1. The Presidency
Chapter 8

2. Presidential Qualifications
Natural Born citizen (including the Vice President)
35 years of age
Resident of the united states for the past 14 years
Facts of Presidents
Youngest president to assume office: teddy Roosevelt, 42
Youngest president elected into office: john f. Kennedy, 43
Oldest president elected into office: Ronald Reagan, 69

3. Terms of the President 4 year term with eligibility for reelection
George Washington set precedent for two-term Limit
Ulysses S. Grant sought a third term, but failed
Two terms established by Washington remained standard for 150 years
FDR; four terms
Led to the passage of the 22nd Amendment to the constitution
Maximum 10 years

4. Office of the Vice President
Two duties listed in the constitution
Serve as the presiding officer in the Senate; break a tie (not a member of the senate)
Assume the office of the president in case of death or some other emergency

5. Impeachment
Included in Article II of the Constitution; adopted as a check on the power of the president
The House is empowered to vote to impeach
Simple majority vote
The Senate acts as a court of Law and tries the president
Chief justice of the supreme court presides
Two-thirds majority vote in the senate is necessary for removal

6. Impeachment
Resigned from office to avoid impeachment and removal from office
Impeached by House; neither was removed by the Senate

7. Richard M. Nixon Watergate scandal Executive privilege U.s. v. Nixon
Covering up details about a break-in at the Democratic Party’s national Headquarters
Executive privilege
An implied presidential power that allows the president to refuse to disclose information regarding confidential conversations or national security to congress
U.s. v. Nixon
Supreme court ruling on power od the president
Holding that there is no absolute constitutional executive privilege allowing a president to refuse to comply with a court order to produce information needed in a criminal trial

8. Presidential Succession
Framers created the vice-president to fulfill the role of president
Congress passed the presidential succession act; 1947
25th Amendment; 1967
Filling vacancies in the office of the president and vice president
Determine if the president is unable to fulfill duties (VP and Cabinet member)
(George w. Bush)

9. Presidential Succession
1. Vice President
10. Secretary of Commerce
2. Speaker of the House
11. Secretary of Labor
3. President Pro Tempore of the Senate
12. Secretary of Health and Human Services
4. Secretary of State
13. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
5. Secretary of Treasury
14. Secretary of Transportation
6. Secretary of Defense
15. Secretary of Energy
7. Attorney General
16. Secretary of Education
8. Secretary of Interior
17. Secretary of Veterans Affairs
9. Secretary of Agriculture
18. Secretary of Homeland Security

10. The Constitutional Powers of the president

11. The appointment Power
Article II; most important sentence “the executive power shall be vested in a president of the united states of America”
The Appointment power
With the advice and consent of the senate; Ambassadors, judges of the supreme court, federal judges, cabinet members
3,500 appointment; senate confirms just over 1,000
Cabinet; advising the president to help him make decision and execute laws
Prior to Clinton; 97% of all presidential nominations were confirmed
Recess appointments

12. Powers of the President
Power to Convene Congress
Power to Make Treaties
Can call a special session of congress
12/7/1941
More important when congress did not sit in nearly year-round sessions
Treaties must be approved by at least two- thirds of the members of Senate
90% approve; 21 treaties have been rejected
Treaty of Versailles; W. Wilson, 1919
League of Nations
Panama Canal Treaty; revisions
Executive Agreements; formal international agreements entered into by the president that no not require advice or consent of the U.S. Senate

13. Veto Power
Veto Power; the authority to reject bills passed by both houses of Congress
Congress can override veto with two-thirds vote in each house (full membership)
200 years
2,500 presidential vetoes; approx. 100 have been overridden
Line-item veto; a power to disapprove of individual items within a spending bill and not just the bill in its entirety
1996; Congress gave President Power
NYC Challenged; Clinton v. New York (1998) line-item veto is unconstitutional
FDR has most presidential vetoes; 635

14. The President’s Roles Commander-in-Chief Leader of Party
Chief Legislator
Chief of State
Chief Law enforcer
Shapes public policy

15. Commander-in-Chief
Article II states the president is “Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States
Constitution expressly grants Congress authority to declare war
Presidents, since Lincoln, have used the commander-in-chief clause in conjunction with the chief executive’s duty to “take Care that laws be faithfully executed” to wage war
Vietnam War
War Powers Act, 1973
President is limited in deployment of troops overseas to a sixty-day period in peacetime (90 days)

16. Pardoning Power The president grants reprieves or pardons
An executive grant providing restoration of all rights and privileges of citizenship to a specific individual charged or convicted of a crime
Impeachment cannot be pardoned
Most famous: Ford’s pardon of Nixon
Washington, Adams, madison, Lincoln, Johnson, Roosevelt, Truman and carter granted pardons to large group of individuals for illegal acts
Carter: 10,000 draft dogers

17. Pardon
Presidents and Pardons
Famous Pardons
Turkey Pardons

18. The Development and Expansion of Presidential Power

19. Establishing Presidential Authority: The First Presidents
April 30, 1789: George Washington
Entire budget $40 million; $10 per citizen
2010; budget $3.55 trillion, or $11,500 per citizen
George Washington
Established the idea of Federal Supremacy & the Authority of the executive Branch
Whiskey Rebellion and to collect taxes levied by Congress
Created a cabinet system
Created treaties
Inherent Powers

20. Expansion of Presidential Powers: 1809 - 1933
Andrew Jackson
Abraham Lincoln
First President not to be either a Virginian or an Adams
Rewarded loyal followers with democratic appointments
Reasserted the supremacy of the national government
Frequently took action without Congress’s approval
Suspended the writ of habeas corpus
Expanded the size of the U.S. Army above congressionally mandated ceilings
Blocked southern ports
Closed U.S. mail to treasonable correspondence

21. The Growth of Modern Presidency
Franklin D. Roosevelt (Elected into four terms; twelve years in office)
Great Depression; WWII
New Deal: programs designed to invigorate the failing American Economy
Established new Relationships between president and the people
Fireside chats
Left the presidency with a burgeoning federal bureaucracy; active role in foreign policy and legislation
Used technology to bring public closer to the office
Barack Obama Twitter
Barack Obama Facebook

22. The Presidential Establishment
The vice president
“the most insignificant office that was the invention of man…or his imagination conceived” – John Adams
President chose the vice president to balance out his ticket
Barack Obama…weak in foreign policy; joe biden…strong in foreign policy
Fdr…liberal new Yorker; john garner…a conservative texan

23. The cabinet Has no official basis in the constitution
Implied through Article II, Section 2
Presidents include their vice president
Major function is to help the president execute laws and assist in making decisions

24. The First Lady
Assisted presidents as informal advisers while making other, more public, significant contributions to American society
Abagail Adams
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson
Eleanor Roosevelt
Jaqueline Kennedy
Nancy Reagan
Michelle Obama

25. The Executive office of the President
Established by FDr in 1939 to oversee his new deal programs
National Security Council (NSC)
COUNCIL OF Economic advisers
Office of Management and Budget (OMb)
Office of the vice president
Office of the U.S. Trade representative

26. The White House Staff Has no independent legal authority
Power is derived from their personal relationships to the president
Chief of staff
White House aides
Communication staff
1943; 51…The Obama White house 490

27. Presidential leadership and the importance of public opinion

28. The President: Popular?
Mobilizing public opinion
Barack Obama Slow Jams the News
Approval Ratings

29. Barack Obama Approval rating

30. The President as a policy maker
“It is the duty of the president to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose” – FDR
Budgetary process and legislative implementation
President sets national policy and priorities through his budget proposals and his continued insistence on their congressional passage
Office of Management and budget (OMD)
Prepares presidents annual budget
Supplies economic forecasts for the president

31. Policy making through executive order
Executive order: rule or regulation issued by the president that has the effect of law. All executive orders must be published in the federal register.