
personally energetic
iii. Coolidge/Eisenhower
e. Difficulties of fitting presidents into particular mould.
i. Fuzzy
boundaries between the categories
ii. Difficulty
in predicting behavior
iii. Context
of administration and particular resources available
B. Resources and Context
a. Actor:
President of the United States
b. Goals/Interests:
Reelection/History or Legacy/Policy
c. Resources:
Formal (power derived from Constitution) and Informal (persuasion/stature)
i. Going Public: president trying to build up public support; put pressure on Congress
a. Can’t
always go public if issue is unpopular
b. Foreign
policy—“rally around the flag” effect; as a public symbol, pres. is able to
stir up support, particularly during a national crisis
c. Risks
involved if he is not a popular president
ii. Information: Access to it (doesn’t always give it to Congress)
a. Office
of Management and Budget (pres.)
b. Congressional
Budget Office (Congress)
iii. Political Capital: what pres. uses to build support for policy; must be spent wisely to get policy through
iv. Emergency Powers—inherent powers exercised by the president during a period of national crisis, particularly in regard to foreign affairs.
1. Supreme Court recognized in a 1936 case that
a. The president may exercise inherent powers in foreign affairs (in this case, FDR ordered an arms embargo to two South American nations without Congressional authorization)
b. National government has primacy in foreign affairs
2. Examples of emergency powers
a. Lincoln’s suspension of civil liberties (e.g., the write of habeas corpus) during the Civil War, his use of the state militias for a national military campaign (this is a constitutional power), and his direct governance of conquered Southern territory
b. FDR’s declaration of a national emergency with the fall of France in 1940—mobilization of the federal budget and the economy for war
c. Truman’s seizure of the Steel Mills to ensure their continued operation during the Korean War; the steel workers had been on strike and supplies of weapons were threatened if these plants were closed or inoperative. (Supreme Court later declared Truman’s action unconstitutional)
d. Reagan’s intervention in the air traffic controllers affair—ordering the military to assume these jobs to ensure flights could continue as scheduled.
3. Executive Orders—Rules or regulations issued by the president that has the effect of law; these can implement and give administrative effect to provisions in the Constitution, to treaties, and to statutes. THEY HAVE THE FORCE OF LAW (and are binding across administrations until such time as another executive order modifies or repeals them)
a. These represent the president’s legislative power (insofar as he can make certain laws—these executive orders cannot usually directly affect the areas Congress has the constitutional prerogative to handle)
b. There are no apparent restrictions on executive orders except that they be entered into the Federal Register, a daily publication of the US government that prints executive orders, rules, and regulations
c. Examples include
i. Establishing procedures for appointing non-career administrators
ii. Implementation of national affirmative actions programs
iii. Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” gays in the military policy
iv. Restructuring the White House bureaucracy (Homeland Security, e.g.)
v. Rationing of consumer goods (as in wartime)
vi. Administration of wage and price controls under emergency conditions
vii. Classification of government documents and information as secret, top-secret, etc.
viii. Regulation of exportation of restricted items.
4. Executive Privilege—the right of executive officials to refuse to appear before, or to withhold information from, a legislative committee or federal court. This privilege is enjoyed by the president and those executive officers accorded the right by the president
a. This is an inherent power only—some believe the power is abused, restricting access to information that the public or Congress should know.
b. Untested
until the Watergate Scandal (1974)—U.S. v. Nixon for example, ordered
Nixon to hand over the tapes of Oval Office conversations
c. Clinton
claimed executive privilege in the Lewinsky affair.—the Courts denied most of
the claims of privilege and ordered Clinton and others of his aides/counsel to
testify.
5. Impoundment
of Funds—no president is required to spend all the funds Congress appropriates—provided
he inform Congress and Congress agrees within 45 days of notification (before
1974, the requirement that the president consult Congress was not law. The requirement became law as a Democratic backlash
against Nixon’s refusal to spend all the money Congress had appropriated.) The president must also inform Congress of
his intent to delay any spending, but Congress may pass a resolution requiring
immediate spending. Supreme Court has
ruled in 1975 that the president had to spend all money appropriated as part of
his obligation to “faithfully execute” the laws.
d. Constraints:
i. Executive
is independent of the legislature
ii. Divided
government is a real possibility (pres. of one party; Congress of another)
iii. An
alternative is Parliamentary Government—executive is selected by the
legislature => responsible party system as in most European nations. Responsible party government => unified
teams (in the U.S., Congress and the President do not work together; even when
the Congress and President are of the same Party, there is no responsible party
government in the U.S.)
Conflicts Between Congress and Presidency Over Foreign Policy
A. Sending troops—is Congressional consent needed? (War Powers Act of 1973 Passed)
B. Use of executive actions instead of treaties
C. Use of “covert operations”
Presidential Success
A. Problems:
a. Declining public influence and increasing political/power effectiveness (unwise use of political capital)
b. Competition for influence/agenda space between President and Congress or President and his advisors
c. Increased attention on presidency/scrutiny (increases expectations)—especially in wake of scandals, huge campaign promises, or landslide electoral victories
d. Unexpected crises, e.g., 11 September 2001
e. Within the reelection goal (political capital is never as great afterward as it is on the first day in office)
B. Success
a. Focus on priorities—don’t get bogged down in minor issues (e.g., Clinton suffered early on with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”)
b. Move quickly (FDR and LBJ both accomplished huge legislative changes in the first 100 days of their terms)
Executive Organization
A. Cabinet
1. Generally the president’s closest advisors, but some presidents rely on their cabinet more than others
2. Some presidents have a so-called “kitchen cabinet” that is not comprised of the members of the regular cabinet; it is these people the president generally trusts more than anyone for policy advice, etc. Andrew Jackson made the “kitchen cabinet” famous. Not all presidents have such a group.
3. Cabinet officers are the heads of the fifteen Executive Departments, and other agency heads upon whom Congress or the President has conferred cabinet status
B. Executive Office of the President (see book)
C. Vice Presidency—usually a rather benign role in American government. Has no real power constitutionally, but may be more or less influential depending upon the president’s desire to utilize the VP’s talents or the Congress’ conferral of special functions upon the VP from time to time.
D. Presidential Succession—VP, Speaker of the House, President Pro Tem of the Senate, and the fifteen cabinet department heads in order of the establishment of their offices by Congress