To Accompany Comprehensive, Alternate, and Texas Editions

American Government: Roots and Reform, 10th edition

Karen O’Connor and Larry J. Sabato

Pearson Education, 2009

Chapter 8

The Presidency

How does this cartoon illustrate Nixon’s comment that “Those on the right can do what only those on the left can only talk about”?

Roots of the Presidency

No chief executive under Articles of

Confederation.

Natural-born citizen, 35 years old.

Two four-year terms, per Twenty-Second

Amendment.

Little attention to vice president.

Can be impeached by Congress.

Order of succession in Twenty-Fifth Amendment.

Constitutional Powers

More limited than Article I powers of Congress.

Appointments to executive, Cabinet, and judiciary.

Convene Congress.

Make treaties or executive agreements.

Veto legislation; no line-item veto.

Act as commander in chief of armed forces.

Pardon individuals accused of crimes.

Constitutional Powers

More limited than Article I powers of Congress.

Appointments to executive, Cabinet, and judiciary.

Convene Congress.

Make treaties or executive agreements.

Veto legislation; no line-item veto.

Act as commander in chief of armed forces.

Pardon individuals accused of crimes.

Executive Orders and Signing Statements

• 1978 Presidential Records Act to ‘need to know basis’

• Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Obama– E.O. on stem cell research and freedom of

conscience provision in Hyde Amendment, and federal funding of Planned Parenthood

• Youngstown Sheet and Tube V. Sawyer– Truman seized mills, mines and factories– Crucial to continue war efforts in Korean War

Presidential Qualifications• Age 35• 14 Years residency• Natural born citizen

– Diplomats were often out of country• Two terms standard established by Washington

– Fear of constitutional monarch– 22nd Amendment – due to FDR four term election

• 2 – 4 year terms• Vice President can serve for 10 years• Ratified 1951

• Ben Franklin supported impeachment– Without, assassination would be more prevalent

Executive Privilege

Executive Privilege invoked first by Washington

– The Battle of Wabash defeat– Washington eventual relinquished

•First established as a legal right in:U.S. v. Nixon (1974)

Watergate - Court rules E.P. cannot be exercised

• Must comply with court order for evidence in a crime

Roles of the President

Chief law enforcer.

Leader of the party.

Commander in chief.

Shaper of domestic policy.

Player in legislative process.

Chief of state.

Establishing Presidential Power

George Washington sets precedent.

Claimed inherent powers for national

government.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson follow lead.

Andrew Jackson asserts power through veto.

Abraham Lincoln uses Civil War to expand office.

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal ushers in new

era.

George Washington

• Chief Executive– Whiskey Rebellion

(taxes)• Est.Federal Supremacy

– Cabinet System

• Chief Diplomat– Foreign Relations

• England v France War• Established idea of

strict neutrality• Inherent powers

Thomas JeffersonInformal Exercise of Power

• Chief Executive• Louisiana Purchase

– Inherent power to acquire territory

• Over objections of Congress

– Congress has duty of admitting new states to the Union

Theodore RooseveltInformal Exercise of Power

• Stated the President has the right and duty to “do anything that the needs of the Nation demanded, unless such was forbidden by the Constitution or by the laws.”

Andrew Jackson

• Chief Legislator– 12 vetoes– Appointed members

of Congress to cabinet positions as reward

• Chief Executive– 12 states added to

Union– Expanded Post Office

• Communicator– Common man’s man– Jacksonian

Democracy

Abraham LincolnImmediate Needs of the

Nation• Chief Executive

– Wartime president• Did what was necessary

to preserve the union

– Ignored Congress• Suspended habeas corpus• Expanded army passed

Congressional limits• Blockade of southern

ports (act of war)• Closed U.S. Mail to

treasonable correspondence

Franklin Delano RooseveltImmediate Needs of the

Nation• Legislator/Economic

Planner– Expanded role of

government due to Great Depression

– New Deal legislation• Social and economic

programs to create jobs

– Established Executive Office of the President

– Set up Federal Agencies to regulate industry

• 600,000 employees 1933 to 3 million in 1945

Lyndon Johnson (LBJ)

• Commander in Chief– Gulf of Tonkin

Resolution• Congress grants

power to escalate Viet Nam War

• Legislator– Civil Rights

Legislation– Great Society

Harry S. Truman• Legislator

– Seized the steel industry

Ronald ReaganUse of the Media

• Television, radio, newspapers, White House Website

• Medial provides a forum for presidential messages

• “The Great Communicator”

Jimmy Carter

• Judicial Power– Amnesty to draft

dodgers from Viet Nam War

• Chief Diplomat– Panama Canal

• Returned to Panama

George W. Bush

• Commander-in-Chief– Iraq Resolution– Axis of Evil (Korea,

Pakistan, Iraq, Iran)

• Chief Executive– Department of

Homeland Security

• Legislator– Patriot Act

Presidential Establishment

Growing power of the vice president.

Cabinet advisors to deal with a variety of issues.

First ladies act as informal advisors.

Executive Office of the President.

White House staff directly responsible to

president.

Vice President

• Carries more responsibility than in the past– Dick Cheney considered most powerful V.P.– Walter Mondale (Jimmy Carter’s V.P.) was first to

have more than just ceremonial duties

• Chosen as running mate for political reasons– Balances out the ticket politically or

geographically– John McCain chooses Palin to appeal to social

conservatives and women– Obama choses Biden to make up for his

inexperience in foreign policy– John Kerry choses John Edwards from the South

First Ladies• Informal advisors to the president• Behind the scenes role, but often very

influential– Edith B.G. Wilson, Abigail Adams and Nancy Reagan

and Rosalynn Carter• Closest Advisors

• Some take a more public role – more visible– Eleanor Roosevelt – columnist, lecturer, delegate to the

U.N.– Hillary Clinton – crafted healthcare legislation– Michele Obama – active in pushing for healthcare

legislation– Laura Bush – spoke out in behalf of women in the

Middle East

Executive Office of the President

• Established by FDR• Mini-bureaucracy that advances president’s

policy preferences• National Security Council (NSC), Council of

Economic Advisors (CEA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Office of V.P.– NSC – Pres., V.P., Secys of State and Defense,

head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and director of the CIA

– Bush created Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives

White House Staff• Not subject to Senate confirmation• Whitehouse Counsel, Lobbyist to Congress,

Policy Strategists, Communications Staff • Chief of Staff – Rahm Emmanuel replaced by

William Daily (Secy of Commerce under Clinton) Well respected in Business Community– 2nd most powerful person in Washington– Gatekeeper function– Manages the president’s schedule– Usually a past politician– Protect president from mistakes (Donald Regan -

Iran Contra Affair)

President as Policy Maker

FDR is first president to send policy to Congress.

Very difficult to get presidential policies passed.

Ability to get desired budget passed helps.

Office of Management and Budget plays key role.

Use of executive order to avoid Congress.

President as Policymaker• Policymaker

– FDR as legislator and Contract with America

– Divided government makes legislative duties nearly impossible

– Patronage– Executive Agreements

• Truman – Ended segregation of military• LBJ – affirmative action – executive order 11246• Reagan, Clinton, G.W. Bush, Obama

– Stem Cell Research– Abortion Counseling– Freedom of Conscience

Presidential Leadership

Leadership ability and personality can be key.

“Power to persuade.”

Bully pulpit and going public.

Approval ratings can help or hinder.

Presidential Leadership• State of the Union Address to draw

public attention• Leadership Style

– Shape national destiny (Lincoln and FDR)– “Stage” or “fitting honor” to cap one’s

career

• Richard Neustadt– “the power to persuade”– Important to start rating the president

immediately– The Great Initiator – clerkship and

decisionmaker

Presidential Leadership Style

• Separates the mediocre from the great• Use of the Media to stay connected to the

people and gain support – not press conferences– FDR fireside chats– Clinton – Larry King Live on CNN– Bush gave important speeches to military– Obama on David Letterman

• State of the Union Address– Bully Pulpit

• Power to Persuade– Crucial according to Richard Neustadt

Public Perception• High approval ratings – usually at the

beginning of term (honeymoon period)– President carries more clout

• Bush after 9/11 and the U.S. Patriot Act• Obama and Healthcare Legislation, LBJ and

Great Society• Help win congressional and gubernatorial

contests• Can even push policies unpopular with the public• Clinton able to survive scandals after 1996 DNC

• Low approval ratings– Members of Congress distance themselves– Make favored policies difficult to implement– 2008 election – referendum on Bush and Iraq War– Obama did little campaigning in 2010 election

Presidential Personality• James David Barber, The Presidential

Character• Character, Style, and World View are main

determinants of whether a president will:– Adapt positively to challengers -or -– Retreat negatively to challenges

• Predict by looking into president’s past– Childhood – Character grows out of relating to

peers, siblings and parents– Adolescence – World View - observing others– Early Adulthood – Style developed from first

successes• How something is done is profoundly important• Grasps that style and hangs on to it

• Character– Self esteem is prime resource

• Derived from either sense of achievement or • Affection from others

• Style– Habitual way of performing– Rhetoric, Relationships, Homework

• World View effects what president pays attention to:– Social Causality– Human Nature– Central Moral Conflicts

Presidential Character

Achieve ResultsHigh Self EsteemValues high productivityDifficulty w/ Irrational Political Behavior

Orientation toward DutyGuardian of ‘Right and Proper Way’Emphasize Civic Virtue

Power-seekingIntense EffortLow emotional rewardCompulsiveAggressivePerfectionistVague Self Image

Achieve love as reward‘Other’ directed compliantLow Self EsteemSuperficial OptimismLikely to be disappointed

Active Passive

PositiveN

egative

  Positive Negative

        Active

         

ADAPTIVE: self-confident; flexible; creates opportunities for action; enjoys the exercise of power, does not take himself too seriously; optimistic; emphasizes the "rational mastery" of his environment; power used as a means to achieve beneficial results. Thomas Jefferson, F. D. Roosevelt,  H. Truman,  J. F. Kennedy,  G. Ford, G. W. Bush(?)

COMPULSIVE: power as a means to self-realization; expends great energy on tasks but derives little joy; preoccupied with whether he is failing or succeeding; low self-esteem; inclined to rigidity and pessimism; highly driven; problem managing aggression.   John Adams, W. Wilson, H. Hoover,  A. Lincoln, L. B. Johnson, R. Nixon,

    Passive  

COMPLIANT: seek to be loved; easily manipulated; low self-esteem is overcome by ingratiating personality; reacts rather than initiates; superficially optimistic. James Madison, W. H. Taft,  W. Harding,  R. Reagan,Bill Clinton

WITHDRAWN: responds to a sense of duty; avoid power; low self-esteem compensated by service to others; responds rather than initiates; avoids conflict and uncertainty. emphasizes principles and procedures and an aversion to politicking. George Washington, C. Coolidge,  D. Eisenhower   

Power of the Situation• Level of public support• Party balance in Congress• Supreme Court• Expectations and Needs• Climate of Expectations – recurring

themes– Reassurance to ease anxiety– Progress and action– Sense of legitimacy

• Master politician that appears to be above politics

• Proof of fitfulness – presidential• Religiosity – defender of faith

AV- Presidential Approval

Back

Table 8.1- U.S. Presidents

Back

Table 8.2- Presidential Succession

Back

25th Amendment

• Followed 1947 Presidential Succession Act – See Table 8.2

• Assured continuation of Act• New V.P. appointed by President w/Senate

Approval• Incapacitation of President

– V.P. appointed as President– President Bush makes Dick Cheney President

Temporarily in 2002• Underwent colonoscopy

Table 8.3- Women on Presidential Teams

Back

Table 8.4- Treaties

Back

Table 8.5- Presidential Vetoes

Back

Table 8.6- Best and Worst Presidents

Back

Table 8.7- U.S. Cabinet

Back

Table 8.8- Presidential Personalities

Back