Chapter 12

Question 1

22nd amendment

Answer 1

Ratified in 1951, this amendment limits presidents to two terms of office.

Question 2

25th amendment

Answer 2

Ratified in 1967, this amendment permits the vice president to become acting president if the vice president and the president’s cabinet determine that the president is disabled, and it outlines how a recuperated president can reclaim the job.

Question 3

Impeachment

Answer 3

The political equivalent of an indictment in criminal law, prescribed by the Constitution. The House of Representatives may impeach the president by a majority vote for
“Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Question 4

Watergate

Answer 4

Members of Nixon’s campaign breaking into and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C.

Question 5

Executive orders

Answer 5

Regulations originating with the executive branch. Executive orders are one method presidents can use to control the bureaucracy.

Question 6

Cabinet

Answer 6

A group of presidential advisers not mentioned in the Constitution, although every president has had one. Today the cabinet is composed of 14 secretaries, the attorney general, and others designated by the president.

Question 7

National security council

Answer 7

The committee that links the president’s foreign and military policy advisers.
Its formal members are the president, vice president, secretary of state, and secretary of defense, and it is managed by the president’s national security assistant.

Question 8

Council of economic advisers

Answer 8

A three-member body appointed by the president to advise the president on economic policy.

Question 9

Office of management and budget

Answer 9

An office that prepares the president’s budget and also advises presidents on proposals from departments and agencies and helps review their proposed regulations.

Question 10

Veto

Answer 10

The constitutional power of the president to send a bill back to Congress with reasons for rejecting it. A two-thirds vote in each house can override a veto.

Question 11

Pocket veto

Answer 11

A type of veto occurring when
Congress adjourns within 10 days of submitting a bill to the president and the president simply lets the bill die by neither signing nor vetoing it.

Question 12

Federalist 70

Answer 12

Alexander Hamilton argues for a strong executive leader, as provided for by the Constitution, as opposed to the weak executive under the Articles of Confederation. He asserts, “energy in the executive is the leading character in the definition of good government.