Chapter 14

The Presidency

1. How do presidents differ from prime ministers?

2. Did the Founders expect the presidency to be
the most important political institution?
3. How have the constitutional and political powers
of the presidency evolved from the founding of
the United States to the present?
4. How do presidents make policy?
5. Is it harder to govern when the presidency and
the Congress are controlled by different political
parties?

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Learning Objectives

WHO GOVERNS?
1. Did the Founders expect the presidency to be
the most important political institution?
2. How important is the presidents 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?

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Introduction

 Presidents are Often Outsiders

Presidents Choose Cabinet Members from
Outside Congress

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Presidents and Prime

Ministers

 Presidents Have No Guaranteed

Majority in the Legislature
Presidents and Prime Ministers at War

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Presidents and Prime

Ministers

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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.

Does Gridlock Matter?

1948 Marshall Plan
1986 Tax Reform Act
Unified government
must also fall under
same ideological wing

Is Policy Gridlock Bad?

Necessary consequence
of representative
democracy
Representative
democracy vs. direct
democracy

Divided government or unified government?

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Divided Government

1. Parliamentary system (UK)

Prime minister selected by legislative majority
No fixed term; can be removed any time

2. Presidential system (U.S.)

President and legislators elected separately
Serve fixed terms

3. Semi-presidential system (France)

Prime minister selected and subject to
parliamentary majority
President separately elected

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Government Systems of
Modern Democracies

 Powers of the President alone

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The Powers of the President

9
A military aide to the president carries a leather briefcase containing the classified
nuclear war plan, popularly known as the football, up the steps of Air Force One.

 Powers the President shares with the

Senate
Make treaties
Appoint ambassadors, judges, and high
officials

Powers the President shares with

Congress as a whole
Approve legislation

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The Powers of the President

10

 Concerns of the Founders

The Electoral College
The Presidents Term of Office

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The Evolution of the

Presidency

11
Lyndon Johnson is sworn in after
John F. Kennedys death.

 The First Presidents

The Jacksonians

President Andrew Jackson thought of

himself as the Tribune of the People, and
he symbolized this by throwing a White
House party that anyone could attend.
Hundreds of people showed up and ate or
carried away most of a 1,400-pound block
of cheese.

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The Evolution of the

Presidency

12

 The Reemergence of Congress

With few exceptions, Congress dominates
government (post-Jackson)
Intensely partisan era

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The Evolution of the

Presidency

13

 The Three Audiences

Fellow politicians and leaders
Partisan grassroots
The public

Popularity and Influence

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The Power to Persuade

14

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Presidential Popularity

15

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Presidential Popularity

16

 The Decline in Popularity

Presidential Victories on Votes in Congress
1953-2012

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The Power to Persuade

17

 Veto
Veto message
Pocket veto
Line-item veto

Executive Privilege
Impoundment of Funds
Signing Statements

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The Power to Say No

18

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President Obama Uses Executive

Orders to Reverse Bush Policies

19

Click picture to play video

Taking a closer look:

1. What are the advantages of using
executive orders to make or change
policy?
2. Which power of the presidency has
President Obama used most effectively?
3. How has this administration expanded
the powers of the presidency?

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President Obama Uses Executive

Orders to Reverse Bush Policies

20

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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Presidential Character

21

 The White House Office

Pyramid structure
Circular structure
Ad hoc structure

The Executive Office of the President

The Cabinet
Independent Agencies, Commissions,
and Judgeships

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The Office of the President

22

Formerly the War Department,

created in 1789. Figures are for
civilians only.
bAgriculture Department created in
1862; made part of cabinet in 1889.
cOriginally Health, Education and
Welfare; reorganized in 1979.
a

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The Cabinet Departments

23

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Who Gets Appointed

Prior federal
experience
In-and-outers
Political following
Expertise/administr
ative experience

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).

24

 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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The Presidents Program

25

 The Vice President

Problems of
Succession
Impeachment

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.

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Presidential Transition

26

 Modern presidents may feel they have

lost power
Presidential rules of thumb for dealing
with political problems:
Move it or lose it.
Avoid details.
Cabinets don't get much accomplished;
people do.

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How Powerful Is the

President?

27