Roles of the President

Chief Executive

• Power of appointment

• Power to issue executive orders

• White House Staff & Executive Office

• The Cabinet

Power of Appointment • Helping the president to enforce laws passed by

Congress, the Constitution authorizes him to appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate

• Presidents look for people who will be loyal, competent and serve with integrity to fill appointed positions

• Most of the nominations for the President’s Cabinet get approved

• Cabinet: The formal body of presidential advisers who head the fifteen executive departments

Power to issue Executive Orders

• Executive orders offer the president an opportunity to make policy without legislative approval

• Executive Order: A rule or regulation issued by the President that has the effect of law

• Many executive Orders are issued to help clarify or implement legislation enacted by Congress• EXAMPLE: Truman ordered the end to segregation in

the military • Affirmative Action was institutionalized by Lyndon B.

Johnson

EO 11130

EO 10730

The White House Staff• Personal assistants and advisors are not subjected to

Senate confirmation

• Chief of Staff: job is to facilitate the smooth running of the staff and the executive branch of the government

• The size of the White House Staff has grown as the public demands from the president have increased

• The current size is about 400 staffers

Executive Office

• Executive Office of the President (EOP): Established in 1939 to help the president oversee the executive branch bureaucracy

• EOP expanded over time to include advisory and policy-making agencies and task forces

• EOP has become a prime policy maker in their fields of expertise

• They must perform their tasks in accordance with congressional legislation

EOP’s Memebers

• National Security Council

• Council of Economic Advisers

• Office of Management and Budget

• Office of the Vice President

• U.S. Trade Representative

The Cabinet

• Cabinet has no basis in the Constitution which is an informal institution based on practice and precedent whose membership is determined by tradition and presidential discretion

• Typically included heads of major executive departments

• Major function is to help the president execute the laws and assist him in making decisions

• Page 297 has chart of Department heads & responsibilities

The Cabinet

• Three executive departments that spend the most money• Department of Health and Human Services• Department of Defense• Department of Treasury???????

Vice President

• When John Adams took the position as the first vice president the office had no importance

• The office eventually evolved to create a balance politically and geographically

• The power of the Vice President depends on how much power the President gives them

• It wasn’t until 1961 that the Vice President had an office in the White House

Vice President

First Lady

• Assist presidents as informal advisers while making other, more public, significant contributions to American society

• Abigail Adams was John’s sounding board and encouraged him to “Remember the Ladies”

• Edith Bolling Galt Wilson became Woodrow Wilson’s surrogate and make decisions when Wilson collapsed and was partly paralyzed in 1919

First Lady

Chief Legislator

• Congress & President work together to shape public policy

• Initiates legislation

• Veto Power

Congress & the President working together

• FDR said, “It is the duty of the President to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose”

• LBJ said, “merely placing a program before Congress is not enough…without constant attention from the administration, most legislation moves through the congressional process at the speed of a glacier”

• Important for President and Congress to construct coalitions to work for passage of his legislation

Initiating Legislation

• The State of the Union Address

• The annual budget message

Veto Power

• Authority to reject any congressional legislation

• The threat of a presidential veto often prompts members of Congress to fashion legislation that they know will receive Presidential support

• Gives the president another way to influence law-making

• Keeps in the system of checks and balances

Chief Diplomat

• Power to send & receive ambassadors

• Power to make treaties

• Power to make executive agreements

Power to send & receive ambassadors

• President can “receive ambassadors” which has been interpreted to allow the president to recognize the very existence of other nations

Power to make treaties

• Power to make treaties with foreign nations is checked by all treaties must be approved by at least 2/3 of the members of the Senate

• Most notable rejection of Senate’s ratification of a treaty is the Treaty of Versailles

Power to make Executive Agreements

• Executive Agreements: Formal government agreement entered into by the president that does not require the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate

• These allow the President to form secret and highly sensitive arrangements with foreign nations without Senate approval

• These agreements, however, are not binding with subsequent administrations

Commander-in-chief

• Civilian control of armed services

• President’s war powers vs Congress’ power to declare war

Civilian control of Armed Services

• Who is control of the armed forces?

• Why would it be civilian control?

President’s war powers vs. Congress’ power to declare

war• War Powers Act: Passed by Congress in 1973; the

President is limited in the deployment of troops overseas to a 60 day period in peacetime (which can be extended for an extra 30 days to permit withdrawal) unless Congress explicitly gives its approval for a longer period

• Presidents have in the past use the Commander-in-chief clause in conjunction with their chief executive’s duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” to wage war

Chief of State

• Ceremonial head of government

Ceremonial Head

Chief Jurist

• Power of appointment (Supreme Court)

• Power to grant pardons, reprieves, commutations & amnesty

Power of Appointment• Most important appointment presidents can

make is a nomination to fill a Supreme Court vacancy

• The court is split ideologically so one or two appointments can affect the outcome of important constitutional cases well beyond the president’s term in office

Power to grant pardons, reprieves, commutations &

amnesty• Pardon: An executive grant providing

restoration of all rights and privileges of citizenship to a specific individual charged or convicted of a crime

• Presidents can exercise a check on judicial power through their constitutional authority to grant reprieves or pardons except in impeachment

Ford pardoning Nixon on television

Thanksgiving turkey pardon

Carter gave draft dodgers a commutation

Protector of the Prosperity

• Historical development

• Political importance of this role

Historical Development

• Public expects the president to act as an economic superhero who will protect against both a depression and an inflation while keeping economy at full employment

• Herbert Hoover did not manage the prosperity leading the U.S. into the Great Depression

• Jimmy Carter did not prevent the inflation

Political Importance of this Role

• Protecting the Prosperity or neglecting to protect the countries prosperity can hurt a presidents chances of reelection

• George H.S. Bush was not reelected due to his inability to handle the economy

Head of Party

• Presidential Popularity

• “Coattails”

Presidential Popularity

• A president’s every action either helps or hurts that party, and its members keep a close eye on the president to make sure that its ideas and fortunes are promoted

Presidential Popularity

“Coattails”

• “Riding the president’s coattails into office” occurs in an election when voters also elect representatives or senators belonging to a successful presidential candidate’s party

• Example:• Obama’s Congress in 2008• FDR’s Congress in 194