ExecutiveBranchnotes(forTest3).ppt

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Lecture Notes – Fri., March 4

Our Nation’s Executive Branch

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Constitutional Requirements for

President

• At least 35

years old

• Native-born

American

• Resident of the

U.S. for at

least 14 years

Teddy Roosevelt was youngest to serve as

president. He was 42 when he took office after Pres. McKinley’s assassination John F. Kennedy was the youngest president voted into office at age 43. He was also the youngest to die in office

Bill Clinton was 3rd

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Former

Unofficial

“Requirements”

(until 2008

election):

• White, protestant, and male

• All but one

president, except Obama, have been white, protestant Christians First Jewish Vice-Presidential Candidate (2000)

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Electing the President

• Elections for president - Every

4 years

Bush v. Kerry 2004

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Death Cycle of Presidents

Elected in Years Ending in Zero

• In 1840, the presidential death cycle foretold by Shawnee

Chief, Tecumseh, began.

• Every sitting President elected in a year ending in zero died in office, except for President Reagan, who survived a serious assassination attempt, and

George W. Bush.

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Harrison, died 31 days into his term. 1st pres. to die in

office.

Lincoln, assassinated just after the end of Civil War

Garfield – Served for less than 4 months before shot in train

station

McKinley (left)

Harding – Did his wife do it?

Mysterious death! Kennedy, assassinated in 1963. Succeeded by Johnson.

FDR

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Electoral College

• Indirect method for electing president

• # electoral votes for each state = total # state’s

seats in Congress (Senate & HOR)

• Voting for a candidate = voting for electors who are “pledged” to that

candidate.

Electors in Minnesota

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Electoral College, Cont’d.

• There are 538 Electors (per political party,

nationwide)

435 members of HOR

100 members of U.S. Senate

+ 3 reps for Washington, D.C. (they have no votes in HOR or Senate)

538 (Total Electoral Votes nationwide)

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Popular Vote for Each Candidate

in 2000 Election

• http://

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Electors, Cont’d.

• 538 electors total

• Winner-Take-All System

– Even if candidate wins popular vote by just one vote in a state, he still gets ALL of that state’s electoral votes

• States with big populations get more electoral votes

• To win the election, candidate must win at least 270 (out of 538 total) electoral votes.

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Presidential Pay

• $400,000 annual salary

• Lives in White House

– Security provided by

Secret Service for life

– Private theater – Gym

– Bowling Alley – Heated Pool – Use of Air

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25th Amendment

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Speaker of the House

• Follows the

V.P. in

succession

to the

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Essential Questions

• 1) How have the roles of pres.

changed since George Washington was president?

• 2) Does the executive branch have a more direct impact on your life

than the other branches of government? Why or why not?

• 3) What is the function of the

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Chief Executive of U.S.

• Highest office of federal government

• Leads the executive branch in carrying out the laws

• Issues executive orders – a rule or command

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Executive

Orders, Cont’d.

• President can bypass Congress by making an Executive Order

– Has the force of law.

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Chief Legislator

• Can veto or

accept

proposed laws

• Suggests laws

to Congress he

wants to see

passed

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Can Issue:

• Reprieves:

– Delay a person’s

punishment until a higher court can hear the case.

• Amnesty

– Pardon for a group of people

• Pardon

– Forgive someone of a crime – no punishment

Jack Johnson, first black

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Chief Diplomat

• Foreign Policy –

Nation’s overall

plan for dealing

with other

nations

• Pres. directs

foreign policy for

the nation

– Treaties, etc.

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Acts as Head of State

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Begin notes Mon., March 7

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Head of State, Cont’d.

• Gives annual

State of the

Union Address to

Congress

– Issues facing the nation

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Commander in Chief of U.S. Military

• Only Congress can

declare war, but

only the president

can order troops

into battle

• After Vietnam,

Congress passed the War Powers

Resolution. Says the pres. Must notify

Congress within 48 hours of sending

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Begin Notes Mon., Mar. 7

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Wars “officially” declared by

Congress include:

War of 1812 (against England 1812-1814)

Mexican-American War (1846-1848)

Spanish-American War (April to Dec., 1898)

World War I (U.S. involvement from

1917-1918. It actually began in 1914)

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President = Economic

Leader

• Federal budget is clearest

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Political Party

Leader

• Helps members of

his political party

get elected to

office

• Appoints political

party members to

powerful jobs in

fed. govt., like

cabinet positions

• http://

www.whitehouse.go

v/government/cabi

net.html

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The President & Foreign Policy

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Goals of Foreign Policy

• Keep the nation safe

• International Trade

• Promoting World Peace

• Promoting Democracy in other countries

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Executive Agencies- Some Help

Pres. with Foreign Policy (FP)

• State Dept.

• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

• National Security Council (NSC)

– Advises president on national

security & foreign policy NSC: President, vice president, and secretaries of State and Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of Central Intelligence

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Foreign Policy – Who Controls It?

• Constitution does not spell out how Congress & President can use their powers in foreign policy

• Result: Competition between legislative &

executive branches to control foreign policy.

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Who Really Controls Foreign Policy?

• Control has alternated between the legislative & executive branches over time.

– After WWII, Congress lost a great deal of power, and the presidency gained a great deal of power

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War on Terror

– Since onset of the “War on Terror,” the balance has tipped back toward the president.

• Office of Homeland Security • Warrantless Wiretapping

• Holding of suspected terrorists without due process

• The Patriot Act

• Limits on right to privacy

(implied in the 9th Amdt.) –

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Foreign Policy Tools

• Ways for U.S. government to influence other nations and carry out foreign policy

– Treaties – Appoint

ambassadors to other nations

– Direct foreign aid ($$ to countries in need)

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Foreign Policy Tools, Cont’d.

Treaty

• Formal

agreement

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Foreign Policy Tools Cont’d.

Treaties

• 2/3 of Senate must approve treaties made by president (another

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There are Different Types of

Treaties

• Defense Treaties – When two or more nations agree to support each other in case one is

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NATO

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization

– One of the most important treaties ever signed

– Mutual defense treaty between the U.S., Canada, and the European nations

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Executive Agreements

• President can bypass Senate approval for treaty by making an

Executive Agreement w/ leader of another country

– Agreement between the pres. and the leader of another country

– Usually involves routine matters

Pres. Nixon and Henry Kissinger discuss the

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Appointing

Ambassadors

• Ambassador – An official representative of a

country’s govt.

• President appoints & Senate must approve

• Ambassadors are only

sent to nations where the governments there are

officially “recognized” by the U.S. govt.

Paul Simons, ambassador to Chile

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Foreign

Aid

• Money, food,

military help, or

other supplies

given to a

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International Trade

Balkans, Belarus, Burma, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Republic of Congo, Iran, Iraq, Liberian Regime of Charles Taylor, North Korea, Sudan, Syria,

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Trade Sanctions

• Efforts to punish another nation by

imposing trade barriers

Thousands of other protesters pressed around the compound, responding to a call by the country's new leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, to attack U.S. and Israeli interests.

Outside the doors stand a bronze model based on New York's Statue of Liberty on one side and a statue

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Embargo

• An agreement among a group of nations

that prohibits them all from trading

with a target nation

As a result of the Arab-Israeli War of 1973,

OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) imposed an

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Presidential Advisors and Executive

Agencies

• Job of Advisors & Executive Agencies:

Help president carry out the laws passed

by Congress

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EOP – Executive Office of the

Presidency

• About 2,000 employees

• Specialists, secretaries and clerks who help the president do his job

• Prepare reports, write

legislation for the pres. to submit to Congress

• Oversee work of various

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Most Important Parts of EOP

• White House Office

• Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

• National Security Council (NSC)

• Office of Administration

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White House Office

• 10-12 advisers to the

president

• Chief of Staff

• Staff screens who can

see the president

Rohm Emmanuel, Pres.

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Office of Management and

Budget

• Prepares the federal

budget for the

president

• Monitors spending in

government agencies

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Net spending increases and decreases in

spending by category –

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National Security Council (NSC)

• Help the pres.

coordinate U.S. military and foreign policy

• Oversees the CIA

• Members include the Pres., Vice Pres.,

Secretary of State, Sec. of Defense,

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (top

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Office of Administration

• Secretaries

and clerks

for all

executive

branch

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Council of Economic Advisers

• 3 members

• Approved by the Senate

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Presidential Cabinet

• Group of advisers to the president

• Directors (called “secretaries”) of the 13 top level exec. agencies

• Part of our “unwritten” Constitution

– Not found in Const., but crucial part of our govt. and the presidency

Robert Gates, Sec. of Defense

Arne Duncan, Sec. of Education

Stephen Chu, Sec. of Energy

Dept. of Justice Sec. Eric Holder (a.k.a. Attorney General of U.S. )

Key Organizations, A-Z

Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Executive Office for Immigration Review Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Federal Bureau of Prisons

Foreign Claims Settlement Commission National Drug Intelligence Center

Office of Justice Programs (Juvenile Justice, Victims of Crime, Vio lence Against Women and more)

Office of the Pardon Attorney U.S. Marshals Service

U.S. National Central Bureau of Interpol U.S. Parole Commission

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The Cabinet

• Heads of these departments are called “secretaries”

– Sec. of Agriculture, Sec. of State, Sec. of Defense, etc.

• Dept. of Homeland Security – Newest executive department now includes

– Citizenship and Immigration S ervices (USCIS)

– Customs and Border Protectio n (CBP)

– FEMA, Federal Emergency Ma nagement Agency

– Immigration and Customs Enf orcement (ICE)

– Transportation Security Admi nistration (TSA)

– U.S. Coast Guard

– U.S. Secret Service

– Office of Inspector General

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Short List of Federal Executive Agencies

• Executive Office of the

President

• President Barack Obama • First Lady Michelle Obama • Vice President Joe Biden

• Dr. Jill Biden

• The White House Home Page

• The President's Cabinet

• Executive Departments

• Department of Agriculture (US DA)

• Department of Commerce (DOC)

• Department of Defense (DOD)

• Department of Education (ED) • Department of Energy (DOE) • Department of Health and

Human Services (HHS) • Department of Homeland

Security (DHS)

• Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) • Department of Justice (DOJ) • Department of Labor (DOL) • Department of State (DOS) • Department of the Interior

(DOI)

• Department of the Treasury • Department of Transportation

(DOT)

• Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

• Independent Agencies and

Government Corporations

• Independent Agencies and Government Corporations

• Boards, Commissions and

Committees

• Boards, Commissions, and Committees

• Federal Advisory Committees

• Quasi-Official Agencies

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The Vice President and First Lady

• V.P.’s usually have very little authority, but some presidents allow their V.P. to advise them in certain areas