The Executive Branch “I don’t know whether you fellows ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me yesterday what happened, I felt like.

The Executive Branch

• “I don’t know whether you fellows ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me yesterday what happened, I felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me.” -Harry S. Truman, 1945

Duties of the President

• Head of State– Represents the U.S. – Performs ceremonial functions

• Chief Executive– Enforces laws of Congress

• Chief legislator– Proposes bills for Congress to

consider

Duties of the President

Commander in Chief •$400 Billion budget•Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines

Duties of the President

Appoints heads of executive departments

Richard Crodray was appointed as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in January 2012

Duties of the President

• Conducts foreign policy (chief diplomat)– Negotiates treaties– Appoints

ambassadors– Meets heads of

statePresident Barack Obama meets with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao

Duties of the President

• Party Leader

Presidential Term

“No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who had held the office of President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”

-22nd Amendment, 1951

Presidential Salary & Benefits

• $400,000 annual salary– $100,000 non-taxable travel allowance

Annual CEO Salaries•CEO Direct TV--$32.9 million•CEO Walt Disney--$28 million•CEO Ford Motor Company--$26.5 million•CEO IBM--$25.2 million•CEO Starbucks--$21.7 million

Presidential Salary and Benefits

Camp David

•Located in Maryland•Run by the navy; protected by marines•Normandy invasion planned here

Presidential RequirementsConstitutional

President

Age Requirement 35 years old

Residency Requirement 14 years

Citizenship Requirement Natural-born

Length of Term 4 years---2-term limit

Presidential RequirementsInformal

• Government experience• Money/financial backing• Acceptable political beliefs• Acceptable personal characteristics

Kennedy/Nixon Debates

– “The Presidency of the United States carries with it a responsibility so personal as to be without parallel…No one can make decisions for him…Even those closest to him…never know all the reasons why he does certain things and why he comes to certain conclusions. To be President of the United States is to be lonely, very lonely at times of great decisions.”

• -Harry S. Truman

Presidential RequirementsInformal

Presidential SuccessionSection 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or

of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

• Twenty-fifth Amendment, 1967

Presidents who have died in office

Warren Harding

Abraham LincolnZack Taylor

William Henry Harrison

John F. Kennedy

James Garfield

Franklin D RooseveltWilliam McKinley

Vice President’s House

Presidential Disability• Amendment 25• President is disabled and VP takes

over if– Pres. Tells congress that he’s disabled– V.P. and majority of cabinet declare

him disabled

Woodrow Wilson Dwight D. Eisenhower

The Vice Presidency

• “the most insignificant office that was the invention of man…or his imagination conceived.”

• John Adams, comment on his position as V.P.

• “The Vice Presidency isn’t worth a warm pitcher of spit.”

• John Nance Garner, V.P. to FDR

• “I am Vice President. In this I am nothing, but I may be everything.”

• John Adams

Vice-Presidential Duties• Constitutional– Preside over the Senate– Decide whether the President is disabled

Vice-Presidential Power Over Time

• “The only authority he [the Vice President] has is what the President gives him. He who giveth can taketh away.”

• Hubert Humphrey, LBJ’s vice-president

• “When you’re talking to Dick Cheney, you’re talking to me. When Dick Cheney’s talking, it’s me talking.”

• The role of V.P. has changed over time and varies by whoever is President

Importance of V.P.

• Next in line• Helps to balance the ticket

Vice Presidents who became President

Vice President Became President Days as Presidnt Re-election

John Tyler Harrison died of pneumonia in 1842 1,430 Didn't run for President

Millard Fillmore Taylor died in1850 from illness 969 Lost nomination.

Andrew Johnson Lincold assassinated in 1865 1,419 Failed to win the nominationin1868

Chester A. Arthur Garfield was assassinated in 1881 1,262 Was not nominated

Theodore Roosevelt McKinley was assasinated in 1901 1,267 Elected to a full term. Did not run in 1908. Was

defeated in 1912

CalvinCoolidge Harding died of a heart attack in 1923 580 Elected to a full term. Did not run for a second

term.

Harry S. TrumanRoosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945

1,379 Elected to a full term but did not run again.

Lyndon B. Johnson Kennedy assassinated in 1963 425 Elected to a full term but didn't seek relection in

1968

Gerald R. Ford Nixon resigned in 1974 895Lost election ot Jimmy Carter in 1976Sources: The Presidents of the United States. 22 September 2004

The Mechanics

• Each state given electors– # senators + # representatives= # electors for a

state• 435 representatives + 100 senators + 3 D.C.= ?• Presidential hopeful needs 270 to win.• If a person wins the popular vote in a state,

they will get all electoral votes for that state…winner take all! (except: Neb. /Maine)

What do the following four men all have in common?

• A. Andrew Jackson• B. Samuel Tilden• C. Grover Cleveland• D. Al Gore

The Answer• They all won the popular vote in a

Presidential election but did not become President.

2000• Popular Vote

Albert Gore 48.7%George W. Bush 48.5%

Electoral CollegeGore 266Bush 271

Winner: Bush

If you were running for President with limited money and could only focus on a few

states, where would you focus your campaign?

Use the map to decide which states you want to win.

What are the drawbacks to the Electoral College?

• Encourages low voter turnout• Diminishes third party influence• Person with most popular votes may not win• No one “forces” the electors to vote for the

candidate they pledged their loyalty to• If there is no majority winner in the Electoral College,

the election goes to the H.O. R and there is a loss of separation of powers

Why do we still have the E.C.?• Small states have a bigger voice• Not big enough incentive to change it---it’s

worked for a long time.

Executive Power of the President

“The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.”

-Article II, Constitution“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the

Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Article II, Sec. I, Clause 8

execute: enforces, administers, carries out*State of the Union Speech

Executive Powers• President executes laws with the use of an

extensive federal bureaucracy.– Bureaucracy: a large, complex administrative

structure that handles the everyday business of an organization.

Executive Powers

• Elements of a bureaucracy1. Hierarchical

authority structure

2. Job specialization3. Formalized rules4. Carry out the day

to day business of government

(3 million workers)

Reagan Building: Houses government offices in downtown Washington D.C.

The Bureaucracy at Work

• Federal bureaucrats today help make and shape public policy– Administer hundreds of programs that impact

almost all Americans on a daily basis– Write rules and regulations and set standards to

implement laws Congress passes• Social Security Laws• Housing and Urban development laws

– Helps draft new laws for Congress to consider– Congress’s major power over the bureaucracy is the

power of the purse• Add to or cut the budget of bureaucratic agencies

Executive Office of the President

• Presidents closest advisors and assistants• Housed in the White House—west wing• Includes Chief of Staff, Press Secretary• White House staff numbers around 400• Changes with every administration

Executive Departments• Often called the presidential cabinet• 15 cabinet positions• Each unit headed by a secretary chosen by the

President and approved by the Senate

Pres. Washington’s cabinet

Pres. Obama’s Cabinet

Secretary of State Hilary ClintonSecretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta Attorney General Eric Holder Secretary of the Interior Ken L. Salazar Secretary of Agriculture Tom J. Vilsack Secretary of Commerce John Bryson Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis Secretary of Health and Human Services

Kathleen Sebelius

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Shaun Donovan

Secretary of Transportation Ray H. LaHood Secretary of Energy Steven Chu Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano

Cabinet Qualifications

• Expertise• Managerial ability• Acceptability to interest

groups• Racial and gender

representation• Geographical balance• Party loyalty

Cabinet Duties

• Individually each cabinet head manages a department and is responsible for implementing policies.

• Collectively, they serve as an advisory board• In recent decades the presidents have relied

more heavily on their cabinet heads.