Notes on Executive branch

1. Executive Branch

2. Duties of the President
• The constitution grants the president:
– power as commander in chief of the armed
forces,
– the authority to appoint—with Senate’s
consent—heads of executive
departments, federal court judges, and
other top officials,
– the duty to ensure that all the laws of the
United States are faithfully executed, and
– lawmaking power.

3. Presidential Qualifications
• Article II, Section 1 defines the formal
requirements for the presidency:
– a natural-born citizen of the United States
– at least 35 years old
– a resident of the United States for at least
14 years
• The same requirements apply to the vice
president.

4. Presidential Succession
• After John F. Kennedy was assassinated in
1963, the nation realized that the
Constitution’s rules for presidential
successionwere inadequate.
• In 1967, the Twenty-fifth Amendment was
ratified to clarify success to the presidency
and vice presidency.
Line of Presidential Succession

5. Figure 1

6. The Vice President’s Role
• The Constitution gives the vice president two
duties:
– The vice president presides over the
Senate and votes in that body in case of a
tie.
– Under the Twenty-fifth Amendment, the vice
president helps decide whether the
president is disabled and acts as president
should that happen.

7. The Vice President’s Role (cont.)
• Before the Eisenhower administration, the
vice presidency was almost a purely
ceremonial office.
• Vice presidents today now often participate in
policy meetings, undertake special
assignments, and are members of the
National Security Council.

8. Selection of the Cabinet
• The president appoints the secretaries that
head the 15 major executive departments.
• The 15 secretaries, the vice president, and
several other top officials make up the
cabinet.
• Cabinet secretaries advise the president, but
they also serve as the administrators of large
bureaucracies.

9. Selection of the Cabinet (cont.)
• Before making final cabinet
decisions, members of the president-elect’s
team may leak, or deliberately disclose, some
candidates’ names to the news media to test
the reaction of Congress, interest groups, and
the public.

10. The Role of the Cabinet
• Each cabinet member is responsible for the
executive department that he or she heads.
• As a group, the cabinet is intended to serve
as an advisory body to the president.
• Throughout history, the cabinet’s role in
decision making depended on the president’s
wishes.
Historical and Political
Reasons for Cabinet Status

11. The Role of the Cabinet (cont.)
• Though several recent presidents have
attempted to increase the cabinet’s role, most
have ended up going elsewhere for advice.
Historical and Political
Reasons for Cabinet Status

12. The Role of the Cabinet (cont.)
• Some cabinet members—known as the ―inner
cabinet‖—have greater influence because
their departments are concerned with the
most sensitive national issues. They include:
– secretary of state,
– secretary of defense,
– secretary of treasury, and
– the attorney general.
Historical and Political
Reasons for Cabinet Status

13. Figure 1

14. Figure 4

15. `
Executive Office Agencies
• The Executive Office of the President (EOP)
was created by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt and Congress in 1939 to serve the
needs of each administration.
• Today the EOP staffs include
attorneys, scientists, social scientists, and
other highly technical or professional
personnel.
Executive Office
Employees, 1948-Present

16. Executive Office Agencies (cont.)
• The Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
prepares the national budget for the
president, who then presents it to Congress.
• The OMB also reviews all legislative
proposals that executive agencies prepare.
This review is called central clearance.
Executive Office
Employees, 1948-Present

17. Executive Office Agencies (cont.)
• Congress created the National Security
Council (NSC) to advise the president and to
coordinate U.S. military and foreign policy.
• A special assistant, theNational Security
Advisor, directs the NSC staff.
Executive Office
Employees, 1948-Present

18. Executive Office Agencies (cont.)
• President George W. Bush created the Office
of Homeland Security within the EOP to
coordinate the activities of a majority of the
federal agencies that were working to fight
terrorism.
Executive Office
Employees, 1948-Present

19. Figure 2

20. Executive Office Agencies (cont.)
• The Council of Economic Advisers was
created to assess the nation’s economic
health, predict future economic
conditions, and support other executive
agencies that are involved in economic
planning.
Executive Office
Employees, 1948-Present

21. The White House Office
• The White House staff is chosen by the
president without Senate confirmation.
• White House aides perform whatever duties
the president assigns them.
• The press secretary heads a staff that
handles relations with the press corps, sets
up press conferences, and issues public
statements.
• Recent presidents have given top White
House staff more authority over policymaking.

22. Chapter Summary start

23. Figure 2

26. Constitutional Powers (cont.)
• Article II, Sections 2 and 3 define the
president’s powers:
– The president is commander in chief of
the armed forces, responsible for
national security.
– The president appoints, and the Senate
confirms, the heads of executive
departments.
Comparing Governments

27. Constitutional Powers (cont.)
– The president conducts foreign policy—
making treaties (with the Senate’s
approval) and appointing ambassadors.
– The president appoints federal court
judges, can pardon those convicted of
federal crimes and can reduce a
person’s jail sentence or fine.
Comparing Governments

28. Constitutional Powers (cont.)
– The president ensures that the laws
Congress passes are ―faithfully executed.‖
– The president delivers an annual State of
the Union message to Congress, proposes
legislation, and can call Congress into
special session when necessary.
Comparing Governments

29. Informal Sources of Power
• A number of presidents have expanded
the powers of the executive because of
their beliefs about the office.
– Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana
Territory from France.
– Theodore Roosevelt said that the president
has the right and duty to ―do anything that
the needs of the Nation demanded, unless
such action was forbidden by the
Constitution or by the laws.‖

30. Informal Sources of Power (cont.)
– During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln
suspended the writ of habeas corpus and
jailed opponents of the Union without trial
or the legal authority to do so.
– During the Great Depression Franklin D.
Roosevelt expanded the role of the federal
government in the economy.

31. Informal Sources of Power (cont.)
– Following the terrorist attacks of
2001, George W. Bush gained sweeping
authority from Congress to fight terrorism.
• A mandate—the expressed will of the
people, often in an election—is one of the
greatest sources of political power.
• Major newspapers, magazines and the
Internet provide a forum, or medium for
discussion, for presidential messages.

32. Limits on Executive Power
• Congress can limit the president’s authority.
– Congress can pass legislation even after a
president has vetoed it.
– The Senate must confirm a president’s
appointees.
– The House of Representatives must
approve the budget.
– The House and the Senate can use the
impeachment process to remove the
president from office.

33. Limits on Executive Power (cont.)
I
Marburyv. Madison, the Supreme Court said that
it had the right to the final interpretation of
whether an act of the legislature or the
president violates the Constitution.
• The federal bureaucracy can obstruct
presidents’ programs unintentionally by
failing to provide needed information, by
misinterpreting instructions, and by not
completing a task properly.

34. Limits on Executive Power (cont.)
• Public opinion can also affect a president.
Without favorable public opinion, no
president can carry out a political program.

35. Head of State
• As head of state, the president represents the
nation and performs many ceremonial roles.
• The president is the nation’s chief diplomat.
• As a living symbol of the nation, the president
is not just a single individual, but the
collective image of the United States.

36. Chief Executive
• As the nation’s chief executive, the
president sees that the laws of Congress
are carried out.
• Presidents have several tools to influence
how laws are carried out:
– executive orders, or rules that have the
force of law,
– the power to appoint people to important
offices in the executive branch,

37. Chief Executive (cont.)
– the right to fire officials they have appointed,
– impoundmentof funds—refusing to allow a
federal department or agency to spend
money Congress has appropriated, and
– the power to appoint officials to the
judiciary.

38. Chief Executive (cont.)
• The president can also grant reprieves and
pardons for offenses against the United
States.
– A reprievegrants a postponement of
legal punishment.
– A pardonis a release from legal
punishment.

39. Chief Executive (cont.)
• The president may grant amnesty—
a group pardon to people for an offense
against the government, often in a military
situation.

40. Chief Legislator
• Congress expects the executive branch to
propose legislation it wishes to see enacted.
• Usually the president describes a legislative
program in the annual State of the Union
message to Congress.
• The president has a large staff to help write
legislation.
• An important presidential tool in lawmaking is
the power to veto any bill the Congress sends
for approval.

41. Economic Planner
• The Employment Act of 1946 gave new
duties to the president:
– It directed the president to submit an
annual economic report to Congress.
– It created a Council of Economic Advisers
to study the economy and help prepare a
report for the president.

42. Economic Planner (cont.)
– It said that the federal government was
responsible for promoting high
employment, production, and purchasing
power.
• It is the president’s duty to prepare an
annual budget.

43. Party Leader
• The president’s party expects the chief
executive to be a party leader.
• Presidents are expected to appoint members
of their party to government jobs.
• Political patronage, or appointment to a
political office, rewards the people who have
helped get a president elected.
• If a president appears to act in a partisan way
the media and public may be critical.

44. Chief Diplomat
• The president directs the foreign policy of
the United States, making key decisions
about the relations the United States has
with other countries of the world.
• A struggle continues between the president
and Congress over who will exercise control
of the country’s foreign policy.
• The ability to take decisive action has added
greatly to the power of the presidency in
foreign affairs.

45. Chief Diplomat (cont.)
• As chief diplomat, the president has sole
power to negotiate and sign treaties—
formal agreements between the
governments of two or more countries.
• Two-thirds of the Senate must approve of all
treaties before they can go into effect.
• The president has the authority to make
executive agreements —pacts between the
president and the head of a foreign
government.

46. Chief Diplomat (cont.)
• Executive agreements have the same legal
status as treaties but do not require Senate
consent.
• The president decides whether the U.S. will
recognize governments of other countries.

47. Commander in Chief
• The president shares with Congress the
power to make war.
• The president is responsible for the key
military decisions that represent overall policy
and strategy.
• The president has the authority to order the
use of nuclear weapons.
• During war, Congress is likely to give the
president special powers at home as well as
abroad.

48. Increased Responsibilities
• The Founders originally intended for the
Congress, not the president, to lead the
nation.
• Instead the powers and duties of the
president have grown steadily over the
years.
• Public opinion surveys clearly show that
Americans look to the president to keep the
peace and to solve economic and social
problems.

49. Leadership Qualities and Skills
• A president must know and understand the
American people.
• When a president has public
support, presidential proposals and policies
are better received by Congress than when
the public holds a president in low regard.
• Successful presidents must be able to
communicate effectively and to present their
ideas in a way that inspires public support.

50. Leadership Qualities and Skills (cont.)
• A successful president must know when the
time is right to introduce a new policy, make
a key decision, or to delay such actions.
• Good leadership also requires the capacity
to be flexible and open to new ideas.
• A successful president must be able to
recognize that sometimes they have to
settle for legislation that provides only part
of the programs they want.

51. Leadership Qualities and Skills (cont.)
• Successful presidents need political courage
to go against public opinion to do what they
think is best.

52. Presidential Isolation (cont.)
• One of President Reagan’s staffers called
Reagan’s chief of staff the de facto
president, meaning that although he did not
legally hold the office, he exercised the
power as if he were president.
• President Reagan’s isolation made it
believable when he claimed he was unaware
of the covert, or secret, activities of his
National Security Council staff in the Iran-
Contra affair.

53. Presidential Isolation (cont.)
• Keeping in direct touch with the public can be
very difficult for a modern president.
• The need for the cabinet members to protect
the interests of their departments and the
constituent groups they serve always
influences the advice they give.

54. Executive Privilege
• To keep their White House discussions
confidential, modern presidents have
sometimes used executive privilege—
the right of the president and other high-
ranking executive officers, with the
president’s consent, to refuse to provide
information to congress or a Court.
• Presidents claim executive privilege is
necessary to protect their communication
with executive branch staff.

55. Executive Privilege (cont.)
• As more policy has been made in the
Executive Office of the President, the
constitutionality and limits of executive
privilege have become controversial.

56. Chapter Summary
Roles of the President
• Head of State—Performs ceremonial roles
• Chief Executive—Sees that laws of Congress are
carried out
• Chief Legislator—Proposes legislation
• Economic Planner—Prepares federal budget
• Party Leader—Supports party members
• Chief Diplomat—Directs foreign policy
• Commander in Chief—Commands armed forces of
the United States

57. Chapter Summary
Presidential Leadership Skills
• Understanding of the public
• Ability to communicate
• Sense of timing
• Openness to new ideas
• Ability to compromise
• Political courage

58. Figure 1

59. Figure 6

60. Figure 3