Which presidents do you think were the greatest? What made them great?

Basis of power in Article II of the Constitution Must be 35 years old, a natural-born citizen, and a resident of the U.S. for 14 years Chief Executive Commander in Chief of the armed forces Power to grant pardons, make treaties, appoint ambassadors,justices, and other offices, sign or veto legislation Election by the Electoral College Duty to give a State of the Union report

Presidents are outsiders whereas pm’s are insiders Pres. Is popularly elected whereas pm is selected by legislature and is leader of majority party (or coalition party) Pres. Chooses cabinet members from outside congress whereas pm’s cabinet are always members of parliament Pres. Doesn’t have guaranteed majority in Congress whereas in parliamentary democracies it is the case. More often we have divided gov. Even if one party controls both branches there is still no guarantee of getting work done because of the structure of sep. of powers

More often than not we have a divided gov. but that doesn’t mean that less gets done Unified gov. is not guarantee of getting legislation passed especially when the parties are not unified ideologically Only Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson who had unified govs. Managed to pass a lot of legislation The key to accomplishing goals when there is a unified gov. is when the party is ideologically in sync Policy gridlock is a necessary consequence of a representative democracy b/c of the delays and compromises inherent in it More important is the relative power of the president and Congress and that has changed greatly

Concerns of the Founders Worry that exec. Would use militia to overpower states Pres. Would try to stay in power b/c most elections would be decided by the House of Reps. When there was no majority in the electoral college Direct vote or indirect vote of president?

States would select electors however they wanted and they would meet and vote for the pres. And vice president Solution good for small states since they were guaranteed 3 electoral votes and for big states whose populations would have their say Expectation that the House would end up determining most elections Right to make treaties and appoint lesser officials then given to the president

Winner take all Allocation of electoral votes does not always reflect the population 4 occasions when pres. Candidates lost election even though they received the most popular votes Andrew Jackson got more popular votes but House decided election and John Quincy Adams became pres Rutherford B. Hayes lost the pop. Vote by a margin but was still elected Grover Cleavland won pop. Vote Gore had more pop. Votes but Bush more electoral votes

No terms until nd amendment limited presidency to 2 terms George Washington limited himself to two terms and most followed suit Only FDR ran for more terms Orderly transfer of power from one president to the next amazing feature (in other countries there are riots or the military gets involved)

First presidents were the most prominent men in our nation 4 of the 5 served two terms Establishing legitimacy of the office easy in early years since they didn’t actually have that much to do Presidency kept modest No president appeared on coins until after he was dead None received retirement until Eisenhower Few vetoes every cast Little collaboration with Congress

After Jackson, Congress reestablished power For 100 years the presidency was the subordinate branch of government Only Lincoln broke ground for presidential power Used many powers in Article II of the constitution that were “implied” or “inherent” Lincoln raised an army, spent money, issued the Emancipation Proclamation to free slaves- without congressional approval After Lincoln, congress again reasserted its power and the presidency was more of a negative force than a positive one Only get real change in pres. Power after the 1930s In past presidency only powerful in times of national crisis Reality of legislative process is that congress usually initiates legislation

Rule of propinquity- power is wielded by people in the room when a decision is made, so political appointments can be classified in terms of their proximity to the president White House Executive Office Cabinet

Closest advisor to the presidents Usually come from ranks of president’s campaign They have offices in the west wing of the white house Oversee policy and political interests of the president Don’t have to be confirmed by the Senate 3 Structures Pyramid- hierarchy- only chief of staff really deals with the president, but there is a risk of isolating the pres. Or misinforming him Circular- cabinet secretaries and assistants report directly to pres.- but can cause confusion because of the amount of info and opinions Ad hoc- a lot of people deal directly with the president but not necessarily gov. officials and advisors, so pres. May not be dealing with professionals

These are agencies who are not in the White House but who perform services for him Top positions are appointed, but must be confirmed by Senate Principal Agencies Office of Management and Budget (OMB)- most important- responsible for national budget, organization and operation of exec. branch Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

Though not directly mentioned in the constitution, it is alluded to in the 25 th amendment Cabinet officers are the heads of 14 major executive departments President appoints or directly controls many members of the cabinets Can reward supporters and friends with appointments