Bell Ringer• Read the following quotes:

• "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." -- John Quincy Adams

• “Inventories can be managed, but people must be led.”—H. Ross Perot

• “Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.”—Vince Lombardi

• “The price of greatness is responsibility.”—Winston Churchill

• Create your own sentence that summarizes what leadership should be like.

The Presidency

Introduction

• The President is the most powerful person in the world—agree or disagree?– Kennedy, Johnson, Bush, and Clinton all sent troops into battle

without war declarations– Nixon froze prices (and wages)– Carter, Reagan, and Bush Jr. appointed most of the Supreme

Court– Carter signed an arms limitation treaty with the Soviets—not

ratified by the Senate– Reagan couldn’t test anti-satellite weapons and Congress

rejected his budget – Clinton’s healthcare plan was ignored and he was impeached

President v. Prime Minister

• Popularly elected president’s were created by the US– Of the 5 dozen countries with party competition for

leader, only 16 have direct elections (13 are in N. or S. America)

• If he is not directly elected by the people, the other option is to be chosen by Parliament (which is what all of Europe has)– Whichever party has the majority in Parliament will

be the party the prime minister is chosen from

President v. Prime Minister

• Obama was elected on the premise that he was a “Washington outsider”– Prime ministers have to be “insiders”

• Presidents choose cabinet members from outside of Congress– Britain’s Prime Minister selects all of his members from

Parliament• Presidents may not have a “willing” Congress

– Prime Ministers are pulled from majority party in Parliament, meaning likely compatibility between the two branches

Divided Government

• Divided Government: legislative branch and executive branch are controlled by different parties

• Unified Government: legislative and executive branch are controlled by the same party– Only happened in 2001 (didn’t last entire

Congress) and 2009 (very strong) since 1969• People complain that a divided government

leads to gridlock

Divided Government

• Some say that divided government creates partisan bickering which prevents legislation from being passed– Many believe that divided government is not the

cause of gridlock, ideological difference is– Gridlock however is a side effect of democracy—it

creates time to debate and forces compromise

The Powers of the President

• Serve as commander in chief• Commission officers• Grant reprieves/pardons for federal offenses

– What federal offense can he not pardon?• Convene Congress in special session• Receive ambassadors• Take care that the laws are faithfully executed• “Executive power”• Appoint officials to lesser offices

The Powers of the President

• Shared powers between the President and Senate– Make treaties– Appoint ambassadors, judges, high officials

• Shared powers between the President and Congress as a whole– Approve legislation

• Sounds kinda weak?

The Powers of the President

• How about now?• The President has the sole

ability to drop nuclear weapons

• And yet…“All the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.”—Harry S Truman

Qualifications

• Natural born citizen• 35 years old• Resident of the US for 14+ years

Benefits

• $400,000/year salary(taxable)• $50,000 (tax-free) expense account• Pension pay = cabinet member pay (taxable)• Staff and Secret service during/after presidency• White House staff = 400+• Camp David• Air Force One• Personal Chef

Benefits

Assignment

• Presidential Report Card• Get into groups of 2-3

– Using your handout, determine who will do which components of the project

– You will present this project on March 7/8.

Bell Ringer:

• Name five powers of the president. Be sure to indicate if they are shared powers or exclusive powers.

Vice President

• Two official jobs:– Preside over Senate – original– Presidential disability –

25th Amendment• Two unofficial

– President’s “errand boy”– President in waiting

Executive Branch

President

Executive OfficeWhite House Office, OMB, NSA, Council of Economics,

VP

Cabinet MembersState, Treasury, Justice, Defense, Interior, Ag., Comm.,

Labor, HHS, HUD, Trans., Energy, Edu., Veteran, Homeland Sec.

Independent AgenciesSEC, FTC, FCC, EPA, CBO, NASA

The Executive Office of the President

• Every officer, employee and agency is legally subordinate to the President– They exist to help the President exercise executive

power– His right arm is the Executive Office of the President

• Staffed by the President’s closest advisors and assistants

• The White House is the “nerve center” of the executive branch

Executive Branch

• Executive Office:– Chief of Staff: controls daily access to president and

sets schedule– Press Secretary: consults with media on president’s

activities– Chief Counsel: presidential lawyer– Office of Management and Budget: coordinates

federal budget, advises President– National Security Council: includes Chairman of

Joint Chiefs of Staff and Security Advisor

The Executive Office of the President

• The President consults the National Security Council when considering steps in foreign affairs– The President is the chairperson– Other members include the VP, Director of the CIA, and Chairman of

the Joint Chiefs of Staff• The Department of Homeland Security is the newest EOP,

created after 9/11– Its main job is to keep the President aware of any and all acts of

terrorism• Other EOP agencies include Office of Management and

Budget, Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Office of National Drug Control Policy, and Office of Economic Advisors

The Executive Departments

• Much of the work done by the Federal Government is by the 15 executive departments– Called the Cabinet departments– The First Congress created 3 of the departments

(Treasury, War, State)– As the workload of the increased, so has the

number of departments (some have been faded out like War and replaced with Defense)

The Executive Departments

• Each Department is headed by a secretary– Exception: Department of Justice is headed by the

Attorney General• Each department head is the primary link

between the presidential policy and the department– They also strive to promote and protect their

department• Each department has an assistant secretary as

well as personnel, etc.

The Executive Departments

• Each department is broken into subunits

Criminal DivisionOf the Department

Of Justice

Capital Case UnitNarcotics and

Dangerous Drugs

Computer CrimeAnd Intellectual

Property

The Executive Departments

• The Veterans Health Administration is also a subunit under Veterans Affairs– It shows that most employees of the departments

work away from the nation’s capital (about 90%)

The Executive Departments

• Today, the departments vary widely– The Department of State is the oldest and most

prestigious department but also among the smallest– The Department of Defense is the largest with

670,000 civil workers and 1.4M military workers– The Department of Health and Human Services has

the largest budget (accounts for 1/3 of all federal spending)

– You can learn more about the various departments and what they do in Chapter 14

The Executive Departments

• The Cabinet was not established by the Constitution, rather it exists because of tradition

• Under the Bush Administration we have seen even more people invited to Cabinet meetings that are not traditionally invited– This includes White House chief of Staff, US trade

representative and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

• Recap the Appointment process

Independent Agencies

• Since 1880, the Federal Government has had to expand beyond the Cabinet Departments– This lead to independent agencies– Today there are nearly 150 of them

• Some of the reasons these agencies exist outside of the departments is:– They do not fit in a department (General Services

Administration-purchase supplies, land, equipment)– Some are independent to avoid partisanship – Because of the nature of their functions (regulatory

commissions)

Independent Agencies

• You can break independent agencies into three categories:– Independent Executive Agencies—organized much

like the Cabinet Departments, they just do not get Cabinet status (NASA, EPA, all the way down to the small ones like the American Battle Monuments Commission)

– Independent Regulatory Commissions—beyond the reach of the President’s control-see Ch. 14 for a list

• Congress has given this group quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial powers meaning that the rules of the SEC are legally binding for those who sell stocks

Independent Agencies• Finally, you have the Government Corporations

– They are under the President’s control but established by Congress to run like a business

– Today there are more than 50 of them including:• FDIC• US Postal Service• Amtrak

• Government Corporations can be set up like Private Corporations, with a board of directors and a general manager (CEO)– Congress decides how/who runs the corporation– Money comes from the government– The Federal Government owns the stock