Transcript Presidential Powers

Hail to the Chief
Demographic
Characteristics of U.S.
Presidents
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100% male
100% Caucasian
97% Protestant
82% of British
ancestry
• 77% college educated
• 69% politicians
• 62% lawyers
• >50% from the top 3%
wealth and social class
• 0.5% born into
poverty
• 69% elected from
large states
Constitutional Qualifications
 Must be at least
35 years old
 Must have lived
in the United
States for 14
years
 Must be a natural
born citizen
Presidential Benefits
 $400,000 tax-free salary
 $50,000/year expense
account
 $100,000/year travel
expenses
 The White House
 Secret Service
protection
 Camp David country
estate
 Air Force One personal
airplane
 Staff of 400-500
Christmas at the White House, 2004
Presidential Succession
(Presidential Succession Act of 1947)
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1. Vice President
2. Speaker of the House
3. President Pro Tempore of the Senate
4. Secretary of State
5. Secretary of the Treasury
6. Secretary of Defense
7. Attorney General
8. Remaining Cabinet Members
Presidential Roles
Chief of State
Queen Elizabeth and President Reagan, 1983
President Kennedy speaks at Berlin Wall,
1963
Chief Executive
President Clinton with Janet Reno,
the first female Attorney General,
February, 1993
President Bush holds cabinet meeting
in October, 2005
Chief Executive
 “Faithfully execute” the laws
 Require the opinion of heads of
executive departments
 Grant pardons for federal offenses
except for cases of impeachment
 Nominate judges of the Supreme
Court and all other officers of the
U.S. with consent of the Senate
 Fill vacancies that may happen
during recess of the Senate
Chief Administrator
Chief Diplomat
President Bush at Ground Zero after 9-11
Vice-President Johnson sworn in
aboard Air Force One
after President Kennedy’s
assassination, 1963
Foreign Affairs and
Diplomatic Powers
 Appoint ambassadors, ministers and
consuls
 Make treaties subject to Senate
confirmation
 Receive ambassadors
 Power to make treaties
 Subject to Senate Approval
 Power of Recognition
 Persona non grata
 Executive Agreement
Commander-in-Chief
President Johnson decorates a soldier
in Vietnam, October, 1966
President Bush aboard U.S.S.
Lincoln, May, 2003
Commander-in-Chief
 Commander in Chief of the Army &
Navy
 Commander in Chief of the state
militias (now the National Guard)
 Commission all officers
Chief Legislator
President Clinton delivers the State
of the Union Address, 1997
President Roosevelt signs into law the
Social Security Act, 1935
Legislative Powers: Chief Legislator
 Give State of the Union address to Congress
 Recommend “measures” to the Congress
 Upon “extraordinary occasions” convene both
houses of Congress
 Presidential Veto
 Veto Message within 10 days of passing the House of
origin
 Pocket Veto - President does not sign within 10 days
 Congress can override with 2/3 majority from both
Houses
 Veto Politics
 Congressional override is difficult (only 4%)
 Threat of veto can cause Congress to make changes in
legislation
Chief of Party/
Political Party Leader
President Reagan & Vice-President Bush accepting their party’s
nomination in 1980
Chief Citizen
President Lincoln during the Civil
War, 1862
President Roosevelt and the “Bully
Pulpit,” 1910
Presidential Powers
Presidential Powers of the President
 Constitutional or enumerated powers of
the presidency
 Found primarily in Article II of the
Constitution
•President executes (enforces, administers, carries
out) the provisions of federal law
•Oath of office instructs the President to carry out
the laws of the land
•Constitution’s command “he shall take care that the
laws be faithfully executed.”
Presidential Oath "I do solemnly swear (or affirm)
that I will faithfully execute the
office of President of the United
States, and will to the best of my
ability, preserve, protect and defend
the Constitution of the United
States."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaNONpC3V
Ms&feature=related
Executive Powers: Chief Executive
Ordinance Power
Executive Orders
• Executive Orders issued by the
President that carry the force of
law
• Clinton’s “Don’t ask don’t tell”
gays in the military policy
• WWII and rationing of gas
• FDR’s internment of Japanese
Americans
• GWB trying suspected terrorists in
military tribunals
Notice for Japanese
“relocation,” 1942
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/orders/
Executive Powers Cont.
• Appointment Power
– Appoints: Ambassadors, cabinet
members, heads of Independent
Agencies, Federal Judges and Officers
– http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/nomin
ations/index-date.html
• Removal Power
– Power to remove people from appointed
offices
Executive Privilege
• Claim by a president that he has the right to decide
that the national interest will be better served if
certain information is withheld from the public,
including the Courts and Congress
• United States v. Nixon
(1973) – presidents do
NOT have unqualified
executive privilege (Nixon
Watergate tapes)
Judicial Powers
The Constitution gives the President the power to “...grant
reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United
States, except in cases of impeachment.” —Article II,
Section 2, Clause 1
 Reprieve
 Postponement of execution of sentence
 Pardon
 Legal Forgiveness of a crime
 Clemency
 Mercy or leniency for federal offenses
only
 Commutation
 Reduce the length of a sentence or fine
 Amnesty
 Pardoning a group of people
Diplomatic Powers
 Power to make treaties
 Treaty
 Formal agreement between two or more sovereign
states
 Work with Secretary of State
 Senate approval by 2/3 vote
 Executive Agreements
 Pact between President and head of state
 Don’t need Senate approval
 Power of Recognition
 President recognizes a new country or Government,
sign of approval or will
 Persona non grata
 Unfavorable action = unwelcome person
Legislative Powers
 Recommend Legislation
 Veto Power
 No Line-item!!
 Special Session
Presidential Quotations
President Harry S. Truman
"I sit here all day
trying to persuade
people to do the things
they ought to have the
sense to do without my
persuading them.
That's all the powers
of the President
amount to."
Truman, 33rd President, 1945-53
President John F. Kennedy
“No easy problem
ever comes to the
President of the
United States. If
they are easy to
solve, somebody
else has solved
President Kennedy’s nationally televised
them.”
address during the Cuban Missile Crisis,
October, 1962
President Lyndon B. Johnson
“The presidency has
made every man who
occupied it, no matter
how small, bigger than
he was; and no matter
how big, not big enough
for its demands.”
President Johnson,
36th President, 1963-69
President Richard M. Nixon
In the aftermath of the Watergate scandal,
President Nixon departs the White House
after his resignation, Aug., 1974
"Under the doctrine of
the separation of
powers, the manner in
which the president
personally exercises his
assigned executive
powers is not subject to
questioning by another
branch of
government."
President George W. Bush
“To those of you who
received honors,
awards, and
distinctions, I say 'Well
done.' And to the C
students, I say 'You, too,
can be president of the
United States.'”
President George W. Bush, speaking
at Yale University's 300th
commencement ceremony
President Bush, 43rd President,
2001-present