Chapter 14: The Presidency in Action
Section 1
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 2 Chapter 14, Section 1
Objectives
1. Explain why Article II of the Constitution
can be described as “an outline” of the
presidential office.
2. List several reasons for the growth of
presidential power.
3. Explain how the Presidents’ own views
have affected the power of the office.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 3 Chapter 14, Section 1
Key Terms
• Executive Article: the name given to
Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which
establishes the office of the President
• imperial presidency: a critical view of the
presidency that argues that Presidents
have become too powerful, isolated from
Congress, and unaccountable for their
actions
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 4 Chapter 14, Section 1
Introduction
• What factors have contributed to the
growth of presidential power?
– The presidency is a unified office with a
focused purpose.
– Congress has granted more authority to the
executive branch.
– The President can act decisively in times of
crisis, increasing his or her influence.
– The support staff of the President has grown
over time.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 5 Chapter 14, Section 1
Article II
• Article II of the Constitution gives the President power to:
– Command the armed forces
– Make treaties
– Approve or veto acts of Congress
– Send or receive diplomats
– “Take care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”
• The presidency has been called the “most powerful office in the world.”
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 6 Chapter 14, Section 1
Views of the Presidency
• Checkpoint: What two views of the
presidency were debated by the Framers?
– These executive powers are broadly defined
and open to interpretation.
• At the Constitutional Convention, some delegates
argued for a weaker chief executive appointed by
Congress.
• They were defeated by delegates supporting a
strong, independently elected executive.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 7 Chapter 14, Section 1
Growth of Power
• Presidential power has grown over time. Why
has this happened?
– Compared to Congress, the executive branch is a
unified office with one leader, capable of quicker
decisions.
– As the role of the federal government has grown and
the country has endured wars and other major crises,
citizens have looked to the presidency for decisive
leadership.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 8 Chapter 14, Section 1
Growth of Power, cont.
• Congress has delegated authority to the
executive branch to carry out the many
laws passed by the legislative branch.
– Certain Presidents have used the influence of
their office to increase the scope of
presidential power.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 9 Chapter 14, Section 1
Growth of Power, cont.
• The size of the staff supporting the
President has grown, allowing involvement
in more areas of government.
– Presidents have a unique ability to use mass
media—such as radio, television, and the
Internet—to attract public attention to their
policies and goals.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 10 Chapter 14, Section 1
Means of Gaining Power
• The debate continues
over how much power
the President should
have relative to
Congress.
– What is the source of
presidential power as
shown in this political
cartoon?
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 11 Chapter 14, Section 1
Gaining Power
• In this cartoon, who is
giving the President
increased powers?
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 12 Chapter 14, Section 1
Limits on Power
• Checkpoint: What limits the growth of
presidential power?
– In 1952, the Supreme Court ruled that
President Harry Truman could not use his
powers as commander in chief to take control
of U.S. steel mills during the Korean War.
(Youngstown Sheet & Tube C. v. Sawyer)
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 13 Chapter 14, Section 1
Limits on Power, cont.
• In 2006, the Court ruled that President
George W. Bush could not use military
tribunals to prosecute “enemy combatants”
and held that part of his plan violated the
Geneva Conventions and the Uniform
Code of Military Justice. (Hamdan v.
Rumsfeld)
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 14 Chapter 14, Section 1
Opposing Views
• Presidents like Theodore Roosevelt have
supported broad powers.
– Roosevelt supported the “stewardship
theory,” arguing that the President should try
to do whatever would help the public, using
whatever powers could be claimed.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 15 Chapter 14, Section 1
Opposing Views, cont.
• Presidents like William
Taft have favored limited
presidential powers.
– Taft felt that Presidents
could not simply assume
powers that they felt
were needed to serve
the people. All
executive power had to
be based clearly on the
Constitution.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 16 Chapter 14, Section 1
Imperial Presidency
• In recent years, some critics claim that the
presidency has grown too powerful.
• They refer to this increase of power as an
imperial presidency because presidents
often take actions without consulting
Congress.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 17 Chapter 14, Section 1
Imperial Presidency, cont.
• Supporters of the imperial presidency
argue that the President often needs to act
more swiftly than would be possible if he
or she had to wait for congressional
approval.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 18 Chapter 14, Section 1
Review
• Now that you have learned about the
growth of presidential power, go back to
the Chapter Essential Question.
– How much power should the President have?
Chapter 14: The Presidency in Action
Section 2
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 20 Chapter 14, Section 1
Objectives
1. Identify the sources of the President’s
power to execute federal law.
2. Define the ordinance power.
3. Explain how the appointment power
works and describe the limits on the
removal power.
4. Examine the power of executive
privilege.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 21 Chapter 14, Section 1
Key Terms
• executive order: directives, rules, or regulations issued by the President that have the force of law
• ordinance power: the authority to issue executive orders
• executive privilege: a right claimed by some Presidents that allows them to refuse to provide certain information to Congress or the federal courts
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 22 Chapter 14, Section 1
Introduction
• What are the executive powers and how were they established?
– The President:
• Executes and interprets the law of the land
• Issues executive orders
• Appoints many public officials
• Removes appointed officials
• Can use executive privilege to withhold information from Congress and the federal courts
– These powers come from the Constitution and from acts of Congress.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 23 Chapter 14, Section 1
The Chief Executive
• The President enforces and carries out all federal laws. This authority comes from two sources:
– The oath of office, which requires the President to “faithfully execute the Office of President” and “protect and defend the Constitution.”
– The constitutional requirement that the President “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 24 Chapter 14, Section 1
Interpreting Laws
• Congress passes many laws that set out broad
policies, but do not include specific details for
enforcement.
• The President and other members of the
executive branch must decide how these laws
should be administered and enforced.
• To do so, they must often interpret the intent of
these laws.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 25 Chapter 14, Section 1
The Ordinance Power
• The President can issue executive orders—rules
and regulations that have the force of law. This
is called the ordinance power.
– The President must have this authority in order to use
some of the executive powers granted by the
Constitution.
– In addition, Congress has delegated the authority to
direct and regulate many legislative policies and
programs to the President and the executive branch.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 26 Chapter 14, Section 1
The Appointment Power
• The Constitution grants the President appointment power, the ability to appoint some federal officials.
– This power is necessary to ensure that presidential
policies are carried out.
– The President appoints some 3,000 of the 2.7 million federal workers.
– The majority of the rest are hired according to civil service laws.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 27 Chapter 14, Section 1
Presidential Appointments
• Presidents appoint top-ranking officials such as:
– Cabinet members and their top aides
– Ambassadors and other diplomats
– The heads of independent agencies
– All federal judges, U.S. marshals, and
attorneys
– All officers in the U.S. armed forces
• These appointments must be a approved by a
majority vote of the Senate.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 28 Chapter 14, Section 1
Recess Appointments
• The president can make recess
appointments to fill vacancies when the
Senate is not in session.
– These appointments expire at the end of the
congressional term they were made.
– They are controversial because they allow the
President to bypass the Senate confirmation
process.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 29 Chapter 14, Section 1
The Confirmation Process
• This graphic outlines the process of nominating and approving or rejecting a presidential appointee.
– Under the custom of
senatorial courtesy, the Senate will only approve federal appointees supported by the Senators from their state who belong to the President’s party.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 30 Chapter 14, Section 1
Presidential Appointees
• Presidential
appointees are
sometimes criticized
for lacking
independence and
simply parroting
presidential views.
– How might this
parroting actually
benefit the President?
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 31 Chapter 14, Section 1
The Removal Power
• The Constitution does not say how
appointed officers should be removed.
– Some politicians wanted Senate approval
for removals as well as appointments.
– Others argued that the President must
have the power to remove incompetent
appointees.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 32 Chapter 14, Section 1
The Removal Power, cont.
• The First Congress gave the President
the power to remove any appointed
officer except for federal judges.
• Congress tried unsuccessfully to take
the removal power away from President
Andrew Johnson in 1867.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 33 Chapter 14, Section 1
The Removal Power, cont.
• In 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that the
removal power was a key part of the
President’s authority to execute the laws.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 34 Chapter 14, Section 1
The Removal Power, cont.
• In 1935, the Court ruled Congress can set the
conditions under which members of
independent regulatory agencies, such as the
Federal Trade Commission, may be removed
from office.
– This ruling applies only to a small number of
appointed offices.
– In general, the President can remove whomever they
appoint.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 35 Chapter 14, Section 1
Executive Privilege
• At times, Presidents have refused to reveal
certain information to Congress or the federal
courts.
• Congress has never officially recognized the
right of executive privilege.
– The President’s advisers and staff must be able to
speak freely to give good advice. To do so, they must
believe that their words are confidential unless the
President chooses to reveal them publicly.
– What is the court’s stand on executive privilege?
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 36 Chapter 14, Section 1
United States v. Nixon
– However, the Court also ruled that executive privilege cannot be used to prevent evidence from being heard in a criminal proceeding, as that would deny the 6th Amendment guarantee of a fair trial.
• In the 1974 case United States v. Nixon, the Court ruled unanimously that the President could claim executive privilege in matters involving national security.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 37 Chapter 14, Section 1
Review
• Now that you have learned what they
executive powers are and how they were
established, go back to the Chapter
Essential Question.
– How much power should the president have?
Chapter 14: The Presidency in Action
Section 3
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 39 Chapter 14, Section 1
Objectives
1. Explain how treaties are made and
approved.
2. Explain why and how executive
agreements are made.
3. Summarize how the power of recognition
is used.
4. Describe the President’s powers as
commander in chief.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 40 Chapter 14, Section 1
Key Terms
• treaty: a formal agreement between two or more independent states
• executive agreement: a pact between the President and the head of a foreign state or their subordinates; it has the same standing as a treaty but does not require approval by Congress
• recognition: the act of acknowledging the legal existence of a country and its government
• persona non grata: an unwelcome person
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 41 Chapter 14, Section 1
Introduction
• What tools are available to the President to implement
foreign policy?
– Making treaties and executive agreements with foreign
countries
– Recognizing foreign nations
– Recalling American diplomats or expelling foreign
diplomats from U.S. soil
– Ordering the U.S. military to conduct operations on foreign
soil without a formal declaration of war
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 42 Chapter 14, Section 1
Chief Diplomat
• The Constitution does not formally give the status of chief diplomat to the President. But two presidential powers play a key role:
– The President is the
commander in chief of the nation’s armed forces.
– The President, usually acting through the secretary of state, negotiates treaties with foreign nations.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 43 Chapter 14, Section 1
Treaties
• Treaties have the same legal status as an act of Congress.
• Congress can repeal a treaty by passing a law that nullifies its provisions.
• An existing law can be repealed by the terms of a treaty.
• A treaty cannot conflict with any part of the Constitution.
• If a treaty and a federal law conflict, the most recently passed measure wins.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 44 Chapter 14, Section 1
Treaties and the Senate
• A two-thirds majority of the Senate must approve all treaties before they go into effect.
– This gives the Senate an important role in shaping
U.S. foreign policy.
– A Senate minority can kill a treaty. In 1920 the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles.
– Presidents John Tyler and William McKinley each overcame Senate rejections of treaties by getting joint resolutions passed to annex Texas and Hawaii, respectively.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 45 Chapter 14, Section 1
Executive Agreements
• Checkpoint: How do executive
agreements differ from treaties?
– Presidents can make executive agreements
without Senate approval.
– These agreements cannot overrule state or
federal law.
– Executive agreements do not become part of
American law. Only those agreements made
by the current President remain in force.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 46 Chapter 14, Section 1
Power of Recognition
• The President recognizes the legal status of other nations on behalf of the United States.
• Countries usually recognize each other by exchanging diplomatic representatives.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 47 Chapter 14, Section 1
Power of Recognition, cont.
• Out of political necessity, the United States recognizes some nations whose conduct it does not agree with.
• Recognizing a new nation, such as Panama or Israel, can help ensure its success.
• Expelling foreign diplomats or recalling U.S. diplomats from a foreign country is a strong expression of disapproval and sometimes a step toward war.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 48 Chapter 14, Section 1
Commander in Chief
• Presidents delegate many command
decisions to military officers, but
Presidents make the most critical
decisions and have the authority to take
command in the field.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 49 Chapter 14, Section 1
Commander in Chief, cont.
• It is difficult for Congress to challenge
many presidential command decisions.
• President Theodore Roosevelt once sent
the U.S. Navy halfway around the world
without consulting Congress. Legislators
had no choice but to approve funds to
bring the Navy back.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 50 Chapter 14, Section 1
Making Undeclared War
• Only Congress can declare war; however, many U.S. presidents have sent armed forces into combat abroad without a declaration of war:
– John Adams had the U.S. Navy fight French warships in
1798.
– Ronald Reagan ordered the invasion of Grenada in 1983 to block a military coup.
– George H.W. Bush ordered the ouster of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega in 1989.
– Bill Clinton sent troops to the Balkans in the 1990s.
– How might a President exercise the role of commander in chief?
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 51 Chapter 14, Section 1
Congressional Resolutions
• Congress has not declared war since World
War II.
• However, Congress has passed eight joint
resolutions authorizing the President to use
military force abroad, such as:
– In 1955, Congress let President Dwight Eisenhower
position the U.S. Navy to block Chinese aggression toward
Taiwan.
– The Iraq Resolution of 2002 authorized the use of force
against Iraq.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 52 Chapter 14, Section 1
Power Over the Years
• At times Presidents
have sought
Congressional
approval for the
use of military
force, while other
times they have
not.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 53 Chapter 14, Section 1
War Powers Resolution
• Checkpoint: Why did Congress enact the
War Powers Act?
– The results of the undeclared Vietnam War
led Congress to pass the War Powers
Resolution of 1973.
– There is still a debate over whether this
Resolution is constitutional or not.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 54 Chapter 14, Section 1
War Powers Act
• The War Powers Act states that the President can commit military forces to combat only
– If Congress has declared war, OR
– If Congress has authorized military action, OR
– If an attack on the nation or its armed forces has taken place. In this case, Congress must be notified within 48 hours and can end the commitment of troops at any time.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 55 Chapter 14, Section 1
Review
• Now that you have learned about the tools
available to the President to implement
foreign policy, go back and answer the
Chapter Essential Question.
– How much power should the President have?
Chapter 14: The Presidency in Action
Section 4
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 57 Chapter 14, Section 1
Objectives
1. Explain the President’s legislative
powers and how they are an important
part of the system of checks and
balances.
2. Describe the President’s major judicial
powers.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 58 Chapter 14, Section 1
Key Terms
• pocket veto: a method of killing a bill at the end of a congressional session by not acting on it before Congress adjourns
• line-item veto: the power to cancel out specific provisions, or line items, in a bill while approving the rest of the measure
• reprieve: the postponement of the carrying out of a criminal sentence
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 59 Chapter 14, Section 1
Key Terms, cont.
• pardon: the legal forgiveness of a crime
• clemency: the power of mercy or leniency
• commutation: the power to reduce a fine
or the length of a sentence imposed by a
court
• amnesty: a blanket pardon offered to a
group of law violators
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 60 Chapter 14, Section 1
Introduction
• How can the President check the actions of the
legislative and judicial branches?
– By using the message power to influence Congress to
pass desired legislation
– By vetoing bills passed by Congress
– By issuing signing statements
– By pardoning citizens accused or convicted of crimes
– By reducing fines or the length of sentences
– By granting amnesty to groups of people
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 61 Chapter 14, Section 1
Legislative Powers
• As party chief, the President can greatly influence Congress.
• The President sends messages to Congress to suggests legislation.
• There are three major messages a year: • The State of the Union, delivered to a joint
session of Congress.
• The President’s budget message
• The Annual Economic Report
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 62 Chapter 14, Section 1
Veto Power
• Checkpoint: What options are available to
the President when presented with a bill?
– Every bill or measure requiring the consent of
both House and Senate must be submitted to
the President.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 63 Chapter 14, Section 1
Veto Power, cont.
– In response, the President can:
• Sign the bill into law
• Veto the bill
• Allow the bill to become
law by not acting upon it
within ten days
• Exercise a pocket veto
at the end of a
congressional session
by not acting on the bill
before Congress
adjourns in under 10
days.
President Ford prepares to address
the nation about his decision on
vetoing a tax cut.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 64 Chapter 14, Section 1
Overriding a Veto
• Congress can override a veto with a two-thirds
majority, but this rarely happens.
– It is difficult to gather enough votes in each house for
a veto override.
– The mere threat of a veto can often defeat a bill or
cause changes to its provisions.
– Early Presidents rarely exercised the veto, but it is
common today.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 65 Chapter 14, Section 1
When the President and the majority of Congress are of the same party, vetoes tend to
be rare. They tend to be more frequent during periods of divided government. Do you
think the veto gives the President too much authority?
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 66 Chapter 14, Section 1
Signing Statements
• Signing statements describe how a new law should be enforced or point out problems that the President sees with the law.
• Presidents may issue signing statements when signing a bill into law.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 67 Chapter 14, Section 1
Singing Statements, cont.
• President George W.
Bush issued a record
number of signing
statements.
– He claimed the power to
refuse to enforce certain
provisions of a law or to
interpret it as he saw fit.
– Critics saw this as an
attempt to veto bills without
exercising a formal veto.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 68 Chapter 14, Section 1
Line-Item Veto
• The President can either accept all of a bill
or reject all of it.
• The Supreme Court has ruled that the line-
item veto power can only be given to the
President by a constitutional amendment.
– How is a line-item veto different from a regular
veto?
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 69 Chapter 14, Section 1
Line-Item Veto, cont.
• The proposed line-item veto would allow the President to cancel out some parts of a bill while approving others.
– Supporters argue that this would cut down on wasteful federal spending.
– Opponents argue that the line-item veto would shift too much power from the legislative branch to the executive branch.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 70 Chapter 14, Section 1
Judicial Powers
• The President can grant pardons and reprieves
in federal cases.
– The President can pardon people before they have
even been tried or convicted, though this is rare.
• President Gerald Ford famously pardoned former
President Nixon in 1974 before Nixon had
been tried.
– A person must accept a pardon for it to go
into effect.
• The Supreme Court upheld this rule in 1915.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 71 Chapter 14, Section 1
Judicial Powers, cont.
• Checkpoint: What powers are included under the power to pardon?
– The President can commute, or reduce, a fine or prison sentence.
– The President can also issue a blanket amnesty that pardons a group of people.
• In 1893, President Benjamin Harrison pardoned all Mormons who had violated polygamy laws.
• In 1977, President Jimmy Carter gave amnesty to all Vietnam War draft evaders.
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 72 Chapter 14, Section 1
Review
• Now that you have learned about the way
in which the President can check the
actions of the legislative and judicial
branches, go back and answer the
Chapter Essential Question.
– How much power should the President have?