The American Presidency Executive Branch The American Presidency

Can they be president??? Answer in your notes Thirty‐year old from New Jersey who has been a Representative for four‐years already. Seventy‐six year old former House of Representatives member. Thirty‐seven year old Governor of California who was a famous actor after moving from his birth country of Austria. Thirty‐five year old business woman from North Carolina. Forty‐nine year old military general stationed in Iraq for the past four years and who was born on a U.S. military base in Germany after WWII.   

Requirements to be president At least 35 years old Natural-born citizen Resident of the United States for at least 14 years. Do you agree with the requirements? Should there be other requirements? Age, health, education, previous employment, etc? How are qualifications different from requirements?

Roles of the President – pp. 200-206 Chief of State Chief Executive Chief Administrator Chief Diplomat Commander in Chief Chief Legislator Chief of Party Chief Citizen Summarize the role. Which role do you think is the most important? Why? Which role do you think is the least important? Why?

Two Truths and a Lie The president gets paid to throw large parties. The president can declare war if America’s national security is threatened. The president has the power to appoint ambassadors. The president has the right to withhold certain information from Congress if he thinks it would endanger America. No president has ever made it to the highest office without being elected to either the presidency or the vice-presidency. The president is allowed to campaign for other candidates of his same party running for office. The power of the vice-presidency has been increasing since the 1990s. The president is one of the highest paid members of American society. No president has ever been elected to more than two terms.

Exit Pass Create your own “Two Truths and a Lie” about the Presidency.

Presidential Succession Vice President Secretary of the Treasury Speaker of the House Secretary of Defense President pro tempore of the Senate (day-to-day acting president of the Senate) Attorney General Secretary of the Interior Secretary of Agriculture Secretary of Commerce Secretary of State

What does this quote say about the expansion of power? “My view was that every executive officer . . . was a steward of the people bound actively and affirmatively to do all that he could for the people. . . . My belief was that it was not only [a President’s] right but his duty to do anything that the needs of the Nation demanded unless such action was forbidden by the Constitution or by the laws. . . . I did not usurp power, but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power..” —Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, 1913

How does this quote differ? “The true view of the Executive function is, as I conceive it, that the President can exercise no power which cannot be fairly and reasonably traced to some specific grant of power. . . . Such specific grant must be either in the Federal Constitution or in an act of Congress. . . . There is no undefined residuum of power which he can exercise because it seems to him to be in the public interest. . . . My judgment is that the view of . . . Mr. Roosevelt, ascribing an undefined residuum of power to the President, is an unsafe doctrine.” —William Howard Taft, Our Chief Magistrate and His Powers, 1916

Executive Powers – What can the president do? Executive Order Executive Privilege Appointments Clemency Recommend Legislation Veto Executive Agreement

Exit Pass Has the presidency (as a position) gotten too powerful? Why or why not? For Thursday: Read pp. 236-250 (Federal Bureaucracy and Executive Departments)