US Presidents Flashcards
Enumerated Powers of the President
(powers clearly outlined + written down in constitution)
1) Commander in Chief
- Head of army & navy
- These powers have broadened over time- last time Congress dec. war= 1941
- Congress tried to gain power back = War Powers Resolution (1973), but since then has been interpreted by pres. as unconstitutional + them not adhering to it hasn’t been challenged
2) Make treaties (including executive agreements) [similar to treaties but don’t require senate approval, implied power]
- POTUS, with consent of Senate, can make treaties
– New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (NEW START) in 2010 required negotiation by Pres + supermajority (2/3) in Senate
- During first 200 years, Senate has approved more than 1,500 treaties, only rejecting 21
– Treaty of Versailles rejected twice
– Clinton: Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1996) rejected
– Obama: Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2012)(treaty) rejected
– Jimmy Carter: Panama Canal Treaty (1977)
3) State of the Union
- Annual address delivered by the Pres to Congress outlining his legislative agenda for the year
- Const: Pres shall “from time to time give Congress information of the State of the Union”
- From Jefferson - Wilson, this was a written report
- Since Wilson it’s a speech
Examples:
Obama (2010)- Gay rights (succ–> 2015 Sup court ruled 5-4 14th amendment required all states to grant same-sex marriage)
Obama (2013)- Gun Control (not suc.- The Assault Weapons Ban defeated in S 60-40)
Obama (2016)- Immigration reform (not suc. would’ve given 5m undoc. immigrants a work permit- deadlocked in sup- 4-4)
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Bush Jr. (2002)- ‘Axis of Evil’ (alleged terrorism + weapons of mass destruction)
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Clinton (1994) Healthcare reform (not suc–lots of opp)
Clinton (1995) Assault Weapons Ban –> Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (succ. for a decade till expired in 2004)
4) Appointment of ambassadors, judges and officers of the US (including recess appointments and creating a cabinet)
- Pres has power to appoint 4,000 officials, 1,200 need Senate confirmation
- Sup. Court justices + cabinet– simple majority vote in S
- CABINET APPOINTMENT= IMPLIED POWER
- SUP COURT APPOINT = ENUMERATED POWER
(sup. court nominees examples)
– Bush: David Souter + Clarence Thomas
– Clinton: Ruth Bader Ginsburg + Stephen Breyer
Obama: Sonia Sotomayor + Elena Kagan
Trump: Neil Gorsuch + Brett Kavanaugh
Recess apointments:
- Temporary appointments to vacancies that would usually require Senate approval but he can’t get because S in recess
- Appointments expire at end of next session of S
– Clinton= 139
– Bush Jr = 171, including John Bolton
– Obama = 32, but his power to do so was challenged by Sup Court
Receive ambassadors:
- Receives amb. from foreign nations, appointed to be their ambassador to the USA
- More sig. in recent times
– George Bush recognied Kosovo = 2008
– Obama recognised Sudan = 2011
– Vietnam not rec. till 1995 (prev war)
– Obama met with Dalai Lama 4 times in white house (he’s an exhile + campaigner of Tibetan independence, angered Chinese gov)
5) Grant reprieves + pardons
- Pardon = power to forgive a person of a federal crime, erasing it from their criminal record
- Only thing that can’t be pardoned is impeachment – why Nixon resigned after Watergate and he could be pardoned by his successor, Ford
- Whether a Pres can pardon himself never been tested, debate, Trump = “absolute right”
– Ford and Carter pardoned hundreds of thousands of men who had evaded the Vietnam War draft
– Clinton = 396
– Bush = 189
– Obama = 212
– Trump = 7
Reprieves:
- The ability of the Pres to reduce the sentence issued for a crime
- Called ‘commutations’
– Obama’s last day = 330 commutations for drug offences
– Obama: commuted Chelsea Manning’s sentence, who had leaked classified military intelligence to WikiLeaks, showing atrocities of war in Iraq + Afghanistan
– Obama total = 1,715
– Clinton = 61
– Bush = 11
6) Convene special sessions of Congress
- Rarely used now but was in past
– Congress been convened = 27 times
– Senate convened = 46 times
– Roosevelt convened a session in 1939 regarding US neutrality
– Truman convened Congress in 1948 - known as “Turnip Day” Session
7) Approve, veto / delay legislation
- Sign bill - show off to American public
– Trump signed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017 many pictures were of him alone in Oval Office after press he wouldn’t get it signed before Christmas
– Bush signed No Child Left Behind Act (2002) surrounded by Congress + public
– Obama signed Obamacare (2010) surrounded by Congress + public
– 2018- Trump signed leg. allowing websites to be prosecuted for allowing online sex trafficking he signed it surrounded by law makers + victims of sex trafficking
Veto
- Prev examples
– Obama vetoed the Keystone Pipeline bill (2015)
– Trump signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill hours after he threatened to veto it on Twitter
– Freedom of Information Act, Ford
– Civil Rights Act of 1990, Bush, Sr
– Clean Water Act, Reagan (1986) - $20 billion bill - funding to clean up the nation’s bodies of water
Pocket veto / leave it on the desk
– Obama allowed renewal of Iran Sanctions Act (1996) to become law without his signature
8) Head of State
- Attends world summits
- Ceremonial duties – annual pardoning of the turkey / throwing first ball of the season on the Opening Day of the US baseball season
Implied powers
1) Establish a cabinet
- Constitutionally the cabinet has no formal power - they’re only an advisory body - but since 1793 every President has had a cabinet
- Const gives power “to require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments”. From this it’s implies the Pres can establish his cabinet
- Orig 4 members = State, War, Treasury + Post Office. Now at least 15
– Bush’s cabinet = war on drugs
– Obama’s cabinet = economy
– Trump’s cabinet = security
– Tim Geithner = former Secretary of the Treasury under Obama. Prev Pres of Federal Reserve Bank of New York
He introduced the Financial Stability Plan – $bns committed to ‘lending initiative’
– Chuck Hagel = secretary of Defence (2013-2015). Prev worked US senator for Nebraska + military veteran
US v UK cabinet
US:
- 15
- Unelected
- Experts
- Confirmation - Senate
- No shadow cabinet
- President carries the buck
UK
- 23-24
- Elected
- Not experts
- No confirmation
- Shadow cabinet
- Collective responsibility
2) Executive Agreements
- Similar to treaties but don’t require senate approval
Obama = Iran Nuclear Deal + Paris Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (1992)
Before 1940 = 1,200 executive agreements, 1940 - 1989 = 13,000+ executive agreements (with 800 treaties)
3) Executive Orders
- A directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government.
- Checks: Sup Court = judicial review
Congress can change law to block
- Pres can’t issue executive orders that go beyond the law in Article II of constitution
Examples:
– FDR = 3,721
– FDR - ‘Destroyers-for-bases deal’ - America gave Britain 50 overage destroyers in WWII in return for 99 year leases to certain naval bases
– Trump = repealed Obamacare
– Trump = temp. halt to refugee admissions
– 1957 = Eisenhower = end to racial segregation in schools
– FDR = transferred Japanese-Americans + German-Americans to camps in WW2
– Obama = banned torture (2009)
– Truman = nationalised steel industry
– Sup Court ruled in Youngstown v Sawyer Pres Truman couldn’t place steel mills under federal control because he couldn’t seize private property
– 1953 - Pres Eisenhower = allowed homosexuality to be a valid reason for rejecting an application/ firing someone from federal govt (only fully removed in 2017)
–1948 = Truman = desegregating military
Executive Memoranda
- Similar to executive orders, but there’s no formal process for how an executive memoranda is issued
– Obama = Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
4) Executive Privilege
- Power of President and other officials in executive branch to withold certain forms of confidential information from the judicial and legislative branch
– United States v Nixon (Watergate scandal) = even a pres has a legal duty to provide evidence of their communication
Factors that affect the power of a President
1) Power of persuasion
= Refers to the power of the Pres to bargain and persuade those around him to achieve his policy goals
1960 – Professor Richard Neustadt suggested “the power of the President is the power to persuade” + all Pres have had the same constitutional power but success depends on how well they can persuade
– ‘Johnson Treatment’ - Lyndon B Johnson used gifts, talked to people individually in enclosed spaces, flattery, intimidation
Different methods
[I] Can appeal directly and morally to Congress, often through media
– Obama - Rose Garden Speech 2013 (convinced of need to take military action in Syria over govt’s use of chemical weapons)
[II] White house can be used as a ‘bully pulpit’
- Putting pressure on people
- Addresses from oval office
– Obama - used for gun control after San Bernardino shooting in 2015
– Trump transported entire Senate to White House for briefing on North Korea in 2017
[III] Pres can use his personal gravitas directly (phoning congressional leaders / personal meeting)
Examples:
Obama had meetings with Rep Speaker John Boehner to advance his leg agenda
Obama’s deputy chief of staff Messina phoned congressional leaders to ensure they’d vote for Sonia Sotomayor after a difficult quote of hers came to light in the Confirmation Hearings
[IV] Inducements
2) Elections
Landslide victory - greater mandate
2008: Obama vs McCain = 365-175
– LBJ vs Barry Goldwater = 486-52
– Reagan vs Carter = 489-49
– Jefferson vs Pinckney = 162-14
– Nixon vs McGovern = 520-17
Reagan vs Mondale = 525-13
FDR vs Langdon = 523-8
Cottails Effect – ability of a Pres to bring out supporters for other members of his party due to his own personality
Trump mocked in 2016 for having short coattails effect after Reps failed to gain office
3) United / Divided government
Nixon = divied (but got some stuff done- implies not most important factor)
Carter = undivided
Regan = divded
Obama = divided (didn’t get much done)
115th congress (2017-2019 - Trump) = 1st trifecta since 2005
116th congress (2019-2021) = House - Dem, Senate - Rep
117th congress (2021-2023) = House - Dem, Senate - Rep [at start but 2 Dem senators sworn in so effectively 50-50 split with 50 Reps, 48 Dems + 2 Independents]
4) Events
Clinton
Oklahoma bombing – bomb in Oklahoma killed 168 people – Clinton used story f Richard Dean (who re-entered building 4 times to rescue people) to highlight Congress’ failings in allowing 2 govt. shutdowns
Monica Lewinsky scandal – Accused on lying under oath about relationship with Lewinsky – subject to impeachment (embarrassing, only narrowly found not guilty)
Bush Jr
9/11 – 90% approval rating - popularity
Hurricane Katrina – slow response + support of FEMA embarrassing
Obama
2007-2008 economic crash - bad
Sandy Hook shooting – 20 kids aged 6-7 killed – Obama appeared as mourner-in-chief to nation + advanced a gun control agenda (but no real change)
Hurricane Sandy – used it to make media headlines during 2012 presidential race so his rival didnt have much media mention
Trump
Hurricane Maria – slow response, later said it was a ‘great success’ - not a success
Trump 2018 had an improving economy but declining approval ratings
Theories of presidential power (can also go in factors affecting power of President - checks + balances)
Imperial Presidency = when constitutional checks are against the Pres are ineffective and as a result have huge power
1973 - Arthur Schlesinger - ‘The Imperial Presidency’
Factors that define imperial presidency:
1) Increase in size of executive office
- Pres can appoint 4,000 officials, only 1,200 need Senate approval - lack oversight
2) New executive agencies
Can imply fall in power of cabinet
E.g. Space Force - Trump
3) Power over foreign policy
4) Only accountable at election / impeachment –> ‘plebiscitary Presidency’
– Nixon - ‘when the Pres does it, it is not illegal’
–> Refused to spend funds Congress appropriated
–> During Vietnam War ordered harbours mined + bombing raids launched without consulting Congress
–> Reorganised executive branch without Congressional approval
–> Ordered military intervention in Cambodia and Laos without Congressional approval
– Iran Contra Affair
(when he left he had one of highest approval ratings - so didn’t matter)
– Woodrow Wilson = Sedition Act 1918 = prevented anyone criticising the govt
– During military intervention in Libya (2011), Obama justified bombing targets without Congressional approval
– 2020- Trump = diverted $3.8bn in Pentagon funding to build the wall
Imperilled Presidency = Pres who finds it difficult to exercise his constitutional powers in the face of overly effective checks and balances
‘Lame duck’ - lose election for 2nd term (Carter, Ford, George H. W. Bush) or serve 2 terms (Obama)
– 2016- Sup Court blocked Obama nominating Sup Court justices
– Passage of the Case Act (1972) = Pres must declare all executive agreements
– War Powers Resolution (1973) = restricted commitment of armed personnel in combat situations
– Impound Control Act (1974) = prevented Pres from impounding appropriations that didn’t fit with his agenda
– Creation of Accountability Office after Nixon
Cabinet
Advisory group selected by the Pres to aid him in making decisions + coordinating the work of the federal govt
- Members selected by pres
- Pres can also promote other officials to cabinet –> Obama (2012) = administrator of Small Business Administration, Karen Mills, to cabinet
Role of cabinet:
1) Advisory
2) Departmental leadership
- Head of dep. for defence, state etc.
3) Policy development
- expertise + knowledge
4) Budget and Resource Allocation
- advocate for funding + resources necessary to carry out their department’s functions. Work with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) + Congress to justify & secure appropriations
5) Interagency Coordination
- Help resolve conflicts
6) Public representation
- Public face of their department
7) Congressional Relations
- Build relationships, provide info
8) Crisis Management
- Coordinate govt’s response
Importance of cabinet
1) Executive decision making
- Cabinet played sig. role in Obamacare
2) Expertise and Experience
- James Mattis - Sec. of Defence (under Trump) has military expertise
3) Representation of interests
- Represents different groups within govt.
– Sec of Agriculture – farmers – policies of Tom Vilsack (under Obama)
4) Policy implementation
– Secretary of Education –> implementation of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) under Betsy DeVos under Trump
5) Crisis management
– Sec of Homeland Security - Kirstjen Nielsen (Trump) handling of hurricanes
6) Checks and balances
- Cabinet members have their own independent decision-making authority –> Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescued himself from investigation into Russian interference in 2016 election
Lack of importance of cabinet
1) Limited decision-making power
- Limited without Pres approval
– Sec. of Defence Robert Gates expressed frustration about lack of decision-making authority within Cabinet
2) Presidential reliance on inner circle
- Pres often rely on small group who aren’t necc. part of cabinet
– Trump relied on family + small group of advisors outside of cabinet
3) Shifting priorities
- Shift with each administration
4) Conflicting interests & bureaucracy
- Represent different govt. agencies - slow-decision making etc.
– Hurricane Katrina (2005) - coordination challenges = slow response
5) Political considerations
- Rewarding supporters / diverse representation
- Individuals selected for pol loyalty not qualifications
– Trump appointments
6) External influence
- Interest groups, lobbyists
– Lobbying efforts by pharmaceutical industry impacting decisions relating to healthcare policy
Executive Office of the President
Group of agencies and offices that support the work of the Pres.
Assists Pres in carrying out responsibilities.
Established 1939 - FDR
Headed by White House Chief of Staff
Includes:
[I] White House Office
[II] Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
[III] National Security Council (NSC)
[IV] Council of Economic Advisers (CEA)
[V] Office of US Trade Representatives (USTR)
[VI] Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
Roles, Powers and Functions of the EXOP
1) Advising the Pres
2) Policy Development + Implementation
- Conducts research, gathers information
3) Managing executive branch
- Oversees activities of executive agencies
4) Communication and Public Relations
- Pres’ communication - craft messages, coordinate speeches + press conferences
5) Budget and Economic Analysis
- Help shape Pres’ budget proposals and economic policies
6) National Security and Defence
- National Security Office and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) –> helps Pres implement national security strategies, oversee defence policy etc.
7) Legal Counsel and Administration
- Ensure Pres’ actions comply with law & const.
- Admin = managing personnel, oversee federal bureaucracy
8) Legislative Relations
- Dev. leg. proposals, coordinate with members of Congress, advocate for Pres policy agenda
Importance + Lack of Importance of the EXOP
Importance:
1) Crisis management
– After Hurricane Katrina, EXOP coordinated federal response efforts (George W Bush)
2) Economic Policy
– Obama’s admin. used the EXOP to implement measures like American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
3) National Security & Defence
– EXOP (including National Security Council) worked with Pres Obama to execute Osama Bin Laden
4) Policy implementation
– Office of Management and Budget (OMB) within EXOP oversees allocation of federal resources
5) Diplomacy and International Relations
– During Cuban Missile crisis (1962), JFK relied on EXOP’s advice
Lack of:
1) Weak or ineffective Pres
– Pres James Buchanan (1857-1861) during lead up to American Civil War
2) Power concentration in other branches
3) Gridlock + divided govt
- When Pres’ party doesn’t have a maj, it makes it difficult to pass leg.
– Pres Obama + Rep Congress
4) Strong Bureaucratic institutions
- Strong bureaucratic institutions that operate independently of Pres’ authority
- E.g, central banks, independent regulatory agencies (e.g. U.S. Federal Reserve)
5) Transition of Power
- Smooth transition of power between Pres
- Reinforces idea the office of Pres can be easily replaced
