Test 2 (General)

Question 1

How was the veto power originally supposed to be used?

Answer 1

Only if the president thought the bill was unconstitutional

Question 2

Who originally was given the power to “make war”? Why was this changed?

Answer 2

Originally, the constitution said - Congress shall have the power to “make war”. If congress was not in session they could not be the military executive, so it was changed so they had the power to “declare war”. This was not thought to be a major change.

Question 3

How was the power to declare war shown to be hollow?

Answer 3

The power to declare war was shown to be hollow underneath the presidency of James Polk (19th) who wanted to “acquire” Texas. In order to accomplish this he sent american troops into texas so that mexico would respond and declare war. Mexico did not respond, so he sent them further. This happened again until they reached the Rio Grande. Mexico did respond, and US had it’s war. Showed that Congress did not have the ability to make war under the current language.

Question 4

How was Polk reprimanded?

Answer 4

“Resolution of Censure” for exceeding authority. Lincoln (young congressman from illinois) was convinced that Polk was exceeding his power, led the charge to reprimand Polk.

Question 5

Describe the Boxer rebellion.

Answer 5

1900. US pres sent American troops to China without Congressional Approval. Rebels backed by China seized the embassy of america, britain, france, italy, etc.

Question 6

Describe the Curtiss-Wright decision

Answer 6

1931. Defined President as the “sole organ” of foreign policy

Question 7

Describe the changing of war-making responsibilities in the 1930s-41

Answer 7

FDR created war making agencies
“I request that Congress make these agencies- but if you don’t I will”.
President had powers to take foreign policy into his hands if he thought it was an emergency

Question 8

Describe the changing of war-making responsibilities in the Nuclear Age

Answer 8

Tremendous transfer of war making authority to the president
Very little congressional involvement in either vietnam or korea.
President truman sent troops without informing congress
president ordered bombings without informing congress

Question 9

Describe the Gulf of Tonkin resolution

Answer 9

Johnson convinced Congress to pass to allow him to have great authority in the buildup of a huge conflict that he partially orchestrated
“Any means necessary”

Question 10

Describe the goal and effect of the War Powers Act

Answer 10

1973. Limitations against president to use force. Good in theory but every president since nixon has considered it to be unconstitutional.

Question 11

Describe the four points behind the War Powers Act

Answer 11

1 President should consult with congress before using american troops in conflict

2 President has 48hrs after troops have been introduced into battle to send a report about why troops have been sent to a combat situation

3 President has 60-90 days to keep those troops in combat unless congress declares war or passes a resolution giving president the right to put those troops into battle.
What if he doesn’t do that? - He could be impeached- not likely; Resolution of Censure; Congress could cut off funding- not likely (They couldn’t get the troops back.)
in effect, the president still has the ability to declare war on his own authority

 4.  Congress can order the troops out by passing a concurrent resolution
	Does not require presidential signature
	Congress would become commander and chief
	Seems to give some teeth to the war powers act- supreme court however declared unconstitutional so DOES NOT APPLY

Question 12

Describe the concept of a Nuclear Triad

Answer 12

The ability to launch nukes from bombers, land, and sea. If there is an attack against the United States that destroyed two of the three, we could still retaliate

Question 13

Who is the often the most influential person in the executive branch besides the president?

Answer 13

Chief of Staff. Chief of Staff is at the center of most activities, protects the presidents time.

Question 14

Describe the Rule of Propinquity

Answer 14

Those who are closest to the president have the most influence. (Chief of Staff, National Security Advisor brief the president daily).

Question 15

Describe the varying levels of power carried by the Secretary of State.

Answer 15

Secretary of State may or may not be the most influential person in foreign policy making. Secretary of State is often handicapped by the need to travel in terms of relationship with president.

Question 16

Describe how the National Security advisor was stronger than the secretary of state in the Iran 1979 Hostage Crisis and the result of that crisis.

Answer 16

Carter selected a military option.
American special forces would fight their way through and rescue the American diplomats. The secretary of state was unaware of this going on, he resigned because of this.
Outcome: The helicopters broke down in the desert- america is a weak country->carter is a weak president-> elect reagan

Question 17

Describe the potential gap between the white house staff and cabinet staff.

Answer 17

White house staff are usually very young and energetic/idealistic. Cabinet staff are older and used to getting their way.

Question 18

Describe the Wheel Model of staff organization. How did Roosevelt use it?

Answer 18

Rarely used anymore. Purpose is to maximize information that goes to the president. Chiefs, aids, and assistants report directly to president.
Last president to try this model was JFK- he had no chief of staff. FDR also used this model.
Franklin Roosevelt was kinda devious (good way), he would give people the same assignment/project- he intentionally wanted there to be conflict among his aids. He wanted to know about everything in his cabinet.

Question 19

Describe the Pyramid Model of staff organization. How did Nixon use it?

Answer 19

Chief of Staff serves as filter. Everything that is seen by the president is determined by the Chief of Staff. Chief of Staff has lots of power- maybe too much.
Richard Nixon’s Chief of Staff was present when the president was meeting with the secretaries. He would take notes.

Question 20

Describe the Ad-hoc Model of staff organization. How did Clinton use it?

Answer 20

Combination of the first two, there is still the Chief of Staff who filters and protects the Presidents time. There are special task forces who report directly to the president
Clinton had a special task force with a goal of getting everyone health insurance. Despite a democratically controlled House and Senate this didn’t go through (Control of all three does not yield absolute power).

Question 21

Should we be as involved as we are in world affairs? Europe? South Korea?

Answer 21

If there was a nuclear war the world would be devastated - The US should probably be involved in making sure that doesn’t happen.
Last time this happened was 1999, pakistani military was putting their weapons in position to use
Why should we be involved in Europe?
US in europe allows us to project power.
Base in Turkey is helpful
Why should we defend South Korea?
South Korea wants us there
Control over China

Question 22

What book came up with a model for white house performance? Who wrote it? Is it effective at predicting performance?

Answer 22

Predicting Performance in the White House- James David Barber. Not very effective at predicting performance.

Question 23

Describe Active Positive, Active Negative, Passive Positive, and Passive Negative presidential types. Which presidents were where? Which ones were most and least desirable?

Answer 23

Active Positive: Adaptive- scientific in their approach to problems, like to analyze (FDR, H. Truman, JFK, G. Ford). Most desirable

Active Negative: Compulsive- will not admit they made mistakes, very active, engage in behaviors that destroy them politically (Nixon, LBJ, A. Lincoln). Most desirable

Positive Passive: Compliant- seem to be optimistic, but have insecurities. They want to be liked. They are dangerous. Sometimes they allow problems to continue b/c they don’t want to be in conflict with other people. (Ronald Reagan)

Negative Passive: Withdrawn- don’t like politics, have a sense of duty. Not necessary bad presidents. Military people (something in their backgrounds that propel them to service) (C. Coolidge, D. Eisenhower, G. Washington)

Question 24

What is the “only power a president has”?

Answer 24

The power to persuade

Question 25

Describe an Executive Agreement

Answer 25

Treaty between two governments that the president signs. No congressional involvement.

Question 26

Describe an Executive Order. Give notable examples

Answer 26

Orders given routinely to government agencies that consist of the president managing the executive bureaucracy.

Sometimes but rarely controversial, such as when Clinton had an executive order against ban of gays in the military (later modified to “don’t ask don’t tell), or when he ordered a review of the RU-486 abortion pill that wasn’t allowed in the Bush presidency.
Other examples include an executive order to remove missiles from Turkey by JFK.

Question 27

What is the president’s own management agency?

Answer 27

OMB- Office of Management and Budget

Question 28

Describe the success of the Treaty of Versailles.

Answer 28

Spectacular failure. President Woodrow Wilson had appealed directly to the public in his early presidency, but failed to get the treaty of Versailles passed.

Question 29

What American book was compared to “The Prince”? Who wrote it and who wrote “The Prince”? What was the idea behind both books?

Answer 29

“Presidential Power”- Richard Neustadt was the American version of “The Prince”- Machiavelli.
Both books were about the power to persuade. The Prince discusses how to get and keep power by brutal means.

Question 30

What type of power is the Veto Power?

Answer 30

Negative power, “no”

Question 31

What are the three main methods to persuade? Describe them.

Answer 31

Going Public - use of a campaign to appeal directly to the public
Going DC - Appeals to people with political power, such as Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of House) or Mitch McConnell (Senate Majority Leader)
Going Int’l - Achieving an Int’l agreement, like Trump tried to do recently with North Korea

Question 32

Describe a Filibuster? How can it be stopped?

Answer 32

Filibuster is a prolonged debate with a goal of stopping the passage of a bill. It can be stopped through cloture, which requires a 60/100 vote in the Senate.

Question 33

What two roles does the president serve in the presidential system? How is this different from other systems?

Answer 33

Head of Government (politics) or Head of State (symbolic). Other systems have a separate head of government and head of state, such as a chancellor and president(non-political) in Germany.

Question 34

What occurs weekly in the House of Commons in UK Parliament?

Answer 34

For 45 min a week the prime minister answers questions from opposition. A non-political speaker presides over, with the government on one side and the opposition on the other.

Question 35

Describe the Theory of Representation. How does it relate to the difference between a Trustee and a Delegate?

Answer 35

A Trustee operates via the Theory of Representation- he/she exercises independent judgement and votes according to what they believe is best for the whole government
A Delegate is an elected official that votes to reflect the wishes of the people in their district

Question 36

Is it difficult to get re-elected as a congressman? What advantages do they have?

Answer 36

No, very easy. They have the advantage of the FRANKING PRIVILEGE (free use of mail system that can allow for easy campaigning) and CASEWORK (elected members of congress aiding people who have grievances against the federal government or a federal agency. They also have district/state offices that are funded by the federal government.

Question 37

What is a wave election?

Answer 37

An election that changes the political system to the opposite party. Such as when the House became democratic in 2018. They used to be rare but are now more common

Question 38

Where does most of the work in Congress take place?

Answer 38

In committees.

Question 39

Describe the three types of Committees.

Answer 39

Standing committees- permanent

Select committees- temporary

Joint committees- both Senate and House work together for a specific purpose. Ex: Gov shutdown.

Question 40

How do government petitions work in the UK?

Answer 40

If a petition gets 10,000 signatures it will get a response. 100,000 signatures might lead to debate.

Question 41

How is Congress more complex than it appears? (Name of process)

Answer 41

Many subcommittees are involved in the introduction of a bill. MULTIPLE REFERRAL is the process by which a bill may be referred to several committees that consider it simultaneously in whole or in part.

Question 42

Which president advocated for torture warrants?

Answer 42

Bill Clinton

Question 43

Who is John Yoos?

Answer 43

A lawyer who wrote a memo that attempted to justify torture so as to provide legal cover to those who engaged in the act.

Question 44

What did Yoos argue would allow a torturer to be immune from prosecution? Why was this a bad argument?

Answer 44

A “Good Faith Effort”- There would be either an EMT, NURSE, or DOCTOR present that would intervene if there was dangerous harm (Organ failure or mental harm that lasted for months). This both violates the rule of human experimentation from the hippocratic oath, and implies that any act of torture without a “Good Faith Effort” is automatically indefensible.

Question 45

How would the US government engage in torture in the past without accepting responsibility?

Answer 45

Transferring the person to a willing government

Question 46

In today’s time, whose approval must a president gain to engage in a major war activity?

Answer 46

The UN Security Council (as opposed to Congress)

Question 47

Describe a “Shadow Secretary” in the British Parliament.

Answer 47

If a majority party loses the shadow secretary from the opposition party takes over, who is familiar with the role due to the shadowing of the current/past person.

Question 48

Why was JFK described as an “Machiavellian Black Prince”?

Answer 48

He used fear as a way of manipulating public opinion

He maintained that nuclear war was survivable if you were not in the way of the blast

Question 49

Describe the Kennedy Myth.

Answer 49

• First lady put a lot of effort into presenting a favorable image of JFK, later involved in publishing to present a good image of JFK. Took 15-30yrs for anything negative to be published.
• Still exists to a large degree. JFK ranks highly as a president even still, for no reason.
• Accomplishments were very small, almost blew up planet twice.
• Overrated president. If he had not been assassinated he would’ve gotten blame for vietnam and for not being able to pass his proposals through Congress.

Question 50

Summarize how Kennedy came to power up to the 1960 election.

Answer 50

His father wanted one of his son’s to be the first catholic elected president. He is currently the only catholic elected. He was first elected age 29, ‘46 he is elected to house, sen mass in ‘52, friends with Nixon, ‘56 possible Vice presidential candidate, clear candidate in 1960- but Truman didn’t like him.

Question 51

Describe Kennedy’s test before being able to appear in the primaries.

Answer 51

In 1960 presidential candidates were selected by party leaders as opposed to the general public. The party elections were considered to be a test of an ability of a candidate to do well on the campaign trail. (JFK was a roman catholic which worried democrats- general public thought it would be like electing the pope).
West Virginia was very protestant, if JFK won there he could prove that he could be elected president. Through some sketchy actions on the part of the Kennedy’s, he won.

Question 52

Describe how Kennedy compared to Nixon in debates.

Answer 52

Kennedy won TV while Nixon won radio. Nixon was a very good debater but looked poorly and awkward on television, while Kennedy seemed healthy and presidential (despite having major health issues).

Question 53

Describe the various issues that showed how Kennedy was ill-prepared for office.

Answer 53

BAY OF PIGS- military attempt to remove Castro’s regime and change the government to a pro-US one through the attempted persuasion of an uprising. Complete failure and fiasco
Vienna Summit meeting- Kennedy performed terribly and tried to debate Khrushchev about Marxism. He embarrasses himself and reinforces Khrushchev’s opinion that JFK was a rich kid with no backbone.

Question 54

Describe the ability of Kennedy to achieve things in Congress.

Answer 54

Very Poor. He proposed medicare and the civil rights act but couldn’t get it through, and LBJ had to do both.