Sean Hu

AP US Government and Politics

February 14, 2016
I.

Chapter 12 Outline
Foundations of the Modern Presidency
i.
The intended purpose of the presidency was: national
leadership, statesmanship in foreign affairs, command in
time of war, and enforcement of law; but how it would work
in practice differed
ii.
Article I contains a precise listing of Congresss powers and
Article II defined the presidents in general terms
iii.
Despite only the Congress being able to declare war,
presidents in the past have launched massive military
attacks by themselves; presidents have managed to
expand their constitutional powers
iv.
In 1937, the Supreme Court ruled that executive
agreementsformal agreements that presidents make on
their own with foreign nationsare legally binding in the
same way that treaties are
v.
Presidents can also decide how laws would be implemented;
such as despite the federal law prohibiting marijuana, states
have allowed it, without presidential action against them
vi.
Modern presidents have assumed a much larger legislative
role too, proposing more legislations and exercising the veto
more
B. The Changing Conception of the Presidency
i.
National election and singular authority have enabled
presidents to make use of changing demands on
government to claim national policy leadership, making is a
more powerful office than envisioned
ii.
The president is the one role that can say they are a nations
leader
iii.
Andrew Jackson was the first that used their claim as a
national leader to challenge the authority of the Congress
iv.
The 19th-century conception of the presidency was
expressed in the Whig theory which holds that the
presidency is a limited or constrained office whose occupant
is empowered to act only within the confines of expressly
granted constitutional authority; weak presidency theory
v.
The stewardship theory was the opposite, embraced by
Teddy Roosevelt, which calls for a strong presidency that
is limited not by what the Constitution allows but by what is
prohibits
vi.
FDR followed suit, becoming a modern president by taking
charge and fighting the authority of Congress; The power of
the President should be used in the interest of the people
and in order to do that the President must use whatever
power the Constitution does not expressly deny him
C. The Need for a Strong Presidency

i.

II.

The presidency today is inherently a strong office, needing

to show executive authority over thousands of programs and
bodies, something the Congress is ill-suited to take up
responsibility for, given their contradictory nature through
negotiation, bargaining, and compromise
ii.
Because the final authority lies within the president, he is
able to manipulate change and shape major policies
iii.
World War II fundamentally changed the nations
international role by placing the United States on the top
and because of the Presidents role as the face of the
country, chief diplomat and military commander, not
Congress, it further allowed it to assume a dominant role
Choosing the President
A. The four selection systems:
1. Original (1788-1828)party nominees chosen in
congressional caucuses; electoral college members act
somewhat independently in their presidential voting
2. Party Convention (1832-1900)Party nominees chosen
in national party conventions by delegates elected by
state and local party organizations; electoral college
members cast ballots for popular-vote winners in their
respective states
3. Party convention, primary (1904-1968)System 2
except that a minority of national convention delegates
are chosen through primary elections (majority still
being chosen by party organizations)
4. Party primary, open caucus (1972-now)System 2,
except that a majority of national convention delegates
are chosen through primary elections
B. The Nominating Campaign: Primaries and Caucuses
i.
Because of primaries and caucuses, people are forced to
start early and run hard; the year before the first contest in
Iowa is often called the invisible primary, it is the time
when candidates demonstrate through fundraising ability,
poll standing, and debate performance
ii.
In the past 3 decades, the winning candidate has been the
candidate who, before a single vote was cast, had raised the
most money or ranked first in the opinion polls
iii.
Momentuma strong showing in the early contests that
contributes to voter support in subsequent onesis key to
winning
iv.
Fast starters get more attention from the press, more money
from contributors, and more consideration by the voters
v.
People argue that public funds should increase because
there is a clear limit, thus, forcing many candidates to deny
these funds
C. The National Party Conventions
i.
National party conventions mark the end of the nominating
campaign; the delegates from the various states negotiate

III.

over the choice of a presidential nominee

ii.
It also serves as a time to heal any divisions created by the
nominating race and persuade the party faithful to rally
behind one choice
iii.
Their vice presidential nominees are also chosen at this
time, usually chosen by the presidential nominee
D. The General Election Campaign
i.
The general elections winner is always Republican or
Democrat because two-thirds of the countrys voters identify
as one or the other and most independents lean towards
one party or another as well
ii.
A third-party candidate can create problems for a major
party by drawing votes away such as Ralph Nader to Al Gore
in 2000
iii.
The Electoral College is the key factor that influences
election strategies; each state has two electoral votes for its
Senate representation and a varying number of electoral
votes depending on its House representation
iv.
The unit rulewhereby all states except Maine and
Nebraska grant all their electoral votes as a unit to the
candidate that wins the states popular votehas amplified
the importance of electoral college
v.
As such, candidates only campaign in swing states most of
the time
vi.
Today, the media, particularly the Internet and television, is
the most important for fundraising and garnering support;
television is used mostly to persuade undecided voters and
Internet used for fundraising
vii.
Through advertisements and appearances on television,
nominees try to win over voters who are undecided; debates
do not usually have a large impact on candidates support
because most voters have already picked their candidates
by this point
viii.
Public funding could be accepted for general election for the
Republicans and Democrats even if they deny it in primaries
Staffing the Presidency
A. The Vice President
i.
The Vice presidents duties are assigned by the president; in
the past, they were largely ignored, having no duty but to be
prepared to replace the president when the time called; they
didnt even have an office in DC
ii.
The vice president is now entrenched in the White House
and is supported by a staff of policy advisors
B. The Executive Office of the President (EOP)
i.
The EOP is supposed to provide the president with the staff
necessary to coordinate the activities of the executive
branch, the command center of the presidency
ii.
The White House Office (WHO) serves the president most
directly; they include the Communications Office, the Office

IV.

of the Press Secretary, the Office of the counsel to the

President, and the Office of Legislative Affairs
iii.
They are the presidents personal assistants, top advisors,
press agents, etc.
iv.
Most of the EOPs other organizational units are staffed by
policy experts
C. Cabinet and Agency Appointees
i.
The cabinet is the heads of the fifteen executive
departments, appointed by the president, subject to
confirmation by the Senate
ii.
As issues have increased in complexity, presidents have
relied more heavily on presidential advisors and individual
cabinet members rather than on the cabinet as a whole
iii.
The president appoints the heads of top deputies of federal
agencies and commissions, as well as the nearly two
hundred ambassadors
D. The Problem of Control
i.
The large number of presidents appointees poses a large
control problem for the president, especially in the case of
those who work in the departments and agencies, given
their offices are located outside the White House and loyalty
may be split between promoting the presidents goals and in
promoting themselves or agencies they lead
ii.
FEMA director took control even though he had no
appreciable experience after Hurricane Katrina hit, ignoring
the chain of command, withholding information from his
immediate superior
iii.
Presidential appointees enable presidents to extend their
influence into every executive agency but they do not
always act in ways that serve the presidents interest
Factors in Presidential Leadership
A. The Force of Circumstance
i.
The circumstance often allows presidents to pass policies
without much Congressional opposition, as seen with FDRs
New Deal in the midst of the Great Depression, Johnsons
landmark civil rights and social welfare legislations after
Kennedys assassination, and Reagans huge taxing and
spending changes during high inflation and unemployment
ii.
When conditions are favorable, the power of presidency is
remarkable but the problem for most presidents is that they
serve at a time when conditions are not conducive to
ambitious goals
iii.
Erwin Hargrove suggests that presidential influence depends
largely on circumstance
B. The Stage of the Presidents Term
i.
The president usually enjoys a honeymoon period during
which Congress, the press, and the public anticipate
initiatives from the oval Office and are more predisposed
than usual to support them

ii.

Presidents are often most powerful when they are most

inexperienced
iii.
Later in their terms, presidents may have run out of good
ideas or depleted their political resources and the
momentum of their election is gone
C. The Nature of the Issue: Foreign or Domestic
i.
Presidents tend to have more of an edge when the issue is
foreign policy, because they have more authority to act on
their own and are more likely to have congressional support
ii.
The presidents closer ties with the department heads of
defense, diplomatic, and intelligence agencies also grants
them an advantage; others such as the Department of
Agriculture relies heavily on support of farm-state senators
and representatives
iii.
A presidents domestic policy initiatives usually encounter
stiffer opposition as parties differ sharply in their domestic
policy philosophies and there are strong interest groups on
each side of nearly every important domestic issue,
resulting in a stalemate in policies
D. Relations with Congress
i.
Relations with Congress is very important and action such as
those of Carters that cut budget of many projects members
of Congress were supporting led to a conflict-ridden
relationship between the two branches
ii.
The veto has limits but has its uses because Congress
seldom musters the two-thirds majority in each chamber
required to override a veto, so the threat of veto can bend
Congress into presidential demands
iii.
Congress is a constituency that all presidents must serve if
they expect to have its support, responding to their interests
iv.
The next best thing for presidents to be in control of
Congress is having party control of the chambers; presidents
are much more likely to succeed when their own party
controls Congress
v.
It still has its limits given different interests of legislators
from urban or rural areas, wealthier or poorer
constituencies, etc.
vi.
Obamas ability to pass the Affordable Care Act was the
short-lived control of Democrats of both houses and the
presidency
vii.
Congresss ultimate sanction is its constitutional authority to
impeach and remove the president from office; the House of
Representatives decides by majority vote whether the
president should be impeached (placed on trial), and the
Senate conducts the trial and votes on the presidents case
with a two-thirds vote required for removal of office
viii.
The War Powers Act is perhaps the most ambitious effort to
curb presidential power on military conflict
E. Public Support

i.

V.

Presidential approval ratings are predictably high at the start

of the presidents time in office, however, the honeymoon
rarely lasts long
ii.
When public support drops, officials are less inclined to
grant as the president desires
iii.
Public support for the president is conditioned by
developments at home and abroad; international crises tend
to produce a patriotic fervor
iv.
Economic conditions also play a large part in presidential
support; economic downturns invariably reduce public
confidence in the president, even though ironically, they
have little influence on the economy
The Illusion of Presidential Government
i.
Negative press portrayals are avoided by putting their own
spin on developments; but such efforts have their limits
ii.
No amount of public relations can disguise adverse
developments home or abroad and because the public
expectations are high, coupled with the illusion that the
president is the leader of the government, presidencies can
be easily hurt as problems mount, and ironically, when a
strong president is needed the most