Cabinet

Where are Cabinet members recruited from?

Are serving or retired members more likely?

Since

JFK,

less

than

20%

hav

e ha

d

cong

ress

iona

l

expe

rienc

e

Obama picked Tom Vilsack, Iowa as Secretary of Agriculture

Governors or ex-governors

Big city mayors

Clinton appointed Frederico Pena, Dallas, as Transport Secretary

Academia

Obama appointed Professor of Physics Steven Chu as Energy Secretary

Congress

Hillary Clinton

Cabinet

• Article II “the President may require the opinion in writing of the principal officer in each of the executive departments upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices”.

PICK OUT FOUR KEY DIFFERENCES WITH YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF UK CABINET MEETINGS

• ‘may’• ‘opinions’• ‘in writing’• ‘upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective

offices’

Why have cabinet meetings at all then? Washington thought it would be helpful to have meetings with the Secretaries of War, Treasury and State. Every President since then has had one. ‘It is institutionalised by usage alone’ (Fenno 1959). In other words, it is used because it is used.

Balanced Cabinet• Geographically. Bush’s first Cabinet had representatives from Rockies,

the South, Upper Mid-West, East Coast & West Coast. • Race. Every President since Nixon has picked an ethnically diverse

Cabinet. Bush’s most diverse ever (Norman Mineta Japanese-American, Spencer Abraham Lebenese-American, and Elaine Chao, Chinese American)

• Gender. Reagan faced criticism for appointing no women as head of departments.

• Age. Generally reflects the age of the President, JFK had youngest Cabinet ever (av. 47). Bush broke this rule with an average age of 58 (Rumsfeld etc).

• Ideology. Should represent all wings of the party. Bush’s Cabinet seemed more ‘compassionate’ than ‘conservative (with the exception of John Ashcroft – Attorney General). Mineta was a former Democratic Congressman.