1. Chapter 14
Presidency in Action

2. Key Terms
Executive Article: the name given to Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which establishes the office of the President
imperial presidency: a critical view of the presidency that argues that Presidents have become too powerful, isolated from Congress, and unaccountable for their actions

3. Article II
Article II of the Constitution gives the President power to:
Command the armed forces
Make treaties
Approve or veto acts of Congress
Send or receive diplomats
“Take care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”
“most powerful office in the world.”

4. Views of the Presidency
Checkpoint: What two views of the presidency were debated by the Framers?
Executive powers are broadly defined and open to interpretation.
At the Constitutional Convention, some delegates argued for a weaker chief executive appointed by Congress.
They were defeated by delegates supporting a strong, independently elected executive.

5. Growth of Power
Presidential power has grown over time. Why has this happened?
Compared to Congress, the executive branch is a unified office with one leader--capable of quicker decisions.
As the role of the federal government has grown (wars, crisis, etc.) citizens have looked to the presidency for decisive leadership.
Unique access to mass media
Support staff and bureaucracy

6. Growth of Power
Congress has delegated authority to the executive branch to carry out the many laws passed by the legislative branch.
Certain Presidents have used the influence of their office to increase the scope of presidential power.

8. Limits on Power
Checkpoint: What limits the growth of presidential power?
In 1952, the Supreme Court ruled that President Harry Truman could not use his powers as commander in chief to take control of U.S. steel mills during the Korean War. (Youngstown Sheet & Tube C. v. Sawyer)

9. Limits on Power
In 2006, the Court ruled that President George W. Bush could not use military tribunals to prosecute “enemy combatants” and held that part of his plan violated the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. (Hamdan v. Rumsfeld)

10. Opposing Views
Presidents like Theodore Roosevelt have supported broad powers.
“stewardship theory”
Presidents like William Taft have favored limited presidential powers.
Taft felt that Presidents could not simply assume powers that they felt were needed to serve the people. All executive power had to be based clearly on the Constitution.

11. Imperial Presidency
In recent years, some critics claim that the presidency has grown too powerful.
They refer to this increase of power as an imperial presidency because presidents often take actions without consulting Congress.
Class Discussion
Can you think of possible examples?

12. Imperialism
Crash Course (American Imperialism):

13. Chapter 14, Section 2

14. Key Terms Executive Order Ordinance Power Executive Privilege
Oath of Office
Recess Appointments

15. Introduction
What are some of the executive powers and how were they established?
Executes and interprets the law of the land
Issues executive orders
Appoints many public officials
Removes appointed officials
Can use executive privilege to withhold information from Congress and the federal courts
These powers come from the Constitution and from acts of Congress.

16. Chief Executive Presidential authority comes from two sources:
The oath of office, which requires the President to “faithfully execute the Office of President” and “protect and defend the Constitution.”
The constitutional requirement that the President “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

17. Interpreting Laws
Congress passes many laws that set out broad policies, but do not include specific details for enforcement.
The President and other members of the executive branch must decide how these laws should be administered and enforced.
To do so, they must often interpret the intent of these laws.

18. Ordinance Power
The President can issue executive orders—rules and regulations that have the force of law. This is called the ordinance power.
The President must have this authority in order to use some of the executive powers granted by the Constitution.
In addition, Congress has delegated the authority to direct and regulate many legislative policies and programs to the President and the executive branch.

19. Executive Orders Example: Executive Order 13661
Executive Orders by Presidents
Obama & Immigration
Secure Communities

20. Appointment Power
The Constitution grants the President appointment power, the ability to appoint some federal officials.
This power is necessary to ensure that presidential policies are carried out.
The President appoints some 3,000 of the 2.7 million federal workers.
The majority of the rest are hired according to civil service laws.

21. Presidential Appointment
Presidents appoint top-ranking officials such as:
Cabinet members and their top aides
Ambassadors and other diplomats
The heads of independent agencies
All federal judges, U.S. marshals, and attorneys
All officers in the U.S. armed forces
These appointments must be a approved by a majority vote of the Senate.

22. Recess Appointments
The president can make recess appointments to fill vacancies when the Senate is not in session.
These appointments expire at the end of the congressional term they were made.
They are controversial because they allow the President to bypass the Senate confirmation process.

23. Confirmation Process
Under the custom of senatorial courtesy, the Senate will only approve federal appointees supported by the Senators from their state who belong to the President’s party.

24. Cartoon

25. Removal Power
The Constitution does not say how appointed officers should be removed.
Some politicians wanted Senate approval for removals as well as appointments.
Others argued that the President must have the power to remove incompetent appointees.

26. Removal Power
The First Congress gave the President the power to remove any appointed officer except for federal judges.
Congress tried unsuccessfully to take the removal power away from President Andrew Johnson in 1867.

27. Executive Privilege
At times, Presidents have refused to reveal certain information to Congress or the federal courts.
Congress has never officially recognized the right of executive privilege.
The President’s advisers and staff must be able to speak freely to give good advice. To do so, they must believe that their words are confidential unless the President chooses to reveal them publicly.
What is the court’s stand on executive privilege?
Answer: The Supreme Court recognizes the right of executive privilege in matters involving national security but does not recognize executive privilege when it is used to prevent evidence from being heard in criminal cases.

28. United States v. Nixon
In the 1974 case United States v. Nixon, the Court ruled unanimously that the President could claim executive privilege in matters involving national security.
However, the Court also ruled that executive privilege cannot be used to prevent evidence from being heard in a criminal proceeding, as that would deny the 6th Amendment guarantee of a fair trial.

29. Chapter 14: Section 3

30. Reading Quiz
1) How does the title slide picture relate to this section? (Your answer should be no more than two sentences)
2) Name one of the three ways that executive agreements differ from treaties.
3) What is considered the “sharpest diplomatic rebuke” one government may give to another?
4) Who were the two parties involved in the destroyers-for-bases executive agreement?

31. Key Terms
treaty: a formal agreement between two or more independent states
executive agreement: a pact between the President and the head of a foreign state or their subordinates; it has the same standing as a treaty but does not require approval by Congress
recognition: the act of acknowledging the legal existence of a country and its government
persona non grata: an unwelcome person

32. Foreign Policy
What tools are available to the President to implement foreign policy?
Making treaties and executive agreements with foreign countries
Recognizing foreign nations
Recalling American diplomats or expelling foreign diplomats from U.S. soil
Ordering the U.S. military to conduct operations on foreign soil without a formal declaration of war

33. Chief Diplomat
The Constitution does not formally give the status of chief diplomat to the President. But two presidential powers play a key role:
The President is the commander in chief of the nation’s armed forces.
The President, usually acting through the secretary of state, negotiates treaties with foreign nations.

34. Treaties Treaties have the same legal status as an act of Congress.
Congress can repeal a treaty by passing a law that nullifies its provisions.
An existing law can be repealed by the terms of a treaty.
A treaty cannot conflict with any part of the Constitution.
If a treaty and a federal law conflict, the most recently passed measure wins.

35. Treaties and the Senate
A two-thirds majority of the Senate must approve all treaties before they go into effect.
This gives the Senate an important role in shaping U.S. foreign policy.
A Senate minority can kill a treaty. In 1920 the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles.
Presidents John Tyler and William McKinley each overcame Senate rejections of treaties by getting joint resolutions passed to annex Texas and Hawaii, respectively.

36. Executive Agreements
Checkpoint: How do executive agreements differ from treaties?
Presidents can make executive agreements without Senate approval.
These agreements cannot overrule state or federal law.
Executive agreements do not become part of American law. Only those agreements made by the current President remain in force.

37. Destroyers for Bases Agreement

38. Power of Recognition
The President recognizes the legal status of other nations on behalf of the United States.
Countries usually recognize each other by exchanging diplomatic representatives.

39. Power of Recognition
Out of political necessity, the United States recognizes some nations whose conduct it does not agree with.
Recognizing a new nation, such as Panama or Israel, can help ensure its success.
Expelling foreign diplomats or recalling U.S. diplomats from a foreign country is a strong expression of disapproval and sometimes a step toward war.

40. Powers of Recognition
"How can you think I'd accept this gentleman coming here?...You'd best withdraw him, Obama. Don't insist, I'm asking you. [Palmer] disqualified himself by breaking all the rules of diplomacy. He messed with all of us. He can't come here as ambassador”

41. Commander in Chief
Presidents delegate many command decisions, but do make the most critical decisions and have the authority to take command in the field.
Difficult for Congress to challenge presidential commands
Theodore Roosevelt & the US Navy

42. Making Undeclared War
Only Congress can declare war; however, many U.S. presidents have sent armed forces into combat abroad without a declaration of war:
John Adams had the U.S. Navy fight French warships in 1798.
Ronald Reagan ordered the invasion of Grenada in 1983 to block a military coup.
George H.W. Bush ordered the ouster of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega in 1989.
Bill Clinton sent troops to the Balkans in the 1990s.

43. Congressional Resolutions
Congress has not declared war since World War II.
However, Congress has passed eight joint resolutions authorizing the President to use military force abroad, such as:
In 1955, Congress let President Dwight Eisenhower position the U.S. Navy to block Chinese aggression toward Taiwan.
The Iraq Resolution of 2002 authorized the use of force against Iraq.

44. War Powers Resolution
Checkpoint: Why did Congress enact the War Powers Resolution?
The results of the undeclared Vietnam War led Congress to pass the War Powers Resolution of 1973.
There is still a debate over whether this Resolution is constitutional or not.

45. War Powers Resolution
The War Powers Resolution states that the President can commit military forces to combat only
If Congress has declared war, OR
If Congress has authorized military action, OR
If an attack on the nation or its armed forces has taken place. In this case, Congress must be notified within 48 hours and can end the commitment of troops at any time.

46. Chapter 14, Section 4

47. Key Terms Pocket Veto Line-item Veto Reprieve Pardon Clemency
Commutation
Amnesty

48. Introduction
How can the President check the actions of the legislative and judicial branches?
By using the message power to influence Congress to pass desired legislation
By vetoing bills passed by Congress
By issuing signing statements
By pardoning citizens accused or convicted of crimes
By reducing fines or the length of sentences
By granting amnesty to groups of people

49. Legislative Powers
As party chief, the President can greatly influence Congress.
The President sends messages to Congress to suggests legislation.
There are three major messages a year:
The State of the Union, delivered to a joint session of Congress.
The President’s budget message
The Annual Economic Report

50. Obama’s State of the Union 2015

51. Options
Checkpoint: What options are available to the President when presented with a bill?
Sign the bill into law
Veto the bill
Allow the bill to become law by not acting upon it within ten days
Exercise a pocket veto at the end of a congressional session by not acting on the bill before Congress adjourns in under 10 days.

52. Overriding a Veto
Congress can override a veto with a two-thirds majority, but this rarely happens.
It is difficult to gather enough votes in each house for a veto override.
The mere threat of a veto can often defeat a bill or cause changes to its provisions.
Early Presidents rarely exercised the veto, but it is common today.

54. Signing Statements Describe how a new law should be enforced
President George W. Bush issued a record number of signing statements.
Claimed the power to refuse to enforce certain provisions of a law or to interpret it as he saw fit.
Critics saw this as an attempt to veto bills without exercising a formal veto.

55. Line-Item Veto
The President can either accept all of a bill or reject all of it.
The Supreme Court has ruled that the line-item veto power can only be given to the President by a constitutional amendment.
How is a line-item veto different from a regular veto?

56. Clinton v. City of New York

57. Line-Item Veto
The proposed line-item veto would allow the President to cancel out some parts of a bill while approving others.
Supporters argue that this would cut down on wasteful federal spending.
Opponents argue that the line-item veto would shift too much power from the legislative branch to the executive branch.

58. Judicial Powers
The President can grant pardons and reprieves in federal cases.
The President can pardon people before they have even been tried or convicted, though this is rare.
President Gerald Ford famously pardoned former President Nixon in 1974 before Nixon had been tried.
A person must accept a pardon for it to go into effect.
The Supreme Court upheld this rule in 1915.

59. Judicial Powers
Checkpoint: What powers are included under the power to pardon?
The President can commute, or reduce, a fine or prison sentence.
The President can also issue a blanket amnesty that pardons a group of people.
In 1893, President Benjamin Harrison pardoned all Mormons who had violated polygamy laws.
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter gave amnesty to all Vietnam War draft evaders.