CHAPTER 10

The Presidency

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Introduction2

Demands on the presidency are numerous and contradictory.

Presidential influence and power has varied since the 1950s.

The President and Symbolic Leadership

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The president serves as both the ceremonial chief of state and the actual head of government.

The ceremonial presidency is the symbol of national unity.

The “honeymoon period” is one of general public goodwill and often results in political victories.

International crises rally presidential support.

The fusion of symbolic and political authority sometimes fuels public criticism as well.

Public Approval Ratings of Presidents, Roosevelt to Obama

Public approval ratings usually vary widely during a president’s time in office. Sometimesratingsreflect the president’s handling of events. At other times, they reflect public frustration over events largely out of a president’s control.

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The President and the Constitution

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Executive Power Presidents have interpreted “executive power”

differently. The stewardship theory suggests broad powers. The constitutional theory suggests narrow,

limited powers. The steel seizure case established a middle

ground: “When the President acts in absence of either a

congressional grant or denial of authority… there is a zone of twilight in which he and Congress may have concurrent authority.” – Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson

Jackson implied that the Court would decide such constitutional boundary disputes on the basis of “the imperatives of events and contemporary imponderables rather than on abstract theories of law.”

The President and the Constitution (continued)

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The plasticity of the presidency means that the office can be molded according to a particular president’s personality and events.

The Power of Appointment The President nominates ambassadors, judges, and

other officials, usually with the advice and consent of the Senate.

The Senate may delay or defeat a nomination. The Removal Power

The Supreme Court has ruled that the President’s removal powers apply only to purely executive offices.

The President can place pressure on officials to resign. The Power to Pardon

The President’s pardon powers are limited to federal offenses.

Ford’s pardon of Nixon was one of the most controversial uses of this power.

The President and the Executive Branch

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The Cabinet The cabinet is not a high-level decision making

body. Although the president is not obligated to share

responsibility with his cabinet, and its officers serve at the president’s discretion, individual officers can still have a significant influence on the president.

Cabinet officers may be politically independent and often more responsive to constituent groups than the president.

The inner cabinet consists of the secretaries of state, defense, and treasury, and the attorney general—all who work closely with the president.

The outer cabinet consists of the remaining officers who deal with sharply defined programs and are subject to pressure from client groups.

Recent presidents have chosen their cabinets based on criteria such as loyalty and professionalism.

The Cabinet, 2011

The cabinet is composed of the heads of the fifteen executive departments and certain other officials in the executive branch to whom the president has accorded cabinet rank. The vice president also participates in meetings of the cabinet, and from time to time the president may invite others to participate in the discussion of particular subjects.

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The White House Staff9

Staff members are loyal to the president and are usually people who were close to the president prior to his assuming office.

Staff aides offer advice, set legislative strategy, keep the bureaucracy in check, review the performance of the cabinet, plan the president’s time, and say “no” for the president when someone asks for something he cannot give.

Presidents manage their staffs to suit their own personalities.

The Executive Office of the President

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The Executive Office of the President (EOP) is the managerial arm of the presidency.

The structure of the EOP reflects the dominant issues of the time, and presidents use the office according to their own styles.

The Office of Management and Budget helps the president develop the budget and monitors the implementation and administration of the president’s programs.

The National Security Council provides advice and policy coordination on questions of national security.

The Council of Economic Advisers analyzes economic issues, makes economic forecasts, and prepares the president’s Economic Report to Congress.

The Office of Policy Development focuses on the formulation, coordination, and implementation of economic and domestic policy.

The President and the Executive Branch

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The Vice President Historically, vice presidents performed largely

ceremonial tasks making the office a target of some ridicule and disdain.

However Vice President Walter Mondale played a more important role as an advisor to President Carter when it came to policy making.

Presidential Succession The Twenty-fifth Amendment allows the vice president

to become acting president when the president is disabled and provides a procedure for filling a vice presidential vacancy.

The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 establishes the line of succession in case of simultaneous vacancies.

The President and Congress: Foreign Policy

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Introduction Congress can influence foreign policy, but the president

controls it. Since Vietnam, Congress has become more assertive in

foreign policy. Negotiating Treaties

Treaties are negotiated and signed by the president, but they are subject to approval by two-thirds of the Senate (Article II of the Constitution).

Most treaties have been approved by the Senate without question (a major exception was the Treaty of Versailles).

Since President Wilson, presidents have also included senators in treaty negotiations.

These days, approval of important treaties is rarely routine and often requires presidential concessions.

Executive Agreements13

An executive agreement is an understanding between heads of state requiring no Senate approval.

Executive agreements can be serious tools of foreign policy, and they were often classified and kept from Congress.

The Case Act (1972) requires the secretary of state to submit to the Senate the final text of any executive agreement, sometimes privately to the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees if the agreement contains sensitive information. It is designed to prevent the abuse of executive power.

The President and Congress: The War Power

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Introduction Congress alone has the constitutional

power to declare war. The commander-in-chief clause

establishes civilian control over the military, making the president the civilian head of U.S. military forces.

The President and Congress: The War Power (continued)

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The Mexican and Civil Wars – Use and Misuse of the War Power James Polk manipulated Congress into declaring

war on Mexico using the war power. Lincoln’s actions before the Civil War, however,

were mostly backed by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court in the Prize Cases.

The Two World Wars – Congress Declares War In 1917 and 1941, Congress formally declared war

and delegated vast discretionary powers to the president.

Roosevelt made broad use of his wartime powers, including the detention of all Japanese Americans (an action later upheld by the court in Korematsu v. United States).

The President and Congress: The War Power (continued)

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The Cold War and Beyond – Presidential Assertion of Power Truman’s actions during the Korean War bypassed

Congress entirely and fell outside the framers’ original understanding of the president’s war powers. Congress later implicitly ratified Truman’s decision.

During the Cold War, Congress acquiesced to the president’s war powers, including with Eisenhower’s request to use force if needed to protect Taiwan.

The Vietnam Trauma Presidential war actions in Vietnam went largely

unchallenged. At Johnson’s request, Congress passed the Gulf of

Tonkin Resolution which recognized the president’s claim to unilateral war-making authority.

As the war lost public support, Congress attempted to regain its authority primarily through its control of spending power; however, the task was arduous and the result ambiguous.

The President and Congress War Power (continued) The War Powers Resolution

The War Powers Resolution states that the president cannot commit troops to combat for more than 60 days unless authorized by Congress.

The resolution has had little effect on presidential behavior and has been successfully used only in the Gulf War.

The Iraq War Bush received broad authority from Congress to

take action against Iraq based on the claim that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. This claim was later found to be inaccurate.

The war continues, in part, because Congress has been unwilling or unable to end it.

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The President and Congress: Domestic Policy

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Legislative Skills Presidents should do the following to be

successful leaders of Congress: Know the legislative environment Have a good sense of timing Establish their priorities Have a high-quality legislative liaison office Consult with both party leaders Establish broad bipartisan support

The President and Congress: Domestic Policy (continued)

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The Presidential Veto A president can veto a bill within ten days, after which it can

be overridden by a two-thirds majority of each house. A pocket veto, which cannot be overridden, occurs if Congress

adjourns within the ten-day period. The veto is a powerful weapon, as only about 4 percent are

actually overridden. The president does not possess an item veto, where only

sections of a bill are rejected. Executive Privilege

Executive privilege is the right of the president to refuse information requested by Congress and the courts.

Nixon attempted to enlarge this power during the Watergate affair, but the court ruled in United States v. Nixon that executive privilege was not absolute.

Congress has become more assertive and suspicious about claims of executive privilege in recent years.

Presidential Vetoes and Overrides

The veto remains one of the president’s most significant constitutional powers. Yet the president does not posses the authority for an item veto—the power to reject part of a bill. The president must accept or reject the entire bill.

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Impeachment21

Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution: “The President, Vice President and all Civil

Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Impeachment is the ultimate congressional weapon in the struggle between the president and Congress.

The House brings the impeachment charges and acts as grand jury.

The chief justice presides over the impeachment.

A vote of two-thirds of the Senate is required for conviction and removal.

The President and the Media

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Introduction: Presidents and the media have a love-

hate relationship. Presidents want to control

information, while reporters want to acquire and publicize as much interesting information as possible.

The media tend to oversimplify issues and reduce personalities to stereotypes.

The President and the Media (continued) Phases of the Relationship

Stage 1: The administration’s honeymoon stage is often characterized by a period of cooperation between the president and the media.

Stage 2: As the administration settles in, internal conflicts sometimes arise, and sensitive information might be leaked. This initiates a period of conflict between the president and the media.

Stage 3: Detachment is the third phase, during which time the president becomes less accessible to the press and the media becomes more aggressive, often resorting to sources outside the White House.

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The Imperial President vs. The Imperial Media

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Presidents can do the following: Orchestrate their appearances Decide what format to use in presenting their case to the

public Use news leaks as a tool by leaking information to reporters

they favor while withholding it from those they disdain The media can do the following:

Use investigative reporting to take advantage of leakers within the administration

Pressure presidents using the Freedom of Information Act Barrage them with persistent questions at press

conferences Portray the president any way they wish

The result is usually a stand off between the president and the press.