Chapter 12- 2310 Flashcards
Which name does the text describe past presidencies?
The imperial presidency
The imperiled presidency
The heroic presidency
Through the use of administrative powers, the president can
A. decide how laws will be implemented
B.make judicial rulings on the U.S. Constitution
C. refuses to implement a law passed by Congress
D. make laws for the country
A. decide how laws will be implemented
In his role as chief diplomat, the president
Negotiates treaties with other nations
Appoints ambassadors
Which two features of the presidency have enabled presidents to claim leadership on national policy?
National election
Singular authority
What happened in the 1830s that helped to strengthen the power of voters as well as the presidency itself?
A. Congress decided to do away with the Electoral College system altogether.
B. Voters demanded the ability to weigh in on major legislation through the use of referendums.
C. States decided to award their electoral votes to the winner of the state’s popular vote.
D. The Supreme Court decided that candidates for the presidency needed to win primary elections.
C. States decided to award their electoral votes to the winner of the state’s popular vote.
A key to understanding the power of the presidency is a recognition that presidential power
A. is not a central government office
B. does not relate to greater political conditions
C. is formally described at length in the Constitution
D. depends on the occupant of the office
D. depends on the occupant of the office
Who is constitutionally required to see that the laws passed by Congress are faithfully executed?
A. the Supreme Court
B. The Electoral College
C. Congress
D. The president
D. The president
Under which of the following presidents did the greatest expansion of presidential authority take place?
A. Dwight Eisenhower
B. Franklin Roosevelt
C. Herbert Hoover
D. Harry Truman
B. Franklin Roosevelt
True or false: Today, nearly every foreign policy initiative originates with Congress.
False
Reason: Today, nearly every foreign policy initiative originates with the president.
For which reasons is the president better suited to oversee government activity and develop comprehensive public policy?
The president is able to direct the actions of federal agencies.
Final authority rests with a single individual.
Members of Congress cannot claim to be the leader of the United States because they
share power with other members of Congress
are elected from different areas and not nationally
When foreign countries look to the United States for leadership, they direct their attention to the
A. Supreme Court
B. Department of Justice
C. Congress
D. President
D. President
True or false: The fact that presidential candidates are now chosen by voters in primary elections has enhanced the authority of the president who is ultimately elected.
TRUE
Reason: Primary elections help to provide the nominees and, eventually, the president with the authority conferred by the vote of the people.
Which of the following is the part of the Executive Office of the President that consists of the president’s closest direct personal advisers?
A. The Office of Management and Budget
B. The Council of Economic Advisers
C. The Department of Justice
D. The White House Office
D. The White House Office
What is true of the U.S. presidency are true?
The degree of leadership the president can exert largely depends on circumstances.
The formal powers of the presidency are modest.
It operates in a system of divided powers.
During which of these major events was there an enormous expansion of presidential authority?
A. the Revolutionary War
B. the Great Depression
C. he Spanish-American War
D. The 1890’s monetary crisis
B. the Great Depression
statements about the vice president of the United States
The vice president is assigned different roles by the president.
The vice president holds a separate elective office from that of the president.
The vice president typically forms part of the presidential team.
Since the 1790s, the power of the presidency has evolved owing to the
A. increased involvement of the presidency in a range of policy areas
B. diminishing power of the judicial branch
C.transition of Congress from a legislative body to an advisory group
D. end of term limits for modern presidents
A. increased involvement of the presidency in a range of policy areas
Which cabinet member can be described as a close advisor to the president in most administrations?
A. Secretary of Education
B. Secretary of Health and Human Services
C. Secretary of the Interior
D. Secretary of State
D. Secretary of State
In general, presidents have more power to act on their own in which policy area?
A. domestic policy
B. legislative policy
C. bureaucratic policy
D. foreign policy
D. foreign policy
Which of these presidential appointees are the most difficult for the president to control?
A. members of the Executive Office of the President
B. directors of federal departments and agencies
C. leaders in the National Security Council
D. members of the Office of Management and Budget
B. directors of federal departments and agencies
The Executive Office of the President includes which components?
White House Office
National Security Council
National Economic Council
Office of Management and Budget
Among presidents remembered for rising to challenges (benefiting from circumstance) while in office are
Franklin Roosevelt
Lyndon Johnson
Ronald Reagan
By which name does the text describe past presidencies?
The imperial presidency
The imperiled presidency
The heroic presidency
The scenario in which the president belongs to one political party while the opposition party has majority control of at least one chamber of Congress is known as Blank______.
A. parliamentary government
B.divided attention
C. a unicameral system
D. divided government
D. divided government
The duties of each vice president are
determined by the particular president with whom he or she serves
What are the duties of the Secretary of State?
Overseeing the diplomatic corps
participating in international conferences
providing advice to the president on foreign policy
protecting U.S. citizens abroad
What communication strategies have presidents used to promote their agenda to the general public?
Televised press conferences
“Fireside chats” on the radio
Posts on social media
What are potential problems presidents can have in controlling low-level appointees?
Many of them are politically inexperienced.
They can become closer to the agency in which they work than to the president.
What is the danger of modern presidents’ relentless pursuit of public support?
It can lead them to pursue policies with immediate advantages rather than long-term benefits.
What circumstances help to create a powerful president?
-a decisive election victory
-a major national problem
Progressives sought to give voters more power in choosing the president by
Introducing the primary election system
The scenario in which the president belongs to the same political party that controls the House and Senate is called
Unified government
What is an executive order?
A presidential directive on how a law is to interpreted or administered.
The president who redefined the role of the vice president was
Jimmy Carter
What chamber of Congress can vote to impeach the president?
House
Reason: If the house impeaches the president, the Senate then holds a trial to determine whether the president should be removed from office.
The ability to command attention via the bully pulpit serves primarily to
focus the public and media on issues the president cares about
Reason: Although the president’s bully pulpit is powerful, others have the ability to command attention as well
Which of the following documents revealed that President Lyndon Johnson had presented a falsely optimistic picture of the Vietnam War?
The Pentagon Papers
More than half of post-World War II presidents have left office with an approval rating of
less than 50 percent
Among the reasons that presidents are less powerful than many Americans assume is that they
face uncontrollable circumstances that can hurt their ability to lead
An open party caucus is
an open meeting that allows voters to express their preference for the political party’s presidential nominee
True or false: An executive agreement made by the president with another country has the same force of law as a formal treaty.
False
Reason: Unlike a treaty, an executive agreement can be voided by a subsequent president.
The beginning of a new presidential administration, which is often characterized by higher levels of public approval, is known as a
Honeymoon period
How many votes does it take to remove the president from office?
two-thirds of the Senate
After Vietnam, Congress sought to limit the ability of presidents to commit the United States to war by passing the
War Powers Act
To what does political scientist Hugh Heclo’s term the illusion of presidential government refer?
the public’s belief that the president actually runs the entire government in the United States
The shift from a presidential nominating process dominated by party organizations to one based on state primaries and caucuses has ______.
-Reduced the power of party elites in selecting candidates
-Given voters a larger voice in the selection of the president
When, during a term of office, should the president expect to experience the highest level of public approval?
Early in a new president’s administration
