OConnor and Sabato Chapter 7: The Presidency

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OConnor and SabatoChapter 7 The Presidency

• Presentation 7.2 Constitutional Powers the
  Evolution of Presidential Power

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Key Topics

• The Constitutional Powers of the President
• The Evolution of Presidential Power
• The Presidential Establishment

FDR Founder of the Modern Presidency
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The Constitutional Powers of the President

• The vagueness of the Constitution on the nature
  of executive powers
• The framers mistrust of a powerful executive
• Nevertheless, the presidents enumerated powers
  have facilitated the creation of a powerful
  institution

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1a. The Appointment Power

• The president appoints with the advice and
  consent of the Senate
• Ambassadors, judges Cabinet officers
• President is authorized to make over 3,200
  appointments
• Appointment power gives the president substantial
  influence over the behavior of the judiciary and
  the federal bureaucracy

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1ai. Presidential Administrative Appointments and
the Gender IssueSenior Administrative Officials
Requiring Senate Confirmation
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1aii. The Power of Senate Rejection

• In times of divided govt., the Senate can be a
  potent weapon in the hands of the opposition
  party
• Until Clinton, 97 of all previous presidential
  nominations were confirmed
• Senate rejections can have a major impact on the
  course of an administration

Who began using the Senate rejection of
appointments as a weapon? Rebpulicans say it was
Democrats in rejecting Supreme Court nominee
Robert Bork. Democrats say it was Republicans
rejection of Johnsons nomination of Abe Fortas
to become chief justice.
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1b. The Power to Convene Congress

• The Constitution mandates that the president
  shall periodically inform Congress of the State
  of the Union
• President is also authorized to convene Congress
  in times of emergency
• This power was more consequential when Congress
  only met occasionally

Today, Congress meets almost continuously, with
only a few weeks of adjournment per session,
usually tied to campaign seasons.
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1c. The Power to Make Treaties

• President can negotiate treaties, but the Senate
  must ratify by a 2/3rds vote
• The Senate can also amend treaties, and force the
  president to go back to the foreign power to
  renegotiate
• Presidents often try to end-run the Senate
  through the use of executive agreements

The Senates refusal to ratify the Treaty of
Versailles was a huge blow to Woodrow Wilsons
administration.
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1d. The Veto Power

• The president has the authority to reject an act
  of Congress (except for proposed Constitutional
  amendments)
• Congress can override a veto by a 2/3rds vote in
  each house
• Rarely happens only 100 out of approximately
  2,500 vetoes have been overriden

Part of the reason vetoes are rarely overriden is
that Presidents rarely veto legislation that has
veto-proof majorities.
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1di. Famous Congressional Overrides

• In 1845, Tylers veto of a tariff bill was the
  1st override
• Andrew Johnsons veto of GOPs post Civil War
  Reconstruction policy
• Trumans veto of the Taft-Hartley

Did you know that veto is Latin for I forbid?
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1dii. The Line-Item Veto

• As early as 1873, Pres. Grant proposed a
  constitutional amendment to give presidents a
  line-item veto
• Power to disapprove individual items of a
  spending bill without rejecting the bill in its
  entirety
• Congress enacted legislation giving Clinton that
  power in 1996

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1diii. The Politics of the Line-Item Veto

• Clinton used the power to reject partisan pork
  (GOP projects)
• Clinton v. City of New York (1998), the Supreme
  Court ruled that the line-item veto was and
  unconstitutional violation of the separation of
  powers
• Consequential alterations in the
  legislative/executive relationship must be
  achieved by constitutional amendment

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1e. The Presidents Military Powers

• Article II states that the president is
  Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the
  United States
• Congress has the power to declare war
• The War Powers Act (1972) see chapter 6
• Presidents have continued to use military force
  without consulting Congress

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1f. The Pardoning Power

• An executive grant releasing an individual from
  the punishment or legal consequences of a crime
  before or after conviction
• Impeachment cannot be pardoned
• The pardon as a double-edged sword

An unwritten rule of the presidency is that
first-term pardons area lot more risky than
lame-duck pardons.
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1fi. Fords pardon of Nixon

• Motivated to spare the country the trauma of
  Nixons prosecution
• Critics questioned whether the pardon was a quid
  pro quo
• May have contributed his defeat in 1976 to the
  pardon

Ford announcing pardon of Pres. Nixon. Picture
courtesy http//www.ford.utexas.edu.
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2. The Evolution of Presidential Power

• For the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, the
  presidency was relatively weak
• Various early presidents used the prerogative
  powers of the presidency
• Jefferson the Louisiana Purchase
• A. Jackson the National Bank

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2a. Abraham Lincoln and Inherent Powers

• Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus
• Ordered the blockade of southern ports
• Closed the mails to treasonable correspondence
• Called for additional troops to be raised without
  consulting Congress

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2ai. Inherent Powers

• Lincoln argued that the inherent powers of the
  office justified these illegal actions in times
  of war
• Are all the laws but one to go unexecuted, and
  the Government itself go to pieces lest that one
  be violated?

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1864). Picture courtesy
Encarta.
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2aii. The Ten Best and Worst Presidents
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2b. The Modern Presidency

• Roosevelts imprint on the institution
• FDR left a large federal bureaucracy
• He transformed the presidency into an active and
  powerful institution that harnessed technology to
  become more powerful than the Congress

FDR also violated the two-term tradition, winning
an unprecedented four presidential elections, but
dying early in his fourth term.
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2bi. The Great Depression the New Deal

• FDR created a package of programs to deal with
  the unprecedented challenge of the Great
  Depression

Breadline. Picture taken by Dorthea Lange
(Encarta).
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2bii. Key Elements of the New Deal

• Declared a bank holiday on prevent a financial
  panic
• Persuaded Congress to pass sweeping legislation
  for emergency relief
• Began initiating legislative proposals
• Increased the overall size of the federal
  bureaucracy from fewer than 600,000 to over 1
  million workers

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2c. The Personalization of the Presidency

• FDRs radio addresses created an intimate
  relationship between himself and citizens that
  had not previously existed
• Received 4,000 letters daily, where Hoover had
  received only 40 per day

Picture courtesy www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu.
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3. The Presidential Establishment

• As presidential responsibilities have grown, the
  executive branch has grown as well
• U.S. Constitution does not specify a Cabinet, but
  implies that presidents should have access to
  expert advice
• The executive branch grew tremendously during
  FDRs administration

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3a. The Cabinet

• Membership is determined by tradition and
  presidential discretion
• The Cabinet is usually comprised of the heads of
  major departments, the VP, and any other agency
  heads or officials that the president would like
  to include

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3a. The Growth of the Cabinet

• Interest groups have pressured Congress the
  president to recognize their demands
• Many clientele agencies have been created as a
  result of that pressure (e.g. Agriculture,
  Commerce, Labor, Education)

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3ai. The U.S. Cabinet
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3ai. Cabinet cont.
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3aii. President/Cabinet Relationship

• The size of the Cabinet has increased, but the
  presidents reliance on the Cabinet secretaries
  has decreased
• Some individual secretaries exert considerable
  influence within a given administration (e.g. DOD
  Rumsfeld)
• Most presidents increasingly rely on their inner
  circle of advisers

The fact that Congress has considerable influence
over executive departments leads presidents to
avoid excessive reliance.
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3b. The Executive Office of the President (EOP)

• Established by FDR to administer New Deal
  programs
• The EOP is a kind of mini-bureaucracy that are
  often the primary policy makers in certain fields
  of expertise

The Old Executive Office Building on Pennsylvania
Ave. Picture courtesy www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/was
h/dc32.htm.
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3bi. Important EOP Agencies

• National Security Council
• Council of Economic Advisers
• Office of Management Budget
• Office of the Vice President
• U.S. Trade Representative

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3bii. The National Security Council

• Created in 1947 to provide expert advise on
  foreign and military affairs
• Comprised of the president, VP, secretaries of
  state, defense, and treasure, the chairman of
  the joint chiefs of staff director of the CIA

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3c. The White House Staff

• The chief of staff administers a fairly large
  personal staff
• Staff includes the press secretaries, senior
  aides, and clerical and administrative aides
• Personal advisers are not subject to Senate
  confirmation

West Wing staff derive their authority from their
personal relationship with the president.
Staffers are often drawn from campaign
personnel and/or longtime personal relationships
with the president.
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3ci. The Power of TelevisionThe CBS Show The
West Wing

• Captures the day-to-day functioning of the White
  House staff
• Emphasizes the importance of communication for
  modern presidents

Picture courtesy www.nbc.com/westwing.
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3d. The Power of Proximity

• Staffers derive prestige from their closeness to
  the Oval Office
• Will take an office the size of a broom closet in
  the White House over a huge office in the EOP
• The chief of staff manages access to the president

Andrew Card, Pres. Bushs chief of staff. Picture
courtesy www.pbs.org.