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Chapter 12 The Presidency
WHO GOVERNS? 1. Did the Founders expect the presidency to be the most important political institution? 2. How important is the president’s character in determining how he governs?
TO WHAT ENDS? 1. Should we abolish the electoral college? 2. Is it harder to govern when the presidency and the Congress are controlled by different political parties? Copyright © 2011 Cengage
Presidents and Prime Ministers
Presidents are Often Outsiders Presidents Choose Cabinet Members from Outside Congress Presidents Have No Guaranteed Majority in Congress
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The first cabinet: left to right, Secretary of War Henry Knox, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Attorney General Edmund Randolph, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, and President George Washington. p. 360
Bettmann/Corbis
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Divided Government
Divided government – One party controls the White House and another party controls one or both houses of Congress Unified government – The same party controls the White House and both houses of Congress Does gridlock matter? Is policy gridlock bad? Copyright © 2011 Cengage
Copyright © 2011 Cengage
The Evolution of the Presidency
Concerns of the Founders The Electoral College The President’s Term of Office The First Presidents The Jacksonians The Re-emergence of Congress
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America witnessed peaceful transfers of power not only between leaders of different parties (such as Woodrow Wilson and William Howard Taft in 1913), but also after a popular leader was assassinated (Lyndon Johnson is sworn in after John F. Kennedy’s death). p. 366
Library of Congress
Cecil Stoughton/White House/AP Photo
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The Powers of the President
Mark Wilson/Getty Images News/Getty Images
A military officer carrying “the football” – the briefcase containing the secret codes the president can use to launch a nuclear attack. p. 370
Powers of the President Alone Powers the President Shares with the Senate Powers the President Shares with Congress as a Whole
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The Office of the President
The White House Office • Pyramid structure • Circular structure • Ad hoc structure
The Executive Office of the President The Cabinet Independent Agencies, Commissions, and Judgeships Copyright © 2011 Cengage
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2009, table 481.
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Who Gets Appointed
Prior federal experience “In-and-outers” Political following Expertise/ administrative experience
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Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins (left), appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt, was the first woman cabinet member.
Bettmann/CORBIS
When Condoleezza Rice was selected by President George W. Bush to be National Security Advisor, she became the first woman to hold that position (and later the first African American woman to be Secretary of State). p. 378
Bob Daemmrich/PhotoEdit
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Presidential Character
Dwight Eisenhower John Kennedy Lyndon Johnson Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Bush Barack Obama
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The Power to Persuade
The Three Audiences • Fellow politicians and leaders • Partisan grassroots • The public
Popularity and Influence The Decline in Popularity
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Alex Wong/Getty Images
President Bush shakes hands with Speaker Nancy Pelosi after his State of the Union address. p. 380
Sources: Updated from Congressional Quarterly, Guide to U.S. Elections, 928; and Congress and the Nation, vol. 4 (1973– 1976), 28. Copyright © 2011 Cengage
Figure 14.2 Presidential Victories on Votes in Congress, 1953–2006
Note: Percentages indicate number of congressional votes supporting the president divided by the total number of votes on which the president has taken a position. Sources: Congressional Quarterly Almanac (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, various years); Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report (CQ Weekly) (1992), 3894; (1993), 3473; (1994), 3620; (1996), 3428; (1998), 14; (1999), 76, 2972; (2001) 54; (2002), 142, 3237; (2004), 54–55, 2947–2948; (2006), 87; (2007), 50. Copyright © 2011 Cengage
The Power to Say No
Veto • Veto message • Pocket veto • Line-item veto
Executive Privilege Impoundment of Funds Signing Statements Copyright © 2011 Cengage
Source: Norman J. Ornstein, Thomas E. Mann, and Michael J. Malbin, Vital Statistics on Congress, 2001– 2002 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2001), 207 (updated). Copyright © 2011 Cengage
Source: Norman J. Ornstein, Thomas E. Mann, and Michael J. Malbin, Vital Statistics on Congress, 2002–2003 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2003), 207 (updated).
Copyright © 2011 Cengage
Copyright © 2011 Cengage
The President’s Program
Putting Together a Program • Interest groups • Aides and campaign advisers • Federal bureaus and agencies • Outside, academic, other specialists and experts
Attempts to Reorganize
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Scherl/SV-Bilderdeinst/The image Works
A group of Civilian Conservation Corps workers hired by the government during the Great Depression. p. 390 Copyright © 2011 Cengage
Presidential Transition
Michael Evans/The White House
The Vice President Problems of Succession Impeachment Lame duck
President Reagan, moments before he was shot on March 30, 1981, by a would-be assassin. The Twenty-fifth Amendment solves the problem of presidential disability by providing for an orderly transfer of power to the vice president. p. 392 Copyright © 2011 Cengage
WHAT WOULD YOU DO? MEMORANDUM To: Delegate James Nagle From: Amy Wilson, legal staff Subject: Six-year presidential term
The proposal to give the president a single six-year term is perhaps the most popular amendment now before the convention. Polls suggest that it is supported by a sizable percentage of the American people.
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WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Arguments for: 1. Today, a president no sooner learns the ropes after being elected for the first time than he or she has to start preparing for the next election. A six-year term will give the president a chance to govern for several years after learning how to be president. This will lessen the extent to which political pressures dictate what the president does. 2. Limited to a single term, the president need not cater to special-interest groups or the media in deciding on policy. He or she can concentrate on what is good for the country. 3. Many states have limited their governors to a single term.
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WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Arguments against: 1. It is the need to win reelection that keeps the president (like any politician) attentive to what the people want. A president unable to succeed himself or herself will be tempted to ignore public opinion. 2. Limiting a president to a single term will not free him or her from the need to play to the media or special-interest groups, since the formal powers of the presidency are too weak to permit the incumbent to govern without the aid of Congress and the press. 3. There is no evidence that presidents (such as Dwight Eisenhower) who served a second term knowing that they could not run for reelection did a better or less “political” job in the second term than in the first. Copyright © 2011 Cengage
WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Your decision:
Favor amendment? Oppose amendment?
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How Powerful is the President? Presidential rules of thumb for dealing with political problems: • Move it or lose it. • Avoid details. • Cabinets don’t get much accomplished; people do. Copyright © 2011 Cengage
Susan Walsh/AP Photo
Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president. p. 396
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