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

2. 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

3. 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

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

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

6. Political Legitimacy comes from people 6

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

8. 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

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

10. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

17. Nixon Secretive nature o Made problems worse 17

18. 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

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

20. 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

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

22. 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

23. 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

24. Complacence to Power National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960 – 2012 Source: http://elections.gmu.edu Infoplease (2013). National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960-2012. Retrieved from: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html 24 Year Voting-age population Voter registrationVoter turnout Turnout of voting-age population (percent) 2012240,926,957NA130,234,60053.6% 2010235,809,266NA90,682,96837.8% 2008231,229,580NA132,618,580*56.8* 2006220,600,000135,889,60080,588,00037.1 2004221,256,931174,800,000122,294,97855.3 2002215,473,000150,990,59879,830,11937.0 2000205,815,000156,421,311105,586,27451.3 1998200,929,000141,850,55873,117,02236.4 1996196,511,000146,211,96096,456,34549.1* 1994193,650,000130,292,82275,105,86038.8 1992189,529,000133,821,178104,405,15555.1 1990185,812,000121,105,63067,859,18936.5 1988182,778,000126,379,62891,594,69350.1* 1986178,566,000118,399,98464,991,12836.4 1984174,466,000124,150,61492,652,68053.1 1982169,938,000110,671,22567,615,57639.8 1980164,597,000113,043,73486,515,22152.6 1978158,373,000103,291,26558,917,93837.2 1976152,309,190105,037,98681,555,78953.6 1974146,336,00096,199,020 1 55,943,83438.2 1972140,776,00097,328,54177,718,55455.2 1970124,498,00082,496,747 2 58,014,33846.6 1968120,328,18681,658,18073,211,87560.8 1966116,132,00076,288,283 3 56,188,04648.4 1964114,090,00073,715,81870,644,59261.9 1962112,423,00065,393,751 4 53,141,22747.3 1960109,159,00064,833,096 5 68,838,20463.1*

25. 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

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

27. 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

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

29. 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

30. Bibliography CIA (2013). History of the CIA. Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/history-of-the-cia/index.html Dao, J. & Sussman, D. (2011). For Obama, Big Rise in Poll Numbers After Bin Laden Raid. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http:// www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/us/politics/05poll.html?_r=0 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: 1960-2012. Retrieved from: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html 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), 453-477. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/222026747?accountid=14793 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: http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/data_access/ data/presidential_approval.html#.T--Nz2jlfww Schopler, J. (1965). Social Power. Advances in experimental social psychology. Vol. 2, 177-218. Retrieved from: https://ill.uwyo.edu/illiad.dll? Action=10&Form=75&Value=443414 30