Presidential Powers

 

     The President is commander in chief of the army, can nominate all federal officials, and can grant pardons and reprieves against the country. Throughout these various roles, the President is also the Chief Executive, Chief Diplomat and Chief Legislator. In order to help the President organize and enforce rules, he leads fifteen Departments that are responsible for specific problems. The heads of these Departments are elected by the President.

 

 

Powers Dictated in the Constitution

 

The Constitution was intentionally vague on the detailed duties of the president. Rather it was set up in a way to guarantee the Congress an upper hand. However, as the US has become increasingly advanced and an established world power, the President's role has inflated. The following chart summarizes some of the key powers entailed by the constitution.

 

Administrative Powers	Military/ Foreign Powers	Legislative Powers
"He shall take care that Laws be faithfully executed" "fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions" "Commission all the Officers of the United States." "Nominate and....appoint...other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court"	"President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States" "Shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties" "Shall appoint ambassadors" "He shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers"	"Give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union" "Recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient" "He may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them" "He may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper"

Table 3.3: Constitutional Powers^[1]

 

This various duties have come to define specific roles of the President. We will now look into each one in greater detail.

 

  

 

Chief Executive

 

Perhaps the simplest way to think of a chief executive is to view its parallels with the CEO position in businesses. Indeed, it is the nearly the same thing, although the business of running the United States has much different connotations. A CEO often functions with the aide of an advisory board where he or she receives information of specific sectors of the company; for example, manufacturing production, consumer behavior, labor cost, and new technologies. From there, the "boss" makes his or her decision based on the input he received and his own personal ambitions on what needs to be done.

Similarly, the President of the United States governs over a complex federal institution. His aides are his cabinet members and, in turn, the different bureaucratic agencies (this will be discussed in much great detail in Chapter 4). It is important to note that neither of these two groups were mentioned in the Consitution; however, each president did have them. Another influx of advice comes from the quasi-governmental agencies, which are supported but not completely owned by the government. An example is the US Postal Service or Environment Protection Agency.

Over time, the president has been able to secure more help. In 1921, the Budgeting and Accounting Act was passed which allowed the President to restructure the budget of the federal government (ie how much money goes where amongst government agencies). Less than two decades later, in 1939, the Reorganization Acts were passed. This essentially allowed the President to hire additional staff and reorganize the Executive branch as he saw fit.

With so much different inputs, it is easy to see why the Chief Executive is a difficult job to handle. However, just the sheer size of what the President has to govern over makes it an even more demanding position. There are more than 4.2 million government jobs (ranging from teachers to soldiers) and that number continues to increase, especially under the current Obama Administration. Still, presidents only directly make about 3000 of these appointments (usually the highest positions).^[2]

 

You be the Judge: President Obama has greatly increased the number of jobs in the government. Is this creating a bigger strain on the Executive Branch? Or is it just a way of making the Federal Government stronger?

 

Ultimately, as part of his chief executive role, the President not only makes the government function, but also function his way. Politics inevitably get involved as the President strives to elect and nominate officials who will be lenient towards his views. This can often go against the cabinet's wishes. Abraham Lincoln was one such president who repeatedly went against his rather diverse group of advisors; he was quoted to have said "seven nays and one aye [himself], the ayes have it" ^[3]

 

 

Commander in Chief

 

The President's position as the leader of the armed forces is often seen as his most important duty. This need not necessarily be true; instead this notion seems more a result of the wanna-be bravado that permeates our culture. To be sure, 30 of our presidents were in the armed forces at one time during their careers. Yet for sake of power and influence itself, this role is over-exaggerated. Only once has the President directly led an army - no surprise it was our very first one, George Washington.

In the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, backcountry brewers of alcohol revolted in response to a tax on whiskey. The insurrection became really violent in the western states (Pennsylvania, Maryland, etc) and prompted Washington to organize his militia and stop the violence.

 

 

http://www.ttb.gov/images/image009.jpg

 

So if our president does not actually go into battle, how does he perform his Commander in Chief duty? Or rather, what does this role entail? To understand this, let us consider the case of Abraham Lincoln. In the heat of the slavery debate during 1861, Lincoln strategically used an adjournment of Congress to mobilize the troops and initiate a naval blockade of the South. He also took funds from the treasury to advance his plan. Such actions were unconstitutional, but some of his mechanisms did leave lasting impressions on the "commander in chief" ideal.

Wartime can understandably lead to haste decisions by our government. Historically, the president has assumed that greatest power during these trying times. One important concept that has developed from this power is the executive order. This zealous term refers to the President's ability to issue a command that has the effect of law on federal agencies (including the military). Basically, its the boss telling his employees what to do and if they don't do it, they're fired. With the executive order, a President is able to mobilize the army, and thereby induce belligerent acts (from either us or our enemies). This power was severely curtailed in 1973 with the passage of the War Powers Resolution. This act was in response to the extended violence in Vietnam; it stated that the President has to consult Congress more openly with war matters and that the military can only be out for 60 days without Congressional consent. This act did have many issues - it was vetoed by President Nixon but still passed. It is important to remember that only Congress can declare war; even if the military is funded, that does not technically mean a war (for example, Vietnam, Korea, etc). It is rather a "conflict."^[4][5]

 

Did You Know? America has only been in five "official" wars - War of 1812, Mexican-American War, Spanish-American War, and the World Wars.

 

 

 

 

 

Chief Diplomat

  

 

The other half of the President's foreign affairs duty relates to his diplomatic interactions. We often hear about people titled "ambassador to Brazil" or "ambassador to the UN" or see news on "Russian Prime Minister to meet President." Such occurrences all demonstrate the President's role as Chief Diplomat. From the Constitution. the President is given the authority to nominate and appoint all his foreign ambassadors. It is only natural that he would choose the men and women who side with his views; hence, somewhat unintentionally, the Framers gave the President vast power over international affairs.

 

There have been many examples of how President's shaped the United States role in the world. We can start at the very beginning, as we can with many things, with George Washington. Washington promoted the American neutrality ideal. In fact, he emphasized not making any binding agreements with any country in his end of term speech. James Monroe provided the second big change in foreign policy with the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 which stated that all efforts of European nations to meddle in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as aggressive; this effectively said, "We want the West for ourselves! ROAR!" Theodore Roosevelt provided a strong corollary to this principle in the Roosevelt Corollary in 1904 which allowed the US to intervene wherever they wanted in the west to maintain economic stability.^[6]

After World War I and under the leadership of Woodrow Wilson, the United States became much more of a world power. This necessitated some sort of collaborative theme in foreign affairs. Wilson was the first to propose something along this ideals with the League of Nations. Unfortunately his own Congress never let the measure take affect.

 

Interestingly, after the second World War, America's stance changed again. Now we were the most powerful country in the world and just to flex our muscles, President Truman came up with the Truman Doctrine in 1947. Although simplistic in its main ideas, the Truman Doctrine was incredibly momentous in the Cold War. It asserted that the US could intervene wherever it wanted because it is the leader of the free world and must spread democracy. It is important to realize that doctrines are not official documents but rather ideological views the President takes. There can be little argument against the tremendous consequences this power can have.

 

In terms of the actual details of diplomacy, the President can make treaties with any country he wishes, provided he gets a two-thirds support from the Senate. However, a wise President rarely takes this route. In fact, about 90% of all international agreements made by the United States have not been treaties, but rather executive agreements (by now, you should realize anything with the prefix executive means power). Executive agreements allow the President to make a deal with another nation without the approval of Congress. The downturn is that these agreements are temporary and can be changed by a new president.

 

One other power the Chief Diplomat has is diplomatic recognition. This principle relates to how the President can choose to whether to recognize a country as legitimate or not. For example, the United States did not formerly recognize either North Korea or Iran as legit governments. The consequences are an increased pressure on those countries to conform to the US' wishes because, in a lot of technical situations, the United States can take different measures against those governments. ^[7]

 

  

Chief Legislator

 

When the Founding Fathers sought to create a Legislature with more power than the Executive branch, they inevitably formulated a power struggle between the two (more commonly referred to as 'separation of powers' or 'checks and balances'). To be sure, Congress is the source of all new legislation. However, the President has many ways in which he can intervene in the law making process.

One of the first is his political mandate. A mandate is when the President gets enough public backing that he can will his programs into legislation. This is usually a result of success in the election; hence, not all presidents have mandates. Yet they do all have a general agenda they want to follow. The constitution requires that the President give an annual State of the Union address to Congress where he discusses his plans for the year. This is, in essence, a very big duty. By putting forth his agenda after winning an election or another year in office, the president puts a great pressure on Congress to actually to get to work and pass some legislation.

Perhaps the biggest power the president has in his role as Chief legislator is the veto. A veto is when the president decides to not sign a bill presented by Congress. Although this rejection can be overturned provided that two-thirds of both houses of Congress decide to pass the bill, the truth is, such an occurrence is unlikely to happen. In this way, veto power is very influential. 

 

Did You Know? Grover Cleveland vetoed the most legislation in two terms of office - 584 vetoes. The total for all presidents by the way is 2562.

 

 

There are other ways a president can veto legislation. There is the pocket veto, where if Congress adjourns within 10 days after submitting a bill, the president can simply choose to let the bill die by not signing it or vetoing it.

 

You may be wondering what happens if, under normal conditions, the President simply does not sign a bill? Well... it passes by default. Woot!

 

Vetoes have historically given the President a lot of influence in the government. This is because it forces the government to at least pay heed to the President's desires. Furthermore, as he is the nationally elected official, it allows him to show his stance on issues and garner popular support - a concept that puts even more pressure on Congress to get things done. Another interesting fact about vetoes is that they are effective. Of all presidential vetoes, only 4% have been overturned. This is essentially the Executive's check on the Legislature.^[8]

 

You be the Judge: There is another type of veto which is not actually allowed for the president to use. It is called the line-item veto. This type of veto allows a person to cut some things out of a bill with vetoing the whole thing altogether. In 1996, under President Clinton, the Line-item Veto Act passed allowing the President to do this. However, in 1998 the act was nullified because it was argued to have violated the constitution. What do you think? Is it a good idea?

 

 

Below is a chart that shows the amount of vetos every president made (the number on the bottom indicates the president; Washington =1, Lincoln =16, etc). The blue line represents the amount of vetos, while the red is the amount that were overridden. As you can see, few are overridden. Can you think of reasons why such dramatic shifts were made occured?

 

Graph 3.1: Presidential Vetos (amount on the left, president on the bottom). Blue line represents vetos, red represents those that were overridden.^[9]

 

Chief of State

 

The only thing that the constitution did not even bother mentioning or accounting for are the intangible ways the President can have influence. Everything the President does has a great effect on the perceptions of the people and the world. This includes his behavior, his social life, and the commemoratory things he does (like honor veterans, throw baseball pitches, etc). The duty as a Chief of State is very important.... we will refer to this when we discuss the presidents. (Stay Tuned)

 

Did You Know? George Washington never shook hands because he felt it was inferior. He simply bowed.

 

 

 

 

Key Terms

Cabinet: Advisory council for the president consisting of the heads of the executive departments, the vice president, and a few other officials selected by the president.

 

Budgeting and Accounting Act: Allowed the President to restructure the budget of the federal government 

 

Reorganization Acts: Allowed the President to hire additional staff and reorganize the Executive branch as he saw fit.

 

Executive Order: Formal orders issued by the president to direct action by the Federal bureaucracy.

 

War Powers Resolution: Stated that the President has to consult Congress more openly with war matters and that the military can only be out for 60 days without

Congressional consent.

 

Monroe Doctrine: All efforts of European nations to meddle in the Western Hemisphere would be vied as aggressive

 

Roosevelt Corollary: Allowed the US to intervene wherever they wanted in the west to maintain economic stability.

 

Truman Doctrine: US could intervene wherever it wanted because it is the leader of the free world and must spread democracy.

 

Treaty: A formal, public agreement between the United States and one or more nations that must be approved by two thirds of the Senate.

 

Executive Agreements: A formal agreement between the U.S. president and the leaders of other nations that does not require Senate approval.

 

Diplomatic Recognition: President can choose to whether to recognize a country as legitimate or not.

 

Mandate: A president’s claim of broad public support.

 

State of the Union Address: The president’s annual statement to Congress and the nation.

 

Veto: A formal decision to reject the bill passed by Congress.

 

Pocket Veto: If Congress adjourns during the ten days that the president is allowed in order to sign or veto law, the president can reject the law by taking no action at all.

 

Line-item veto: Presidential power to strike, or remove, specific items from a spending bill without vetoing the entire package; declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

 

 

 

Previous Section: The President's Helpers                                                                                                                            Next Section: Losing Power

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Footnotes

1. http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html ▲
2. George Edwards, Martin Wattenberg, and Robert Lineberry. Government in America: People, Politics, and Policy. (Upper Saddle River, NJ; Pearson Education Inc. 2006). ▲
3. George Edwards, Martin Wattenberg, and Robert Lineberry. Government in America: People, Politics, and Policy. (Upper Saddle River, NJ; Pearson Education Inc. 2006). Page 401 ▲
4. See above ▲
5. http://people.howstuffworks.com/president4.htm ▲
6. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/ip/17660.htm ▲
7. http://people.howstuffworks.com/president7.htm ▲
8. George Edwards, Martin Wattenberg, and Robert Lineberry. Government in America: People, Politics, and Policy. (Upper Saddle River, NJ; Pearson Education Inc. 2006). ▲
9. Data From: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/vetoes.php ▲