1. Hail to the Chief
The Power of the
American Presidency

2. Demographic Characteristics of U.S. Presidents
100% male
97% Caucasian
Barack Obama is the first African American to be elected president of the United States. He was also born in Hawaii, making him the first president not born in the continental United States.
97% Protestant
81% British ancestry
8 were born British subjects: Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J. Q. Adams, Jackson, and W. Harrison.
70% politicians
"Washington outsiders" (i.e., the 18 presidents who never served in Congress) are: Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, Taylor, Grant, Arthur, Cleveland, T. Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Coolidge, Hoover, F. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and G. W. Bush.
served as Vice Presidents: J. Adams, Jefferson, Van Buren, Tyler, Fillmore, A. Johnson, Arthur, T. Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, Nixon, L. Johnson, Ford, and George H.W. Bush.
64% lawyers

3. Demographic Characteristics of U.S. Presidents
79% college educated
Nine Presidents never attended college: Washington, Jackson, Van Buren, Taylor, Fillmore, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Cleveland, and Truman.
The college that has the most presidents as alumni (six in total) is Harvard: J. Adams, J. Q. Adams, T. Roosevelt, F. Roosevelt, Kennedy, G. W. Bush (business school), and Barack Obama (law school). Yale is a close second, with five presidents as alumni: Taft, Ford (law school), G.H.W. Bush, Clinton (law school), and G. W. Bush.
>50% from the top 3% wealth and social class
1% born into poverty
70% elected from large states
Average age
Oldest was Reagan (age 69); the youngest was Kennedy (age 43). Theodore Roosevelt, however, was the youngest man to become president—he was 42 when he succeeded McKinley, who had been assassinated.

4. Other Random Tidbits
The tallest president was Lincoln at 6'4"; at 5'4", Madison was the shortest.
Eight left-handed presidents: James A. Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.
Eight Presidents died in office: W. Harrison (after having served only one month), Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, F. Roosevelt, and Kennedy.
James Buchanan was the only president never to marry. Five presidents remarried after the death of their first wives—two of whom, Tyler and Wilson, remarried while in the White House. Reagan was the only divorced president. Six presidents had no children. Tyler—father of fifteen—had the most.

5. What makes a good POTUS? Take out your homework from yesterday.
What were the “qualities” of current and past presidents that made them memorable/good representatives of our country?

6. Fortunate Son Recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969)
Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they’re red, white and blue.
And when the band plays, “Hail to the Chief,”
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, lord,
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son, son.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no.
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don’t they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no millionaire’s son, son.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no.

7. Fortunate Son Recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969)
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no military son, son.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, one.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate son, son.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate son, no, no, no.
Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
Ooh, they send you down to war, lord,
And when you ask them, “How much should we give?”
Ooh, they only answer more! more! more! yo,

8. 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

9. 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
Christmas at the White House, 2004

10. Presidential Roles The POTUS has to wear many hats!

11. Head of State Queen Elizabeth and President Reagan, 1983
President Kennedy speaks at Berlin Wall, 1963

12. Chief Executive
President Clinton with Janet Reno, the first female Attorney General,
February, 1993
President Bush holds cabinet meeting
in October, 2005

13. Commander-in-Chief President Johnson decorates a soldier
in Vietnam, October, 1966
President Bush aboard U.S.S. Lincoln, May, 2003

14. Chief Legislator
President Clinton delivers the State of the Union Address, 1997
President Roosevelt signs into law the Social Security Act, 1935

15. Political Party Leader
President Reagan & Vice-President Bush accepting their party’s nomination in 1980

16. Crisis Manager President Bush at Ground Zero after 9-11
Vice-President Johnson sworn in aboard Air Force One
after President Kennedy’s assassination, 1963

17. Moral Persuader President Roosevelt and the “Bully Pulpit,” 1910
President Lincoln during the Civil War, 1862

18. FORMAL POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT: Why formal?

19. Formal Powers of the President
Constitutional or enumerated powers of the presidency
Found primarily in Article II of the Constitution

20. Formal Powers: Commander-in-Chief
Commander in Chief of the Army & Navy
Commander in Chief of the state militias (now the National Guard)
Commission all officers
Examples: FDR C-in-C during WWII,
G.W. Bush deploys National Guard Reserves to Operation Iraqi Freedom

21. Formal Powers: Chief Executive
“Faithfully execute” the laws
Require the opinion of heads of executive departments (Washington created the Cabinet)
Grant pardons for federal offenses except for cases of impeachment (Ford pardons Nixon ‘74)
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

22. Formal Powers: Foreign Affairs
Appoint ambassadors, ministers and consuls
Make treaties subject to Senate confirmation
Receive ambassadors from other nations

23. Formal Powers: Chief Legislator
Give State of the Union address to Congress
Recommend “measures” to the Congress
Upon “extraordinary occasions” convene both houses of Congress

24. Formal Powers: Chief Legislator (cont.)
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

25. Informal Powers
Those powers not explicitly written in the Constitution
Similar to “necessary and proper” powers of Congress
In the modern era (since 1933), the President’s informal powers may be significantly more powerful than his formal powers

26. Homework!
Students will read the handout: Informal Powers of the President.
Answer all six questions for tomorrow.

27. Executive Orders
Orders issued by the President that carry the force of law
Clinton’s “Don’t ask don’t tell” gays in the military policy
FDR’s internment of Japanese Americans
GWB trying suspected terrorists in military tribunals
Notice for Japanese “relocation,” 1942

28. Executive Agreements
International agreements, usually related to trade, made by a president that has the force of a treaty; does NOT need Senate approval
Jefferson’s purchase of Louisiana in 1803
GWB announced cuts in the nuclear arsenal, but not in a treaty; usually trade agreements between
US and other nations

29. 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)

30. Presidential Quotations

31. 1. Interpret the quote i. e. what is the president saying. 2
1. Interpret the quote i.e. what is the president saying? 2. What seems to be the president’s attitude toward his job? 3. What powers and/or roles of the POTUS apply to the quote? 4. What message or wisdom can be gleaned from the quote?

32. 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,

33. 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 them.”
President Kennedy’s nationally televised address during the Cuban Missile Crisis, October, 1962

34. 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,

35. President Richard M. Nixon
"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."
In the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, President Nixon departs the White House after his resignation, Aug., 1974

36. 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