What is public opinion?

1
12-1
2
The Presidency

• Presidential Qualifications
• Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution states
  that the president must be
• a natural-born citizen (or a citizen at the time
  the Constitution was adopted),
• at least 35 years old, and
• a resident of the United States for at least 14
  years .

3
Qualifications for the Vice Presidency

• The original Constitution did not specify
  eligibility for the vice presidency, as the
  person who came in second in the vote for
  president would be vice president.
• The Twelfth Amendment, ratified in 1804, changed
  the process so that candidates are elected for
  president and vice president separately.
• The amendment also specifies that vice presidents
  must meet the same eligibility requirements as
  presidents and that they be from different
  states.

4
Presidential Succession

• The Constitution also states that when the
  president is removed from office, by death,
  resignation, or inability to perform the duties
  of the office, the vice president becomes
  president.
• In 1792, Congress passed the Presidential
  Succession Act, which designated the president
  pro tempore of the Senate as next in line, and
  then the Speaker of the House.
• In 1886, Congress changed the order of succession
  to include only cabinet secretaries in order of
  their creation.
• In 1947, Congress changed presidential succession
  once again, putting the order of succession as
  vice president, Speaker of the House, president
  pro tempore, followed by the cabinet secretaries.

5
Vacancies in the Office of the Vice President

• There was no actual constitutional provision for
  replacement of the vice president, and in the
  course of the nations history the office was
  occasionally vacant.
• The Twenty-fifth Amendment, ratified in 1967,
  required the president to nominate a replacement
  vice president, who must be approved by a
  majority vote of the House and the Senate.
• Gerald Ford was nominated by President Nixon in
  1973 after the resignation of Vice President
  Spiro T. Agnew.

6
Presidential Term Limits

• For a century-and-a-half, presidents followed the
  precedent established by George Washington when
  he stepped down after two terms.
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt, however, was
  elected to four terms.
• The Twenty-second Amendment (1951) limits the
  president to two elected terms.

7
Presidential Term Limits (Contd)
8
Presidential Term Limits (Contd)

• Term Limits
• Term limits enforce turnover and open opportunity
  for new leadership, but they also act as a gate
  that prevents voters from reelecting a popular
  president whom they want to stay in office.
• Lame Duck
• Because a president in his/her second term cannot
  seek reelection, he/she commonly is referred to
  as a lame duck.
• Lame duck status has the advantage of giving the
  president more political freedom, but the
  disadvantage of making him less directly
  responsive to public opinion.

9
Background and Experience

• The clearest path to the White House is through
  the office of the vice president, but most
  presidents have some combination of service in
  the military, state legislatures, as governor, in
  the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, or
  in prior presidential administrations.

10
The States Where Presidents Were Born
11
The Expansion of the Presidency

• The Constitution did not grant the office of
  president too much in the way of unchecked
  powers. However, as the power of the country
  grew so, too, did the power of the presidency.
• The historian and presidential adviser Arthur
  Schlesinger Jr. used the term imperial presidency
  to describe the power of the president to speak
  for the nation on the world stage and to set the
  policy agenda at home.

12
Presidential Power

• The Framers expected that the executive branch
  would be smaller and less powerful and did not
  believe it was necessary to enumerate the
  executive powers as they did with the legislative
  powers.
• In Article II, they vested the president with a
  general grant of executive power and then,
  later in the article, stated certain additional
  powers and responsibilities of the executive.
• It is this general grant of executive power that
  has allowed the presidency to become the powerful
  office it is today.

13
Comparison of Legislative and Executive Authority
under the Constitution
14
Commander in Chief

• The president is the commander in chief of the
  armed forces of the United States.
• The president directs all war efforts and
  military conflicts.
• Congress, however, has the power to officially
  declare war and to authorize funding for the war
  effort.

15
Power to Pardon

• The president has the power to grant clemency, or
  mercy, for crimes against the United States,
  except in the case of impeachment from federal
  office.
• Clemency is a broad term that includes a pardon,
  which is forgiving an offense altogether, and a
  commutation, which is shortening a federal prison
  sentence.

16
Treaties and Recognition of Foreign Nations

• The president or his designated representative
  has the power to negotiate and sign treaties with
  foreign nations.
• For a treaty to be valid, two-thirds of all
  Senators must approve it.
• There have been notable treaties that the Senate
  has refused to approve
• the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I,
  signed by President Woodrow Wilson (19131921).
• Kyoto Protocol on climate change, signed by Vice
  President Al Gore who was representing President
  Bill Clinton (19932001).

17
Appointments and Judicial Nominations

• The president has the power to appoint all
  federal officers, including cabinet secretaries,
  heads of independent agencies, and ambassadors.
  The president also nominates judges in the
  federal judicial system.
• The nominations must be approved by the Senate.
• Recess appointments may be made when the Senate
  is not in session. This has become a tool for
  Presidents to push through nominees who had been
  filibustered in the Senate.
• The president has the power to fire federal
  officers, but not to remove judges, who can be
  removed only by impeachment.

18
Veto and the Veto Override

• The President has the power to veto bills passed
  by Congress before they become law, by refusing
  to sign them and sending them back to the chamber
  in which they originated, with his objections.
• If Congress will be going out of session within
  ten days, he can simply not sign the bill, a
  practice known as a pocket veto.
• In cases where the president refuses to sign the
  bill but Congress remains in session, the bill is
  enacted into law.
• To counter the power of the veto, the Framers
  gave Congress the veto override, the power to
  overturn a presidential veto with a two-thirds
  vote in each chamber.
• The veto is the most direct way that the
  president checks the power of Congress.

19
Presidential Vetoes
20
Presidential Vetoes (Contd)
21
Other Powers

• The president works within this framework of
  formal powers and constraints to lead the nation,
  and in doing so, becomes the chief agenda setter
  for domestic and foreign policy.
• Smaller tasks assigned to the president in the
  Constitution have evolved into powerful tools for
  influencing legislation.
• One tool is the State of the Union address.
• Over the last century, presidents have turned
  this obligation into an opportunity to outline a
  broad policy agenda for the nation.  

22
Impeachment and Censure

• Congresss ultimate check on the executive and
  judicial branches is its power to remove
  officials and judges from office by impeachment
  and censure.
• The president, vice president, and high officials
  are subject to impeachment for Treason, Bribery,
  or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

23
Impeachment and Censure (Contd)

• Impeachment is a two-step process.
• First, a majority of the House of Representatives
  votes to bring formal charges against the
  president.
• Second, the Senate conducts the trial, with the
  chief justice presiding.
• Only two presidents have been impeached, Andrew
  Johnson and William Jefferson Clinton. Neither
  were censured.
• President Nixon faced impeachment, but resigned
  before the proceedings were complete.

24
Impeachment Trial of President Bill Clinton
Stemming from charges that he lied under oath in
his testimony in the Paula Jones case, President
Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of
Representatives on December 19, 1998. In a
trial that began the following month in the
Senate, presided over by Chief Justice William
Rehnquist, the president was acquitted.
25
The Growth of Executive Influence

• Presidents use the executive power to issue
  presidential directives that give specific
  instructions on a federal policy that does not
  require congressional approval.
• Executive Orders
• Proclamations
• Military orders
• Repeal of Dont Ask, Dont Tell

26
The Oval Office and the Presidential Seal
The power of the presidency is symbolized by the
unique presidential seal, which is emblazoned on
the rug used in the Oval Office during the George
W. Bush administration. The Oval Office,
located in the West Wing of the White House,
evokes the enormous power vested in a single,
elected official.
27
Executive Orders

• The most well-known type of directive is the
  executive order, which can be used for a wide
  range of purposes.
• Executive orders instruct federal employees to
  take a specific action or implement a policy in a
  particular way.
• In 1948, President Harry Truman integrated the
  armed forces with Executive Order 9981.
• President Dwight D. Eisenhower used a combination
  of executive orders, proclamations, and military
  orders to enforce school integration in Little
  Rock, Arkansas.

28
101st Airborne in Little Rock
In September 1957, in a move that demonstrated
federal power over state power as well as the
authority of the commander in chief, President
Dwight D. Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne
Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect
nine African- American students attempting to
attend previously all-white Central High
School. He also nationalized the Arkansas
National Guard for the same purpose.
29
Presidential Directives on National Security

• In foreign and military affairs, presidents can
  issue presidential directives on national
  security, which have a similar purpose to
  executive orders.
• These directives can announce specific sanctions
  against individuals  who are considered enemies
  of the United States or make larger statements
  about U.S. policy toward a foreign country.  
• President George W. Bush used this power
  frequently.
• In 2001, Bush used this power to create military
  tribunals that would try suspected enemy
  combatants and terrorists, rather than allowing
  them to be tried in a regular military court

30
Signing Statements

• When a president signs a bill into law, he can
  issue signing statements i.e., written remarks
  that reflect his interpretation of the law.
• Signing statements can be classified as
  nonconstitutional and constitutional.
• Nonconstitutional statements are symbolic,
  celebrating the passage of the law or providing
  technical instructions.
• Constitutional statements are used to indicate a
  disagreement with Congress on specific provisions
  in the bill.
• Statements may go so far as to say that the
  President refuses to implement specific
  provisions of a bill.

31
Presidential Signing Statements, 19692010
32
Power to Persuade

• Presidents understand that communicating well
  with the public is essential to building support
  for their policies.
• Bully Pulpit
• A Bully Pulpit provides the president the
  opportunity to use his office to make a public
  argument in favor or against a policy.
• Press conferences are one important way of
  sustaining a relationship with the media, and
  presidents have tried to use them to their
  advantage.

33
Theodore Roosevelt Using the Bully Pulpit
President Theodore Roosevelt was a
larger-than-life figure who challenged
corporate monopolies, sought to strengthen U.S.
international power, and increased
federal efforts at land conservation. He was
known for using the office of the president as
a bully pulpit to persuade the public to support
his policies.
34
Factors Affecting Presidential Persuasion

• Several factors affect a presidents power to
  persuade.
• Approval Ratings
• Lawmakers are more likely to pass a presidents
  policy proposal when his approval rating is high,
  and they are less cooperative when the president
  is unpopular.

35
Agenda Setting

• The president has the power to focus the nations
  attention on his ideas and policy proposals.
• In dealing with foreign powers, the president is
  head of state and commander in chief.
• As head of state, the president oversees a vast
  organization of employees in the State Department
  and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative
  (USTR) who lay the groundwork for negotiations
  with foreign leaders on issues ranging from
  nuclear weapons control to trade policy.
• The president is the public face and authority
  behind U.S. foreign policy decisions.

36
Agenda Setting (Contd)

• In the area of domestic policy, the president
  uses the following tools to advance his agenda
• State of the Union address
• federal budget
• Executive Appointments
• the bully pulpit
• executive power to propose and implement laws
• veto power

37
Federal Budget

• The president issues his federal budget in early
  February, shortly after he delivers the State of
  the Union address.
• It is a blueprint that indicates his spending
  priorities for all areas of the federal
  government.
• Congress is not bound by the Presidents budget,
  but he can veto the budget they pass so it is a
  tool of negotiation.

38
The President in Wartime

• The Constitution gives Congress the power to
  declare war, but it has been the practice for
  presidents to formally ask Congress for a
  declaration of war first.
• Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• Congress passed the resolution with only two
  dissenting votes, few restrictions, and no time
  limit on how long the United States would stay
  involved in the conflict.
• By 1971, Congress had repealed the Tonkin Gulf
  Resolution.

39
The War Powers Act

• The War Powers Act states that the president
  cannot send troops into military conflict for
  more than 90 days without seeking a formal
  declaration of war from Congress.
• This was designed to limit the power of the
  President to act militarily without Congressional
  Approval.
• A president could send troops into a conflict and
  simply not report it to Congress, thereby
  avoiding a trigger of the War Powers Act.
• The act did not really give Congress the power to
  end a military conflict except by denying all
  funding for it.
• Iraq and Afghanistan

40
Power Struggles between the President and the
Judiciary

• Power struggles between the president and the
  judiciary in wartime generally focus on civil
  liberties.
• The most recent clashes between the president and
  the judiciary over wartime powers arose during
  President George W. Bushs declared global war
  on terrorism.
• Military tribunals and exemption from Geneva
  Convention
• The Court ruled that the Bush Administration did
  not have the authority to order that suspected
  terrorists be tried by military tribunals and
  that it would be a violation of both military law
  and the Geneva Convention.
• Hamdi v the United States
• The Court rejected the Bush administration
  attempts to deny habeas corpus to an enemy
  combatant who was a U.S. citizen.
• The Court also extended habeas corpus protection
  to enemy combatants who were NOT U.S. citizens.

41
The Executive Office of the President

• The president runs a large organization known as
  the Executive Office of the President (EOP).
  Several key organizations that report directly to
  him are
• the White House Office,
• Office of Management and Budget (OMB),
• National Security Council (NSC), and
• Council of Economic Advisers (CEA)

42
The Executive Office of the President (Contd)

• The growth of the Executive Office in the past 75
  years is stunning.
• President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had only 60
  employees.
• President George W. Bush had more than 5000
  people working directly or indirectly for him.
• The Obama administration is expected to equal
  George W. Bushs number.

43
The Chief of Staff

• A tightly organized White House staff
  organization yields a productive presidency, and
  the chief of staff is central to that effort in
  several ways.
• He/she controls the flow of staff and paperwork
  and focuses the presidents attention on key
  issues
• He/she monitors the coherence of presidential
  policies across cabinet departments and can serve
  as a referee for disagreements among members of
  the presidents senior staff
• He/she forms bridges between the president and
  Congress.

44
The Office of the Vice President

• Traditionally, the office of the vice president
  has not had many important responsibilities.
• Each vice president tries to carve out a role
  that he is most comfortable with, and that the
  president finds acceptable.
• Even if a vice president exerts influence, the
  people hold the president accountable for the
  actions and policies of his administration.

45
Presidential Greatness

• The American people like to rank their
  presidents, and scholars also assess presidential
  greatness.
• In order for Presidents to be great they should
  have the following attributes
• clarity of vision for policy,
• communication and negotiation skills, and
• display effective use of presidential power

46
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
47
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Contd)

• To combat the effects of the depression, FDR had
  a clear policy vision, which he called the New
  Deal.
• He got Congress to pass legislation that
  radically altered the size and shape of the
  federal government.
• He created various job programs, including the
  Conservation Corps, the Works Progress
  Administration, and the Tennessee Valley
  Authority, all of which both employed and trained
  workers.
• He expanded the governments role in regulating
  the economy.
• Securities and Exchange Commission
• National Labor Relations Act
• Social Security
• He frequently used the bully pulpit.
• He invented the fireside chat, a radio address to
  voters explaining the reasoning behind his
  governing decisions.

48
Lyndon Baines Johnson
49
Lyndon Baines Johnson (Contd)

• President Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) focused his
  mission on improving race relations and ending
  poverty.
• The Great Society was built on the infrastructure
  of FDRs New Deal, but went much further in
  connecting the individual to the federal
  government.
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Fair Housing Act of 1968
• Medicare and Medicaid
• Food Stamp Program
• School Lunch Program
• Head Start
• Jobs Corps
• Elementary and Secondary Education Act

50
Ronald Reagan
51
Ronald Reagan (Contd)

• Reagan believed that the combined effect of the
  New Deal with the Great Society had sapped
  individual initiative and responsibility, and he
  mounted an aggressive campaign to scale back
  federal programs that provided benefits to
  individuals.
• Tax cuts were the first thing on Reagans agenda.
• He reasoned that if taxes went down, the economy
  would flourish.
• He knew that if tax revenue went down, and
  spending increased, federal budget deficits would
  be created.
• These deficits would give him justification for
  proposing cuts in entitlement programs.
• He took a firm stand against the Soviet Union.
• He was known as the Great Communicator because
  he came across very well on television, and he
  was able to give engaging, persuasive, and even
  comforting speeches.

52
The President and Public Policy

• Beginning with Theodore Roosevelt and
  accelerating under Franklin Roosevelt, presidents
  have led federal intervention in the economy.
• Regulating business practices
• Ensuring workplace safety
• Overseeing banking and finance
• Constructing a safety net of unemployment and
  disability benefits

53
Fiscal Policy

• Government can use fiscal policy to intervene in
  the economy that is, by manipulating the money
  supply through taxing and spending.
• Increasing spending or decreasing taxes increases
  the money supply.
• This is done to ward off recession.
• Decreasing spending or increasing taxes decreases
  the money supply.
• This is done to ward off or reduce inflation.

54
Stakeholders in Taxing and Spending
55
Taxes

• As chief executive of the federal government, the
  president must make decisions about fiscal policy
  in terms of taxes and federal spending.
• The Internal Revenue Service, a unit in the
  Department of the Treasury, monitors the payment
  of federal taxes.
• Republican presidents have typically wanted to
  lower all taxes, a policy that provides less
  revenue to the federal government and, in theory,
  decreases federal spending.
• Democratic presidents have typically wanted to
  cut taxes for individuals with lower incomes and
  to raise taxes on wealthier citizens to support
  federal programs.

56
Monetary Policy

• The president is limited in his power to directly
  influence the nations economic condition because
  monetary policy is in reality under the control
  of the Federal Reserve Board, an independent
  agency.
• The Federal Reserve Board can increase or
  decrease the money supply using monetary policy.
• When the Federal Reserve increases reserve
  requirements, banks have less money to lend, and
  the money supply decreases.
• When the Federal Reserve decreases reserve
  requirements, banks have more money to lend, and
  thus the money supply increases.
• The chair of the Federal Reserve is nominated by
  the president, and in this way the president has
  some influence over the direction of monetary
  policy.

57
A Comparison of Tax and Monetary Policy
58
Focus Questions

• In what ways is the president held accountable,
  both individually and for the collective
  economic, military, and social condition of the
  federal government?
• How responsive is the presidency as a democratic
  office? How can the president address the vital
  public policy concerns of the American people?
• What opportunities are there for the average
  person to influence the decisions of the
  president?
• What powers does the president have to ensure
  equality across all citizens?
• Is the modern presidency a gate, or a gateway, to
  democracy?