Transcript The Executive Branch

The Executive Branch
Article II
Powers of the President
Formal Powers
• Those powers listed in the Constitution
• These powers are also called …?
Foreign Wars (send troops)
• Shared?
• Yes! Congress declares war
Execute laws
• Shared?
• No. President is chief executive.
Pardons and Reprieves
• Shared?
• No. President does not need approval.
(example: Ford pardons Nixon)
Treaties and foreign policy
• Shared?
• Yes. Senate approves treaties and is involved
in foreign relations
Appoint officials
• Shared?
• Yes. Makes his own nominations, but Senate
approves.
Call Special Sessions
• Shared?
• No … but congress must attend
Veto Legislation
• Shared?
• No. Only President can veto, but Congress can
overturn with a 2/3 vote
State of the Union
• Shared?
• No. It is delivered to Congress.
In charge of army/navy
• Shared?
• No. President is commander-in-chief
Propose Budget
• Shared?
• Yes. Congress helps create and approve
Informal powers
• Not specifically listed in Constitution
• Also called …?
Ceremonies
• Shared?
• No
Invite diplomats to White House
• Shared?
• No. Receiving diplomats is a formal power, but
not the White House.
Shape Public Opinion
• Shared?
• Yes … with Linkage Institutions (Media,
Interest groups, Parties)
Persuade Others
• Shared?
• Yes. Shared with everyone; politicians, media,
IG, parties, public
Party Platform
• Shared?
• Yes, with party (determine what is important
and what the party position will be on issues)
Set policy agenda
• Shared?
• Yes, with other branches and linkage
institutions.
The President’s many hats 
(roles of the President)
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Diplomatic
Legislative
Military
Executive
Economic
Party
Diplomatic
• Chief of State (Representative of the Nation)
• Foreign Policy Leader
• Make treaties and executive agreement (agreement
with other nations, no Senate approval)
• Welcome foreign leaders
• Send foreign aid (troops, financial, etc.)
• Name ambassadors
• Develop foreign policy and national security
• Recognize other nations
• Ceremonies, symbolic events
Legislative
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Chief agenda setter
Propose legislation
Sign or veto bills
Invite members of Congress to the White House
Call special sessions
Set public policy and policy agenda
State of the union (outline the year’s agenda)
Bully pulpit: use office to promote programs and
influence Congress to accept legislative proposals
Military
• Commander-in-chief (civilian leader of the
military)
• Send troops to stop riots, provide defense,
combat
• War making powers shared with Congress (who
declares war)
• Appointments (Joint Chiefs of Staff, head of CIA)
• Works with Department of Defense to decide
strategy during war
• Decision on whether to bomb
Executive
• Chief Executive
• Manages bureaucracy and executive branch (hires/fires,
hold meetings)
• Appoint officials, cabinet members, SCOTUS, federal judges
(*senatorial courtesy – home state senators consulted
before president nominates)
• Grant pardons (excuse offenders for crime) and reprieves
(delay enactment of penalties)
• Executive order: issued to carry out law or new regulation
that has same effect as law (can’t violate an existing law –
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell)
• Executive Privilege: right to withhold information from
Congress or refuse to testify (limited by US v. Nixon)
Economic
• Propose Budget, Congress modifies and
approves, President approves
• Work with Secretary of the Treasury
• Policies to handle unemployment and inflation
• Propose tax cuts/increases
• Meet with economic advisors
• Appoint chairmen of Federal Reserve (makes
decisions about interest rates and money supply)
• Trade agreements
Party
• Party Leader
• Focus and direction for party (set platform)
• Work with party leaders and Congress members to
pass legislation into law
• Persuade public, media, politicians, interest groups
• Shape public opinion
• Campaigns for party members; appears at fundraisers
and events
• Parties are not in the Constitution; this role is based on
custom
How does the President use his
powers and duties to check on the
Legislative and Judicial branch?
Executive checks on Legislative
• VETO POWER
– Line item veto
– 1996 Line Item Veto Act ruled unconstitutional in Clinton v.
U.S.
• Setting policy agenda (influencing Congressmen, the
public, State of the Union, using the media, etc.)
• Call Special Session of Congress
**(Executive Order – give directive to bureaucracy
without Congress passing a law)
**(Executive Agreement – make agreement with leader
of another country, doesn’t need Senate approval but is
not U.S. law and is not binding for other Presidents)
Executive checks on Judicial
• Power to grant pardons and reprieves
– Pardon: legal forgiveness of a crime
– Reprieve: postponement of the execution of a
sentence (can delay punishment)
• Power to appoint justices to the SCOTUS
– Important because they can nominate someone
who shares their views, and they keep that
appointment for life
The President
Qualifications and Characteristics
Formal Qualifications
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35 years old
Natural born citizen
14 year resident
4 year term
2 term limit
Informal Qualifications
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Background in business or public service
Political or military service
Well-educated
White, male, middle-upper class, Protestant
Married
Modern Presidents
• What defined their presidency?
Eisenhower
• President during Brown v. Board
JFK
• Bay of Pigs
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• Assassination
Johnson (LBJ)
• Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act
Nixon
• Out of Vietnam
• Watergate
Ford
• Pardons Nixon
• Set nuclear limits
Carter
• Iranian Hostage Crisis
• Diplomatic relations (Egypt/Israel)
Reagan
• Restores national pride
• Reaganomics
Bush (H/Sr.)
• Gulf War
Clinton
• Impeachment
• Economy improves
Bush (W)
• 9/11
• Homeland Security
Obama
• First African-American President
• Troops out of Iraq