Legitimacy of the Office of the Presidency Jeremiah J. Hall University of Wyoming

Initial Thought Anecdotal observations in my life: o Used to call have respect for the office Referred to President as Mr. President o Now we use last name (Obama) Inflammatory remarks about President Obama sparked my interest 2

Why don’t we like the President Current president o Called names: Muslim Socialist Not born in America Former President (GW Bush) o Questioned his intelligence 3

Methods Multi-Disciplinary research on presidential powers Incorporation of knowledge from courses Observations in daily life o Media o Home o Social settings 4

More then just a problem with President Obama Political Psychological Social 5

Political Legitimacy comes from people 6

Usurpation of Powers From legislative to executive branch o Numerous examples 7

Joint Resolution Take away from congressional war making power o No 2/3 majority for war or treaties o Allows president greater power Diminishing congressional power 8

CIA George Washington o Used covert intelligence during revolutionary war FDR created initial agency President Truman o CIA enacted in 1947 (CIA, 2013) 9

CIA cont. Less oversight then military President has the power o Create war o Covert military action o One man determines the good of the country 10

From Lincoln to Obama Lincoln 1862 o Suspended Habeas Corpus FDR 1941 o End Congressional War Making Powers Lend Lease 11

Precedence Truman 1950 o Korean War Kennedy 1961 o Pay of Pigs Johnson 1964 o Gulf of Tonkin 12

Precedence Nixon 1970 o Cambodia o Laos Reagan 1985 o CIA Iran-Contra Bush HW-1991and GW-2003 o Iraq 13

Precedence Allows power to continue to expand Why do Americans allow it? 14

Times presidents need power Times of crisis o World changes faster then the laws Unknown treats emerge o Need executive authority o Flexibility 15

Roosevelt to Nixon Precedence do not go backward o Agree with some extension Build upon the next o Worry about problems later 16

Nixon Secretive nature o Made problems worse 17

After Nixon Lack peoples support Appears to be above the law o Do not understand nuances Basic understanding of what is legal o Covert wars and operations seem illegal 18

Psychological John Locke Overuse of power degrades authority (Locke, 1980) o Checks and balances established to insulate US from tyrannical rule 19

Citizens Feel Disconnect Perception of absolute authority o Can’t change it Power is a resultant force (Schopler, 1965) o Allow power by not resisting o Feel disconnected and powerless 20

Seemingly Absolute Power Takes away from legitimacy in democracy o Leaders need citizen’s compliance o Not really complying with More indifference 21

Society and the Office Many different attitudes keep the status quo o Not my job attitude o Complacence to power o Fear of power 22

Not my job Not empowered to make changes o In a study done in California (Lee & Oxelson, 2006) Teachers not empowered to maintain students heritage languages o Out of their area 23

Complacence to Power National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960 – 2012 Source: Infoplease (2013). National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: Retrieved from: 24 Year Voting-age population Voter registrationVoter turnout Turnout of voting-age population (percent) ,926,957NA130,234, % ,809,266NA90,682, % ,229,580NA132,618,580*56.8* ,600,000135,889,60080,588, ,256,931174,800,000122,294, ,473,000150,990,59879,830, ,815,000156,421,311105,586, ,929,000141,850,55873,117, ,511,000146,211,96096,456, * ,650,000130,292,82275,105, ,529,000133,821,178104,405, ,812,000121,105,63067,859, ,778,000126,379,62891,594, * ,566,000118,399,98464,991, ,466,000124,150,61492,652, ,938,000110,671,22567,615, ,597,000113,043,73486,515, ,373,000103,291,26558,917, ,309,190105,037,98681,555, ,336,00096,199, ,943, ,776,00097,328,54177,718, ,498,00082,496, ,014, ,328,18681,658,18073,211, ,132,00076,288, ,188, ,090,00073,715,81870,644, ,423,00065,393, ,141, ,159,00064,833, ,838, *

Fear of Power Patriot Act 2001 o Allows government broad powers Americans live comfortable lives (Giddens, Duneier, Appelbaum & Carr, 2011) o May not want to rock the boat Could endanger easy life. 25

Results Exploratory Research o Some correlations expansion of powers popularity in government 26

Further Study is needed To Prove or disprove hypothesis o Look for historic trends in words used to describe government Is it getting worse 27

Empirical data collection Determine if there is a link between Presidential powers Popularity of o President o Government in general 28

Conclusion How we talk about president is “Not my president” o Takes away from the office Need to be involved and empowered o Make elected officials work for us 29

Bibliography CIA (2013). History of the CIA. Retrieved from: Dao, J. & Sussman, D. (2011). For Obama, Big Rise in Poll Numbers After Bin Laden Raid. The New York Times. Retrieved from: Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R.P. & Carr, D. (2011). Essentials of Sociology. 3 rd edition, New York: NY. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Infoplease (2013). National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: Retrieved from: Lee, J. S., & Oxelson, E. (2006). "It's not my job": K-12 teacher attitudes toward students' heritage language maintenance. Bilingual Research Journal, 30(2), Retrieved from Locke, J. (1980). Second Treatise of Government. C.B. Macpherson (Ed.). Indianapolis, ID: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Roper Center (2013). President Approval Highs and Lows. Retrieved from: data/presidential_approval.html#.T--Nz2jlfww Schopler, J. (1965). Social Power. Advances in experimental social psychology. Vol. 2, Retrieved from: Action=10&Form=75&Value=