The President

Which presidents do you think were the greatest?

What made them great?

Warm up

Basis of power in Article II of the ConstitutionMust be 35 years old, a natural-born citizen,

and a resident of the U.S. for 14 yearsChief ExecutiveCommander in Chief of the armed forcesPower to grant pardons, make treaties,

appoint ambassadors ,justices, and other offices, sign or veto legislation

Election by the Electoral CollegeDuty to give a State of the Union report

Quick Facts

Presidents are outsiders whereas pm’s are insidersPres. Is popularly elected whereas pm is selected by

legislature and is leader of majority party (or coalition party)

Pres. Chooses cabinet members from outside congress whereas pm’s cabinet are always members of parliament

Pres. Doesn’t have guaranteed majority in Congress whereas in parliamentary democracies it is the case. More often we have divided gov.

Even if one party controls both branches there is still no guarantee of getting work done because of the structure of sep. of powers

Differences Between a President and a Prime Minister

More often than not we have a divided gov. but that doesn’t mean that less gets done

Unified gov. is not guarantee of getting legislation passed especially when the parties are not unified ideologically

Only Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson who had unified govs. Managed to pass a lot of legislation

The key to accomplishing goals when there is a unified gov. is when the party is ideologically in sync

Policy gridlock is a necessary consequence of a representative democracy b/c of the delays and compromises inherent in it

More important is the relative power of the president and Congress and that has changed greatly

Divided Government

Concerns of the FoundersWorry that exec. Would use militia to

overpower statesPres. Would try to stay in power b/c most

elections would be decided by the House of Reps. When there was no majority in the electoral college

Direct vote or indirect vote of president?

History of the Office

States would select electors however they wanted and they would meet and vote for the pres. And vice president

Solution good for small states since they were guaranteed 3 electoral votes and for big states whose populations would have their say

Expectation that the House would end up determining most elections

Right to make treaties and appoint lesser officials then given to the president

Electoral College

Winner take allAllocation of electoral votes does not always

reflect the population4 occasions when pres. Candidates lost election

even though they received the most popular votes1824- Andrew Jackson got more popular votes but

House decided election and John Quincy Adams became pres.

1876- Rutherford B. Hayes lost the pop. Vote by a margin but was still elected

1888- Grover Cleavland won pop. Vote2000- Gore had more pop. Votes but Bush more

electoral votes

Electoral College contd.

No terms until 1951- 22nd amendment limited presidency to 2 terms

George Washington limited himself to two terms and most followed suit

Only FDR ran for more termsOrderly transfer of power from one

president to the next amazing feature (in other countries there are riots or the military gets involved)

Term Limits

First presidents were the most prominent men in our nation

4 of the 5 served two termsEstablishing legitimacy of the office easy in

early years since they didn’t actually have that much to do

Presidency kept modestNo president appeared on coins until after

he was deadNone received retirement until EisenhowerFew vetoes every castLittle collaboration with Congress

First Presidents

After Jackson, Congress reestablished powerFor 100 years the presidency was the subordinate branch

of governmentOnly Lincoln broke ground for presidential powerUsed many powers in Article II of the constitution that

were “implied” or “inherent”Lincoln raised an army, spent money, issued the

Emancipation Proclamation to free slaves- without congressional approval

After Lincoln, congress again reasserted its power and the presidency was more of a negative force than a positive one

Only get real change in pres. Power after the 1930sIn past presidency only powerful in times of national crisisReality of legislative process is that congress usually

initiates legislation

Reemergence of Congress

Rule of propinquity- power is wielded by people in the room when a decision is made, so political appointments can be classified in terms of their proximity to the presidentWhite HouseExecutive OfficeCabinet

Who influences the President?

Closest advisor to the presidentsUsually come from ranks of president’s campaignThey have offices in the west wing of the white houseOversee policy and political interests of the presidentDon’t have to be confirmed by the Senate3 Structures

Pyramid- hierarchy- only chief of staff really deals with the president, but there is a risk of isolating the pres. Or misinforming him

Circular- cabinet secretaries and assistants report directly to pres.- but can cause confusion because of the amount of info and opinions

Ad hoc- a lot of people deal directly with the president but not necessarily gov. officials and advisors, so pres. May not be dealing with professionals

White House

These are agencies who are not in the White House but who perform services for him

Top positions are appointed, but must be confirmed by Senate

Principal AgenciesOffice of Management and Budget (OMB)- most

important- responsible for national budget, organization and operation of exec. branch

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)Department of Homeland Security (DHS)Council of Economic Advisers (CEA)Office of Personnel Management (OPM)Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

Executive Office of Pres.

Though not directly mentioned in the constitution, it is alluded to in the 25th amendment

Cabinet officers are the heads of 14 major executive departments

President appoints or directly controls many members of the cabinets

Can reward supporters and friends with appointments

Cabinet