Chapter 13 Notes

I. The Presidents A. Great Expectations The president must live up to the expectations of the American people to ensure peace, prosperity, and security. Americans want to believe in a powerful president but at the same time do not like a concentration of power. B. Who They Are The president must be a natural-born citizen at least thirty-five years old and have resided in the United States for at least fourteen years. All presidents have been white, male, and all but one, Protestant. All manners of men have occupied the Oval Office. C. How They Got There Presidents are guaranteed a four-year term by the Constitution. The Twenty-second Amendment limits them to two terms. Only twelve presidents have served two or more full terms. For more than 10 percent of American history, the presidency has been occupied by an individual not elected to the office. One in five presidents got the job when the incumbent president either died or resigned. The constitutional process of impeachment is the political equivalent of an indictment in criminal law. The House of Representatives may impeach the president for Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. Andrew Johnson and William Clinton are the only presidents to be impeached. In 1974, the House Judiciary Committee voted to recommend the impeachment of President Nixon as a result of the Watergate scandal. The Twenty-fifth Amendment (1967) permits the vice president to become acting president if the president is declared disabled. It also creates a means for selecting a new vice president when that office becomes vacant. The order of presidential succession is vice president to Speaker of the House to president pro tempore of the Senate and down through the cabinet members. II. Presidential Powers (398-402) A. Constitutional Powers The Constitution says little about presidential power. Presidents share executive, legislative, and judicial power with other branches of government. The framers placed checks on powers they believed to be most dangerous while protecting the general spheres of authority from encroachment. B. The Expansion of Power Today presidential power is greater than the Constitution suggests. Many presidents enlarged the power of the presidency by expanding the presidents responsibilities and

political resources. C. Perspectives on Presidential Power In the 1950s and 1960s scholars tended to favor the idea of a strong presidency. After the abuses of power during the Vietnam War and Watergate, scholars argued that the presidency had become too powerful for the good of the nation. Weaker presidents have followed Nixon evoking the desire on the part of some for a stronger presidency. III. Running the Government: The Chief Executive (402-409) A. Introduction One of the presidents most important roles is presiding over the administration of government. One of the resources for controlling this bureaucracy is the presidential power to appoint top-level administrators. Presidents have recently taken more interest in the regulations issued by agencies, thus centralizing decision-making in the White House. B. Vice President Choice of the vice president is often an effort to placate some important symbolic constituency. Vice presidents rarely enjoy the job. Their main job is waiting. They are assigned the task of presiding over the Senate and voting in case of a tie vote. Recent vice presidents have had an increased role in the administration. C. The Cabinet The cabinet (head of departments) is a group of presidential advisors. Thirteen secretaries and the attorney general head executive departments and constitute the Cabinet. The cabinet historically has not been a powerful advisory board. D. The Executive Office The Executive Office consists of three major policymaking bodies. The National Security Council is the committee that links the presidents key foreign and military policy advisors. The Council of Economic Advisors has three members, each appointed by the president, who advise him on economic policy. The Office of Management and Budget is responsible for preparing the presidents budget and acts as a policy clearinghouse. E. The White House Staff The White House staff consists of the key aides the president sees daily. Presidents rely heavily on their staffs for information, policy options, and analysis. Most staffs are hierarchically organized with a chief of staff at the top. Presidential management styles vary considerably. Despite reliance of their staffs, it is the president who sets the tone for the White House. F. First Lady The First Lady has no official government position. Yet she is often at the center of national attention. Several First Ladies such as Edith Galt Wilson and Eleanor Roosevelt, have been

very influential. Hillary Rodham Clinton attained the most responsible and visible leadership position ever held by a First Lady. IV. Presidential Leadership of Congress: The Politics of Shared Powers (409-417) A. Chief Legislator The president is often called the chief legislator because he plays a major role in shaping the congressional agenda. The president has the power to veto congressional legislation and Congress can pass a vetoed law if two-thirds of each house votes to override the president. A pocket veto occurs if Congress adjourns within ten days after submitting a bill and the president does not sign it. The threat of a veto can be an effective tool for persuading Congress to give more weight to presidents views. In 1996, Congress passed a law granting the president authority to propose rescinding funds in appropriations bills and tax provisions that apply only to a few people. In 1998 the Supreme Court declared this law unconstitutional. The presidential veto is most useful for preventing legislation. B. Party Leadership Presidents remain highly dependent upon their party to move their legislative programs. Being in the same political party as the president creates a psychological bond and agreement on many matters of public policy. Despite the pull of party ties, all presidents experience slippage in the support of their party in Congress. Presidents can count on their own party members for support only about two-thirds of the time. The primary obstacle to party unity is the lack of consensus on policies among party members. This diversity of views often reflects the diversity of constituencies represented by party members. When constituency opinion and the presidents proposals conflict, members of Congress are more likely to vote with their constituents. The presidents relationship with congressional party leaders is delicate. Leaders are predisposed to support the president, but are also free to oppose him. If party members wish to oppose the White House, there is little the president can do to stop them because the parties are so decentralized and members are largely self-recruited. Presidential coattails occur when voters cast their ballots for congressional candidates of the presidents party because those candidates support the president. This phenomenon seems to be diminishing. The presidents party typically loses seats in midterm elections. In recent years the presidents party has lacked a majority in one or both houses of Congress. C. Public Support One of the presidents most important resources for leading Congress is public support. Presidents with the backing of the public have an easier time influencing Congress. Public approval is the political resource that has the most potential to turn a situation of stalemate between the president and Congress into one supportive of the presidents legislative proposals. Lack of public support strengthens the resolve of those inclined to oppose the president. The impact of public approval occurs at the margins of the effort to build coalitions behind proposed policies. Some members support the president despite public support while others will not go against their constituency or ideology even if presidential support is high. An electoral mandate is the perception that the voters strongly support the presidents

character and policies. Mandates can change the premise of decisions from whether to act to how to act. Not all presidential elections provide the winner with a mandate. Mandates are a rare phenomenon. D. Legislative Skills Presidential legislative skills include bargaining, making personal appeals, consulting with Congress, setting priorities, exploiting honeymoon periods, and structuring congressional votes. Bargaining receives most attention and occurs in numerous forms. Bargaining in the form of trading support occurs less often than one might think. The president does not have to bargain with every member of Congress; only enough to provide a majority. An important aspect of presidential legislative strategy is establishing priorities. The president is the nations key agenda builder; what the administration wants strongly influences the parameters of debate. There are limits to what the president can do, however. In general, presidential legislative skill must compete with other factors that affect congressional voting behavior. After accounting for the status of the presidents party in Congress and standing with the public, systematic studies have found that presidents known for their legislative skills are no more successful in winning votes, even close ones, or obtaining congressional support than those considered less adept at dealing with Congress. They can, however, recognize favorable configurations of political forces and exploit them. V. The President and National Security Policy (418-422) A. Chief Diplomat The Constitution allocates certain national security powers to the president. He alone extends diplomatic recognition, negotiates treaties, and negotiates executive agreements with heads of foreign governments. The president must try to lead Americas allies on matters of economics and defense. B. Commander in Chief The framers made the president the commander in chief of the armed forces. As such he is the commander in chief of more than 1.5 million uniformed men and women. C. War Powers Presidents have customarily made short-term military commitments of troops or naval vessels that have occasionally become long-term (Korea and Vietnam). The War Powers Resolution (1973) required presidents to consult with Congress before using military force and mandated the withdrawal of forces after sixty days unless Congress declared war or granted an extension. The War Powers Resolution has not been a success and may be considered a legislative veto and a violation of the doctrine of separation of powers. Congress has found it difficult to challenge the president. D. Crisis Manager A crisis is a sudden, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous event. With modern communications there is a premium on rapid action, secrecy, constant management, consistent judgment, and expert advice. Congress moves slowly whereas the president can come to quick and consistent decisions and confine information. Thus the president has

become more prominent in handling crises. E. Working with Congress In recent years, Congress has challenged presidents on all fronts. Congress has a central constitutional role in making national security policy. Congress can refuse to provide authorizations and appropriations for presidential actions. Congresss role has typically been overseeing of the executive rather than initiation of policy. It is less involved in national security policy than in domestic policy. Scholars have referred to the two presidenciesone for domestic policy and the other for national security policy. The typical member of Congress, however, supports the president on roll call votes about national security only slightly more than half the time. VI. Power from the People: The Public Presidency (422-427) A. Going Public Public support is perhaps the greatest source of influence a president has. Presidents are not passive followers of public opinion. Often the presidents appearances are staged purely to obtain the publics attention. In his role as head of state, the president has many ceremonial duties that put him in front of the public. B. Presidential Approval The higher the president stands in the polls, the easier it is to persuade others to support presidential initiatives. The presidents standing in the polls is monitored closely. Presidents frequently do not have widespread support. Presidential approval is the product of many factors including the predisposition of many people to support the president, political party identification, and honeymoon periods. Changes in approval levels appear to reflect the publics evaluation of how the president is handling policy. Citizens seem to focus on the presidents efforts and stands on issues rather than on personality or simply how presidential policies affect them. Public approval of the president sometimes reacts to rally events and takes sudden jumps. The criteria on which the public evaluates presidents are open to many interpretations. C. Policy Support Presidents frequently attempt to obtain public support for their policies with public speeches. Speeches aimed at directly leading public opinion have typically been rather unimpressive. The public is not always receptive to the presidents message. Citizens also have predispositions about public policy that act as screens for presidential messages. D. Mobilizing the Public Mobilization of the public may be the ultimate weapon in the presidents arsenal of resources with which to influence Congress. Mobilizing the public entails both opinion support and political action from a generally inattentive and apathetic public. VII. The President and the Press (427-430) Presidents do not directly reach the American people on a daily basis. The press is the

principal intermediary between the president and the public, and relations with the press are an important aspect of the presidents efforts to lead public opinion. Presidents and the press tend to be in conflict. The White House monitors the media closely and tries to encourage the media to project a positive image of the president. The person who most often deals directly with the press is the presidents press secretary and the best-known interaction between the president and the press is the presidential press conference. Press conferences are not very useful means of eliciting information. Most of the news coverage of the White House involves the most visible layer of presidents personal and official activities rather than in the substance of policies. The news media are not biased systematically toward a particular person, party, or ideology. The press prefers to frame the news in themes, which both simplify complex issues and events and provide continuity of persons, institutions, and issues. News coverage of the presidency often tends to emphasize the negative and over the past twenty years journalists have become more active in setting a negative tone for their stories. Reporters try to expose conflicts of interest and other shady behavior. However, presidents have certain advantages in dealing with the press, including an aura of dignity and deference and the ability of the White House to largely control the environment in which the president meets the press. VIII. Understanding the American Presidency (430-432) A. The Presidency and Democracy There has been a fear that the presidency would degenerate into a monarchy or a dictatorship. Concerns over presidential power are generally closely related to policy views. There is little prospect of the presidency being a threat to democracy because of the system of checks and balances. Some argue that there is too much checking and balancing and too little capacity to act on pressing national challenges. B. The Presidency and the Scope of Government Some of the most noteworthy presidents in the twentieth century have successfully advocated substantial increases in the role of the national government. All seven of the presidents since Lyndon Johnson have championed constraints on government and limits on spending. It has been the president more often than Congress who has said no to government growth.