12The Presidency Chapter OverviewIn this chapter you will learn about the office of President of the United States, who serves both as the head of the government of the United States and the ceremonial representative of the country. We begin by considering how presidents are chosen. We then examine the formal and informal powers of the Office of the President, including the presidency itself, the vice president, the first lady, the cabinet, the Executive Office of the President, and the White House staff. Then we turn to consider how the president interacts with the Congress in the development of governmental policy. We conclude by exploring how presidential popularity and the president’s relationship with the media influence the success of their term in office.

Lecture SuggestionsCharacterize the expectations for and the backgrounds of presidents and identify paths to the White House and how presidents may be removed.

LECTURE 1: A lecture dedicated to leadership styles and skills becomes much more realistic if it concentrates on two or three American leaders,

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illustrating strengths and weaknesses in their behavior patterns. The thumbnail sketches set forth below are a commentary on some characteristics of two American presidents during the twentieth century. Obviously, they are suggestive, rather than a complete analysis. Each instructor will want to expand the material in directions that enlarge on some points or reach out to other facets

Herbert Hoover: President Hoover (1929–1933) came to the office with an impressive backlog of successful experience in private and public life. He had risen to the top of his field as a mining engineer. He had organized a national effort to conserve and allocate American food supplies during World War I, and had gone on to feed the hungry of Europe after the war. He had been a vigorous Secretary of Commerce under Warren Harding. At the time of his election to the presidency, he was nationally acclaimed as a great humanitarian and won the electoral vote of forty states.

But Hoover had defects of skill and style that political adversity heightened. Basically, he was the exemplary bureaucrat, relying heavily on organization, rules, and efficiency. He was thin-skinned. As the Depression of the 1930s developed, he became more and more withdrawn. He disliked the give-and-take of politics. He did not feel comfortable in direct contact with voters and other politicians. He lacked persuasive powers. His political-economic philosophy allowed little room for compromise. With such handicaps, it was easy for his critics to picture him as cold and unfeeling.

In March 1933, he left the White House in disgrace, having fallen in four short years from dizzying heights to abysmal depths in public esteem. Much later, as an elder statesman, Hoover headed the highly successful Hoover

Commission, whose recommendations for reorganization of the national government were largely adopted.

Lyndon B. Johnson: Lyndon Johnson (1963–1969) was born, like Hoover, in humble circumstances, and rose to national prominence by way of political office. After a short spell as a teacher, Johnson went to Washington as a Texas congressman’s assistant. Soon he became a protégé of House Speaker Sam Rayburn, who got him an appointment as head of the National Youth Administration in Texas. From that base he was elected to a congressional seat; eleven years later he narrowly won a Senate seat. Within four years he was the Senate majority whip; in 1952 he became the Senate minority leader; Senate elections in 1954 made him majority leader. He was then forty-seven years old.

In many ways his Senate career displayed Johnson’s political talents at their height. He constantly “pressed the flesh,” working out personal alliances with other senators and creating a unified Democratic party, with himself at the center. His vigor was phenomenal. One biographer writes: “He was smoking at least three packs of cigarettes a day, sometimes more. He never had lunch unless a legislative matter was being discussed, he missed dinner more often than not, and when he did make it home, usually as late as ten or eleven, he was almost never alone” (Merle Miller, Lyndon, 179).

In 1960, John Kennedy chose Johnson as his running mate. Three years later Johnson succeeded to the presidency upon Kennedy’s assassination, and in 1964 he won the office in his own right.

Many think Johnson was the epitome of the political broker. He was the ultimate persuader, using the carrot and the stick with equal skill. He was an eloquent stump orator

(although on television he was stiff and preachy), with a flair for the down-home phrases. Beyond all question, he was consumed by ambition, using every friendship as a stepping stone to personal advancement. He had a magnetic quality that quickly drew people to him.

Yet in the end, he lost his golden touch. His dogged determination to win the Vietnam War eventually put him at odds with the voters. In 1968, his support fast eroding, he chose not to run for reelection. Leaving the White House an embittered man, he died in January 1972, his successes in domestic politics (the Great Society programs and Civil Rights legislation) forgotten in the political passions of the time.

LECTURE 2: The Constitution resolved several key questions about the presidency that arouse in the context of the Articles of Confederation. These included how the president would be chosen, the length of the president’s term, the powers of the presidency in the areas of foreign and defense policy, and the relationship between the president and the congress.

Differentiate between the role of the chief executive under the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution.

Ask students to think about what the United States, its government, and its position in the world would look like today if we were still governed by a President under the Articles of Confederation.

Evaluate the president’s constitutional powers and the expansion of presidential power.

LECTURE 1: When covering the evolution of presidential power, it is useful to distinguish between two classical models.

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The Whig model, popular early in the history of the United States, was deeply suspicious of presidential power, arguing that the role of the presidency should be confined to exercising those powers specifically outlined in the U.S. Constitution. Over time, the role of the presidency gradually expanded.

Later, scholars argued in favor of a Stewardship model, which argued that the powers of the president should be more broadly interpreted, limited only by the specific provisions of the U.S. Constitution which restrict presidential power.

The modern presidency has greatly expanded presidential powers. Since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, even presidents who are critical of the expansive reach of the presidency have often sought to expand their own role once in office.

LECTURE 2: The source of political power is a critical component of the leadership role, although it may be difficult to understand in the abstract. Nevertheless, the intersecting relationship between power, authority and legitimacy has occupied political scientists since Max Weber. Understanding this intersection can help students understand both broader debates over presidential authority in the United States and the US government in the broader global context.

The simplest, most direct form is power based on raw force. The leader (ruler) is placed in power and kept there because he has the guns, the tanks, the planes, the secret police.

Latin American nations over most of the past two centuries provide examples of such leaders, installed and discarded by the military. Most of the Latin American countries seem to have shifted now toward other types of leadership, but the tradition of raw force is an enduring one. Contemporary Chile is an example. President Augusto Pinochet was installed and kept in power by the army for more than a decade, although

he might have had the support of no more than 15 percent of the people.

In Europe, the pattern extends to the former Soviet bloc countries whose old rulers held power only because of Soviet military backing and whose new rulers are scrambling to hold on to power in the midst of economic turmoil and intense ethnic conflict.

Another form of leadership is based on tradition and recognized legitimacy. For centuries countries such as France, Prussia, Russia, Spain, and Austria were headed by royal families, with eldest sons succeeding fathers to the throne. This tradition was deeply entrenched and not easily displaced.

In Great Britain the pattern was temporarily disrupted by Oliver Cromwell’s seizure of power (1649–1660). In the half-century that followed, the British Isles were embroiled in political turmoil over rival claims to the throne between the royal branch installed by Parliament and the traditional “legitimate” Stuart family supported by Scots and Irish.

In the contemporary world, several royal families remain as heads of state. Although few have fundamental political power, they serve as symbols and generate loyalty in such diverse nations as Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Great Britain, Thailand, and Japan. Incomprehensible as it may seem to American students, these royal leaders are a significant factor in modern governments.

A third type of leadership is that most familiar to Americans. It involves elections, fixed terms of office, and majority rule. Such a leadership system depends on neither tradition nor force. Instead, it is dependent on written constitutional arrangements and legality. If the rules are followed, leaders are accepted as legitimate, even by those who bitterly oppose them. In terms of

world history this is the most fragile of the systems, requiring a degree of political sophistication that many nations seem to lack.

LECTURE 3: The phrase “executive power” itself tells us little about the actual powers of the office of the president. Indeed, several lectures could be developed around the meaning and scope of the powers of the president.

The Meaning of Executive Power. There are two schools of thought concerning what the framers meant when they used the phrase “executive power.” The first holds that the phrase “executive power” was

intended to summarize the powers that are enumerated in Article II. According to this point of view, all presidential power is listed in Article II and the executive power clause does not add any power to the list. It is merely descriptive. Presidents taking this view are said to be exercising the role of literalist. Some also refer to it as the Whig role. Examples would be William Howard Taft and Dwight Eisenhower.

The second contends that the phrase “executive power” confers power. That is, it is not descriptive of other powers but is itself, a grant of additional power. What power? Viewed in this way the clause became a kind of necessary and proper clause for the executive. This is the interpretation that has come to accurately describe the modern presidency. There is no mention in the Constitution of the president’s power of removal. There is no mention of executive privilege, or executive agreements, or executive orders. Yet presidents exercise all of these, and with the blessing of the U.S. Supreme Court. Presidents taking this view are said to be exercising the stewardship role. Examples would be Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt.

Tensions in the Scope and Exercise of Executive Power. Years ago, Barbara Hinckley, in Outline of American Government: The Continuing Experiment, argued for a kind of synthesis of these two views. In her opinion, the framers constructed a duality when designing the presidency. On the one hand, they desired an energetic (strong)

executive, as outlined by Hamilton in The Federalist Papers. They listed very few specific powers in Article II. Rather, they purposely left presidential powers ambivalent or undefined. This was so that the executive could exercise needed powers when certain occasions presented themselves.

On the other hand, the Framers worried that the president could be too strong. Thus they provided numerous checks on the president. The Senate must approve certain appointments and all treaties. The president did not have an absolute veto. It could be overridden. Only Congress could declare war or appropriate funds. Seen in this light, the presidency, by design, is both strong and weak. By setting up such broad parameters, the Framers allowed some presidents to be strong (Lincoln) and others to be weak (Carter). Of course, the personality of the president matters here, but the tension in the office is there purposely.

Justice Jackson’s Three Groups. Finally, in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company v. Sawyer (1952) Justice Jackson discussed presidential power in relationship to Congress. He provided three different groups or categories under which presidents can act, with different amounts of power for each. The Youngstown case dealt with the question of whether or not the president had the constitutional authority to seize private steel mills in order to prevent a nationwide steel strike. In taking this action, President Truman did not follow the Taft- Hartley Act, which

provided for the seeking of an injunction to halt a strike. Jackson’s description of power under the Constitution sounds very much like Barbara Hinckley’s. For example, he states, “While the Constitution diffuses power the better to secure liberty, it also contemplates that practice will integrate the dispersed powers into a workable government.” He continues, “Presidential powers are not fixed but fluctuate, depending upon their disjunction or conjunction with those of Congress.” Here are the three groups as he described them. First, when the president acts pursuant to an expressed or

implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate. In these circumstances, and in these only, may he be said (for what it may be worth) to personify the federal sovereignty. If his act is held unconstitutional under these circumstances, it usually means that the federal government as an undivided whole lacks power. A seizure executed by the president pursuant to an act of Congress would be supported by the strongest of presumptions and the widest latitude of judicial interpretation, and the burden of persuasion would rest heavily upon any who might attack it.

Second, when the president acts in absence of either a congressional grant or denial of authority, he can only rely upon his own independent powers, but there is a zone of twilight in which he and Congress may have concurrent authority, or in which its distribution is uncertain. Therefore, congressional inertia, indifference or quiescence may sometimes, at least as a practical matter, enable, if not invite, measures on independent presidential responsibility. In this area, any actual test of power is likely to depend on the

imperatives of events and contemporary imponderables rather than on abstract theories of law.

Third, when the president takes measures incompatible with the expressed or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb, for then he can rely only upon his own constitutional powers minus any constitutional powers of Congress over the matter. Courts can sustain exclusive presidential control in such a case only by disabling the Congress from acting upon the subject. Presidential claim to a power at once so conclusive and preclusive must be scrutinized with caution, for what is at stake is the equilibrium established by our constitutional system.

LECTURE 4: The Founders understood that the executive would need sufficient power to effectively carry out his responsibilities, but their experience with tyrannical monarchs made them wary of granting too much power to the presidency. The provisions of Article II of the Constitution, which spell out the role of the president, are thus intentionally vague. To a large extent, presidents have been able to define their own powers by broadly interpreting Article II.

Discusses the changes in the presidency, emphasizing how the institution gained more power as it evolved. The president’s powers in both domestic and foreign policy, for example, have grown as assertive personalities in the office responded to crises with decisive action.

Be sure to detail the various roles that the president must play: chief of state, chief legislator, chief diplomat, commander in chief, and chief executive, and outline the formal and informal powers that contribute to each of those roles.

LECTURE 5: The expanding power and reach of the presidency has been defined not just by individual presidents but by broad political changes over time. Consequently, the nature of presidential leadership has also evolved.

In the early years of the republic, the relatively small size and population of the country meant that government was necessarily small. Consequently, presidential leadership was most often exercised through personal relationships among the political elite.

From the 1830s through the late 1800s, political parties became increasingly institutionalized, and political power was largely exercised through party bosses. Presidential leadership often depended on the ability to mobilize party bosses in support of their agenda.

Progressive era reforms in the early 1900s greatly weakened political parties, and from the early 1900s through the 1970s, presidential leadership effectively depended on the ability of the president to negotiate agreement among competing interests in an increasingly pluralistic political system.

The rise of television as a vehicle for direct communication with the public in the 1960s led to a decline in the classical form of pluralism. By the 1970s, the president could communicate directly with the American people, mobilizing them in support of his agenda. The effectiveness of presidents thus depended largely on their personal charisma and their ability to speak directly to the American people. The popularity of presidents like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, both of whom maintained incredibly effective media images, speaks to this model.

Discuss how the nature of the presidency has been affected by broader political and cultural trends outside the office itself.

Consider the extent to which political leaders might be hostages to circumstances beyond their control.

Ask your class to consider the possibility that we hold our leaders to too high a standard.

LECTURE 6: List and define the powers of the president as defined in the Constitution. These powers can be divided into five broad areas:

The Powers of the Chief Executive, which includes the powers to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” (Article II, Section 3), to supervise executive branch of government, to appoint and remove executive officials (Article II, Section 2), and to prepare executive budget for submission to Congress (by law of Congress).

The power of the Chief Legislator, which is comprised of the power initiate policy by “giv[ing] to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend[ing] to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient” (Article II, Section 3), the power to veto legislation passed by Congress, subject to override by a two-thirds vote in both houses, and the power to convene special session of Congress “on extraordinary Occasions” (Article II, Section 3).

The power of the Chief Diplomat, which includes the power to make treaties “with the Advice and Consent of the Senate” (Article II, Section 2), to exercise the power of diplomatic recognition: “receive Ambassadors” (Article II, Section 3), and to make executive agreements (by custom and international law).

The power of the Commander-in-Chief, which includes the power to command U.S. armed forces: “The president shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy” (Article II, Section 2), and to appoint military officers.

The power of the Chief of State, which is vested in the President by Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution. In addition, the president’s role as chief of state includes the power to grant reprieves and pardons (Article II, Section 2), to represent the

nation as chief of state, and to appoint federal court and Supreme Court judges (Article II, Section 2).

Describe the roles of the vice president, cabinet, Executive Office of the President, White House staff, and First Lady.

LECTURE 1: Although there are specific responsibilities assigned to the vice president in the Constitution (acting as president of the Senate and breaking tie votes), the main role of the vice president is to stand as backup in case the president dies or becomes incapacitated. Consequently, early vice presidents were often relegated to minor roles in policy making.

Indeed, many vice presidents have commented on the office’s irrelevancy. John Adams, Washington’s Vice President, said of the office, “My country has in its wisdom contrived the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.” John Garner, who served as Franklin Roosevelt’s vice president, said, “The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm spit.” In the mid-1800s, Senator Daniel Webster famously declined his party’s vice presidential nomination, declaring he did not intend to be buried until he was dead. Benjamin Franklin even asserted (only half tongue-in-cheek) that the vice president should be addressed as “Your Superfluous Excellency.” Since the 1950s, however, vice presidents have played a more important role in the administration, often acting as part of the president’s inner circle of advisors. This also helps to make sure they will not have to assume the office of the presidency without full knowledge of ongoing events.

But in spite of the growing role of the office, a number of myths continue to dominate our understanding of the vice presidency. An engaging lecture could be developed dispelling those myths.

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Myth 1: The Vice Presidency is a Good Training Ground for the Presidency. It is difficult to accept this as true. First, until very recent presidential terms, vice presidents did not even have an office in the White House. Second, until after World War II, vice presidents typically did not even attend cabinet meetings. One study found that presidents who had previously served as vice president got poorer ratings than those coming from other positions. [See, Danny M. Adkison, “The Vice Presidency as Apprenticeship,” Presidential Studies Quarterly (Spring 1983).]

Myth 2: The Vice President Plays an Important Role in Balancing the Presidential Ticket. One study found that most people vote against a ticket because of the vice-presidential candidate rather than for the ticket because of the vice presidential candidate. Richard Nixon, once commenting on his selection process for a vice-presidential candidate, stated that his selection could not help him. So Nixon looked for the running mate that would hurt him the least: Agnew. [See Danny M. Adkison, “The Electoral Significance of the Vice Presidency,” Presidential Studies Quarterly (Summer 1982.]

Myth 3: Presidents Choose Their Vice Presidents to Groom Future Presidential Candidates. The uppermost concern on a presidential candidate’s mind when selecting a vice presidential running mate is whether or not the person would make a good successor to the presidency. As one congressman once put it, rather than picking someone to succeed them, presidents are picking someone they think will help them succeed (i.e., to get elected). Indeed, there are numerous examples of presidents selecting vice-presidential running mates in an attempt to pick up votes (balance the ticket). John Kennedy (an easterner) chose the southerner Lyndon B. Johnson as his vice president. Jimmy Carter (a southern moderate) chose Walter Mondale (a northern

liberal) as his vice president. Ronald Reagan (a western conservative) chose George HW Bush (an eastern moderate) as his vice president. And George HW Bush (an eastern moderate) in turn chose Dan Quayle (a midwestern conservative) as his vice president.

Myth 4: The United States needs a vice president. First, there is evidence that the framers did not create the vice presidency to provide a successor to the presidency. The delegates at the Convention had already designated someone to be a successor when the idea for a vice president emerged. The idea came about when discussing the method for electing the president. Once the discussion shifted to electors casting two votes each, it was thought there needed to be a second office. Once that idea caught on and the vice presidency was created, then the delegates went looking for what that person could do. Second, the national government does need someone that can succeed to the presidency in the event of a vacancy or disability. That would not have to be a vice president. It could easily be someone of, typically, greater stature.

For example, the Secretary of State is usually someone of stature and this person could be the successor. It might be interesting to see how many of these your students can name compared to vice-presidents. Third, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. describes the vice presidency as a maiming experience. He thinks that any person that would serve in such an office for four or possibly eight years is going to have problems later as president.

LECTURE 2: Numerous analyses of the decision making process surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis have been written, and the events themselves make for a compelling case study of presidential decision making and the powers of the office. Set the stage by describing the events that led up to the crisis (the Cold War context, the placement of Soviet

missiles inside Cuba, their discovery by the United States, and so on). Focus your lecture on the decision making dynamics. If you are unfamiliar with the model, Robert Kennedy’s Thirteen Days and Graham Alison’s The Essence of Decision are outstanding references. Your lecture should focus on the role of presidential advisors and the president’s reliance on small group decision making.

LECTURE 3: The informal powers of the president, principally the power to persuade, are as important as the more formal constitutional powers. Presidents use their power of persuasion both on other policymakers and in appealing to the public to support their initiatives.

List the major sources of power for the president, differentiating between formal and informal powers.

Using specific examples, discuss how each might be used by the president to achieve their policy goals.

LECTURE 4: The role of the first lady has evolved from that of a behind-the-scenes advisor to her husband to that of a more public activist, promoting certain policy initiatives.

Develop a lecture considering the various roles played by first ladies, from Eleanor Roosevelt’s traveling across the country on behalf of her polio-stricken husband, Franklin Roosevelt, to Lady Bird Johnson’s environmental initiatives, to Nancy Reagan’s anti-drug initiatives, to Hillary Clinton’s health care reform initiatives, to Barbara Bush’s and Laura Bush’s childhood literacy campaigns, to Michelle Obama’s focus on childhood obesity.

The resources on the White House website (http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/first-ladies) and the First Ladies site at the National Library

(http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/) can aid in lecture preparation.

LECTURE 5: Explain how the president manages the federal bureaucracy. Be sure to describe the 15 departments that comprise the Cabinet and its function.

Assess the impact of various sources of presidential influence on the president’s ability to win congressional support.

LECTURE 1: Presidential approval ratings often rise and fall during a President’s tenure in office. However, with the exception of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, all presidents since World War II have left office with lower approval ratings than they entered with.

Share the interactive graphic on presidential approval ratings at the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-presapp0605-31.html) with the class.

Discuss the sources of presidential approval. Point out that George Bush, for example, enjoyed a 90

percent approval rating after the start of the first Persian Gulf War.

Discuss how his son, George W. Bush, enjoyed a 90 percent approval rating after the September 11 terror attacks, because both enjoyed a “Rally Round the Flag” bump.

Find disaggregated data based on demographic variables and historical data at the Gallup Poll’s Presidential Approval Center website (http://www.gallup.com/poll/124922/Presidential-Approval-Center.aspx).

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Discuss the importance of approval ratings to Presidents in their efforts to achieve their agendas.

Point out that, after the 2004 elections, for example, President George W. Bush famously declared, “Let me put it to you this way: I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.”

Explain how presidents with high approval ratings can often accomplish policy reforms that presidents with lower approval ratings cannot.

Discuss the sources of approval ratings, noting that presidents often benefit (or suffer) from political events outside their control, such as a poor or strong economy or political developments abroad.

LECTURE 2: The President’s ability to influence legislation combines the formal powers of the office (veto, recommending legislation, delivering the State of the Union address) with the informal powers of the individual in that office, such as their persuasive abilities and their command of the legislative process.

Discuss how presidents use formal and informal powers to influence Congress.

Analyze the conditions under which a president may be more or less successful in achieving their policy goals vis-à-vis Congress.

Provide specific examples of both presidential success and failure in this respect.

LECTURE 3: The ability of a president to deliver on their campaign promises often depends on factors outside their direct control. Congress, for example, can hinder efforts by the President. This often leads Americans to complain about “broken government”.

Provide examples of situations when Congress blocked Presidential initiatives. This might include Bill Clinton’s health care reform initiative or various proposals by the Bush administration to lower taxes.

Ask students to consider how such divided government might hurt the president and how it might also help.

LECTURE 4: The use of the presidential veto is perhaps the most dramatic example of the president’s role as chief legislator.

Explain the veto process, being sure to differentiate between the line-item veto, the pocket veto, and the traditional veto.

Discuss some examples of the use of the veto by the president, and efforts by Congress to override a presidential veto. Note, however, that the president often only needs to threaten a veto to affect proposed legislation. Given the relative rarity of Congressional overrides (only 4% of the 2564 presidential vetoes issued to date have been overridden by Congress), many members of Congress will shape legislation to meet presidential preferences.

Analyze the president’s powers in making national security policy and the relationship between the president and Congress in this arena.

LECTURE 1: Discuss the efforts by Congress to limit the powers of the president, particularly in the area of war making.

As early as 1967, Congress was searching for ways to curtail presidential authority to commit armed forces to hostilities. The steps moved from a “sense of the Senate” resolution to funds cut-offs to, ultimately, the War Powers Act. The Act links congressional power under the necessary and proper clause with the commander-in -chief clause so as

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to restrain executive deployment of U.S. Armed Forces. It did so by enumerating the circumstances in which deployment abroad was permitted and by limiting any such deployment to 60 days. The Act’s purpose, said the drafters, was to “fulfill the intent of the Framers and ensure that the collective judgment of both Congress and the president will apply to the introduction of U.S. Armed Forces into hostilities.”

Some have argued that the War Powers Act is an unconstitutional delegation of congressional power, in that it permits 60 or 90 days of unilateral presidential war making before any specific congressional consent is required.

Another question is the constitutionality of §5(b), which essentially allows Congress to terminate the use of any American Armed Forces. Does this conflict with the constitutional language making the president commander-in-chief of the armed forces? In response to §5(b), President Nixon said that this section was “without force,” and amounted to an attempt to amend the Constitution through legislation. The Act took effect in November of 1973, several months after hostilities had subsided and President Nixon had agreed to use any appropriations for financing U.S. combat activities in Southeast Asia. So there was no direct showdown as a result of the enactment of this law.

The legislative veto provisions in the War Powers Resolution were indirectly challenged in INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983). The case was the Supreme Court’s first full encounter with the constitutionality of legislative vetoes, and the Court, in sweeping language, questioned their validity. Nonetheless, Congress has continued to enact legislative veto provisions in a number of statutes. And in 1983, the House Judiciary Committee held hearings on legislative vetoes and issued a formal report concluding that Chadha had not overruled the War Powers Resolution.

More recently, controversial wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the dramatic expansion of the use of drone strikes in Pakistan and elsewhere, have led to calls for new restrictions on the war-making powers of a

president. Expanded versions of the War Powers Act have been suggested, including provisions that all fiscal support for the military be reapproved on a monthly basis after a certain expiration date set in initial war authorization legislation. No changes have passed, but the mood is to restrict the latitude of presidents to use the military to pursue objectives without the ongoing approval of Congress.

LECTURE 2: Explain the separation of the roles of chief of state and chief of government in parliamentary systems with both a president and prime minister.

Draw a comparison between the British parliamentary model, which separates the ceremonial chief of state (the Queen) from the actual chief of government (the Prime Minister) and the U.S. presidential model in which the two offices are fused.

Highlight the other key difference between the US and British models, the separation of powers between legislative and executive functions in the United States and their fusion under the British model.

LECTURE 3: The president’s role as chief executive means that he is the top of the federal bureaucracy, heading departments totaling over 2.5 million employees.

In this role, the president is charged with executing the laws passed by Congress. While the legislation itself instructs much bureaucratic action, the president can use tool such as executive orders and signing statements to shape public policy through the bureaucracy.

In recent years, some presidents have made extensive use of signing statements in particular to thwart legislative initiatives. Indeed the increased use of signing statements led the American Bar Association in 2006 to issue a report concluding

that the use of such statements threatens to “undermine the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers.”

An engaging lecture could be developed examining the use and role of signing statements by recent administrations. The 2012 report by the Congressional Research Service, entitled Presidential Signing Statements: Constitutional and Institutional Implications (available at http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33667.pdf) can help in the preparation of your lecture.

LECTURE 4: Despite the fact that the powers of the presidency have gradually expanded over time, due in part to the vagueness of Article II of the US Constitution, Americans often express frustration that presidents fail to meet their expectations. Explain how popular expectations of presidential leadership often exceed the formal powers of the office. The failure of President Barack Obama to deliver on campaign promises to close the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay provides a compelling case study of precisely this issue.

LECTURE 5: Explain the extensive powers afforded the president in conducting foreign affairs. These include appointing and receiving ambassadors, making treaties, and executive agreements. More recently, presidents have been granted fast-track trade authority to streamline the passage of foreign trade legislation through Congress. A discussion of fast track authority in the context of international economic agreements may generate a lively class discussion.

Identify the factors that affect the president’s ability to obtain public support.

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LECTURE 1: The historian and presidential scholar Robert Dallek suggests that five qualities have been constants in the men who have most effectively fulfilled the presidential oath of office.

Vision: All great presidents have had a clear understanding of where they wanted to lead the nation in its quest for a better future.

Pragmatism: All great presidents have been realists, leaders who understood that politics is the art of the possible and that flexible responses to changing conditions at home and abroad are essential.

Consensus building: All great presidents understood that their success depended on the consent of the governed. Moving government in a new direction, often down a difficult path, requires building a national consensus first.

Charisma: All great presidents have been able to capture and retain the affection and admiration of average citizens.

Trustworthiness: All truly successful presidents have had credibility and have earned the faith of their fellow citizens.

Discuss the importance of these qualities for presidential leadership. Be sure to use specific examples of each, such as Clinton’s charisma, FDR’s vision, LBJ’s pragmatism, and so on. You could also ask students to identify which of these characteristics are most important, and which presidents they would rate highest in each category.

LECTURE 2: Who are the “great” presidents? There have been three Schlesinger polls in which

historians and political scientists rate presidents. A discussion of the source and criteria for these

rankings could make an engaging lecture, and debating the rankings could make for a lively discussion

concerning how one judges a president. Here are the results of the three Schlesinger polls. The third one

appeared in the New York Times Magazine, December 15, 1996.

1948 1962 1996Great Lincoln Lincoln Lincoln

WashingtonFD RooseveltWilsonJeffersonJackson

WashingtonFD RooseveltWilsonJefferson

FD RooseveltWashington

Near Great

T. RooseveltClevelandJ. AdamsPolk

JacksonT. RooseveltPolkTruman

JeffersonJacksonWilsonT. Roosevelt

Average JQ AdamsMonroeHayesMadisonVan BurenTaftArthurMcKinleyA. JohnsonHooverHarrison

MadisonJQ AdamsHayesMcKinleyTaftVan BurenMonroeHooverHarrisonArthurEisenhower

EisenhowerLB JohnsonKennedyJ. AdamsClevelandMcKinleyMadisonMonroeReaganJQ AdamsCarterClintonVan BurenGHW BushTaftHayesArthurHarrisonFord

Sub-Average

TylerCoolidge

TaylorTyler

CoolidgeTyler

FillmoreTaylorBuchananPierce

FilmoreCooldigePierceBuchanan

TaylorFillmore

Failure GrantHarding

GrantHarding

HooverNixonPierceA. JohnsonGrantBuchanan

[Note: In the 1996 poll, 32 jurors cast votes. The rankings listed here were determined by calculating the total score for each president using the following: Great = 4; Near Great = 3; Average = 2; Below Average = 1, and Failure = 0.] Outline the political and policy resources that contribute to

successful presidential leadership as part of your lecture. Ask your students to predict how they think Presidents George

W. Bush and Barack Obama will be rated by historians 20 or 30 years from now.

LECTURE 3: Discuss why presidential support tends to decline after the first year in office. Contemporary and historic polling data illustrating this decline can be found on the Wall Street Journal website, at http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-presapp0605-31.html.

Characterize the president’s relations with the press and news coverage of the presidency.

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LECTURE 1: Examine the president’s relationship with the news media. The press is the principal intermediary between the president

and the public, and relations with the press are an important aspect of the president’s efforts to lead public opinion. It is the mass media that provides people with most of what they know about chief executives and their policies.

The media also interpret and analyze presidential activities, even the president’s direct appeals to the public.

Presidents and the press tend to conflict. Presidents want to control the amount and timing of information about their administration. The press wants all the information that exists, without delay.

Because of the importance of the press to the president, the White House goes to great lengths to encourage the media to project a positive image of the president’s activities and policies. The White House monitors the media closely. The president’s press secretary conducts daily press briefings, giving prepared announcements and answering questions. Press secretaries and their staffs arrange private interviews with White House officials, photo opportunities, and travel arrangements for reporters when the president leaves Washington.

The best-known direct interaction between the president and the press is the presidential press conference. Despite their high visibility, press conferences are not very useful means of eliciting information. Although press conferences may appear spontaneous, presidents and their staffs can anticipate most of the questions that will be asked and prepare answers to them ahead of time.

Most of the news coverage of the White House comes under the heading of “body watch,” which means that reporters focus on

the most visible layer of presidents’ personal and official activities rather than on the substance of policies or the fundamental processes operating in the executive branch.

Bias is the most politically charged issue in relations between the president and the press. A large number of studies have concluded that the news media is not biased systematically toward a particular person, party, or ideology.

Some observers believe that news coverage of the presidency often tends to emphasize the negative; George H.W. Bush’s handling of the economy during the 1992 election campaign is an example.

Assess the role of presidential power in the American democracy and the president’s impact on the scope of government.

LECTURE 1: Historically, many important and dramatic policies enacted by the US government have been undertaken unilaterally by the President using executive orders. Examine some of the most important executive orders, including the following:

EO 9066, issued February 19, 1942, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which resulted in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

EO 9981, issued July 26, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman, which ended segregation in the armed forces.

EO 10730, issued September 23, 1957, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, which ordered the use of the National Guard to enforce school desegregation.

EO 10925, issued March 6, 1961, by President John F. Kennedy, which mandated the use of affirmative action and

12.8

nondiscriminatory hiring practices by governmental agencies and contractors.

EO 11615, issued August 15, 1971, by President Richard M. Nixon, which imposed wage and price controls in an attempt to prevent stagflation in the United States.

EO 13379, issued December 12, 2002, by President George W. Bush, which established the Office of Faith Based Initiatives and increased participation of religious organizations in federal social programs.

Be sure to explain the unique nature of executive orders, the reasons for their use, and the criticism their use often engenders.

LECTURE 2: James MacGregor Burns, in his book, Presidential Power, develops three models of presidential power: the Hamiltonian, the Madisonian, and the Jeffersonian. Burns believes that virtually all presidents fall within these models or a combination of them. The patterns are useful for talking about particular presidents and trends in the presidency.

The Hamiltonian model revolves around Alexander Hamilton’s concept of the active presidency. Hamilton anticipated what now might be termed “Presidential Government.” The president as chief of state and chief of government has to take the initiative in policy matters. As Hamilton argued in The Federalist Papers, energy in the executive is the primary element of good government. He believed that the president could and should exercise implied powers in order to promote his version of the national interest.

The Madisonian model is based upon the idea of checks and balances. It stems from Madison’s ideas on law and constitutional theory. John Adams implemented the Madisonian idea, and it has become the traditional model. The Madisonian approach stresses prudent government, balanced powers, countervailing interests, and concurrent majorities. It is not as creative or as active as either the Hamiltonian or Jeffersonian models.

The Jeffersonian model is based upon a strong national party system in which political parties are able to put forth programmatic policies and implement them. It implies, says Professor Burns, “majority rule, under strong presidential leadership, with a highly competitive two-party system and with a more popular, democratic and egalitarian impetus than the Madisonian model.”

After exploring the various presidential styles, turn to Congress and review congressional government, described by Woodrow Wilson and practiced in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Instruction can include a model in which Congress is an ally of the president, responding to presidential initiatives and concentrating on oversight and representation.

Attempt to forecast the role of Congress that seems to be emerging—a combination of various styles and models.

Class ActivitiesCLASS ACTIVITY 1: The President wears many hats, serving as Head of State, Head of Government, Commander in Chief, Chief Diplomat, and numerous other roles. Review the following day from President Harry S. Truman’s schedule book from June 29, 1950. You may wish to provide the following background for students. On June 24, 1950, the Korean War began, as communist forces from the North crossed the 49th parallel and invaded the pro-Western South Korea. On June 27, President Truman responded by expanding US military assistance to South Korea and appealing to the United Nations Security Council for assistance. On June 30, President Truman would order the deployment of US ground forces in South Korea and appoint General Douglas MacArthur to command both US and UN operations in Korea. On June 29, President Truman was busy making preparations for that auspicious announcement. An excerpt from his schedule from that day

(available at his Presidential Library online at http://www.trumanlibrary.org/calendar/main.php) includes the following appointments:

11:00 a.m. Honorable Frederick Lawton, Director, Bureau of the Budget.

12:00 a.m. Honorable Edward R. Dudley, American Ambassador to Liberia.

12:15 p.m. The President received a group of Overseas Employees of the State Department and engaged in work on the International information and Educational Exchange Program.

12:30pm The Secretary of State, Honorable Dean Acheson , a standing Thursday appointment.

4:00pm Press and Radio Conference. 5:00pm Conference with Secretary of State, Secretary of

Defense, and Secretaries of the Air Force, Army, and Navy, and other advisors.

7:00pm President departs for Statler Hotel where he attended dinner of Finance Committee of the Democratic National Committee.

On one day, Thursday, June 29, 1950, President Truman performed seven distinct roles of the President: commander-in-chief, chief executive, chief diplomat, ceremonial head of state, head of government, manager of the economy, and party leader.

Ask students to describe each of various roles played by the President and identify which role President Truman was playing in each appointment.

Then discuss the complexity of the job of President. How do the various roles played by the President contradict and overlap? Which presidential role do you believe is the most important? Why?

You could also perform a similar assignment using the daily schedules of President Jimmy Carter (http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/documents/diary/).

This activity illustrates the multiple roles played by the U.S. President.

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Ask students to review the current budget proposals being debated between Congress (available at www.house.gov) and the president (available at www.whitehouse.gov). You may need to provide a bit of background on the budget process and main categories of federal spending at this point.

After students have reviewed the budget proposals, ask them to identify the major points of contention and agreement between the two branches on the proposed budget figures.

Ask students the following question: What ideological differences or similarities are at work in the current budget deliberations?

This activity exposes students to the politics surrounding the U.S. budget and the budget process and highlights the separation of powers between the U.S. Congress and the President.

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: History tends to center on great or near-great presidents. Perhaps as much can be learned by examining the administration of a “failed” president, one that historians judge not to have measured up to the office. Among frequently mentioned presidents in this category are James Buchanan, Ulysses Grant, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Jimmy Carter.

Ask students to examine the presidential career of one of these presidents and report back to the class. What personal flaws seemed to handicap his administration? Did he have bad advisors? What major mistakes did he make? Why he was

originally selected? Could he have succeeded under different circumstances?

Hold a class discussion about what common features emerge across the various “failed” presidencies.

This activity highlights the challenges of measuring presidential effectiveness and also helps develop critical thinking skills by encouraging students to think about the importance of variation in the dependent variable.

CLASS ACTIVITY 4: The Vice- President’s role is often to help advance the president’s legislative agenda. Ask students to discuss the different ways vice presidents can be used to enhance the president’s opportunities to advance his agenda in Congress. Be sure to consider the ways in which recent Vice-Presidents, in particular Al Gore, Dick Cheney, and Joe Biden, have shaped the office.

Ask students to consider the concept of a co-presidency or the abolition of the vice presidency as an alternative to the current system. What would the consequences be?

This activity could also be organized as a debate.This assignment focus on the evolving role of the vice president under

recent administrations.

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: The constitutionality of the War Powers Act has long been debated, with Congress asserting its power to limit the war-making powers of the president and the president asserting his preeminence as commander-in-chief. Nevertheless, the constitutionality of the war powers act has never been tested before the US Supreme Court.

Hold a mock Supreme Court hearing on the constitutionality of the War Powers Act.

Assign students the roles of Supreme Court Justices, lawyers briefing the court, and expert witnesses submitting Amicus curiae briefs to the court.

Use Congressional Research Service’s 2004 report on the War Powers Act (http://www.fas.org/man/crs/RL32267.html) as a starting point for student preparation.

This activity examines the War Powers Act as a vehicle to understand the complex relations between the three branches of government.

CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Have students simulate a portion of the Constitutional Convention to rewrite Article II. They should discuss what specific powers of the president should be enumerated in the Constitution. Students could also hold a debate on ratifying the Constitution, focusing on the powers of the presidency. Useful preparatory reading for this assignment would include Federalist Paper No. 69 and Anti-Federalist Paper No. 70, both of which are available online.

This activity highlights the source and scope of presidential authority and lets students explore the competing understandings of presidential power debated by the founders.

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Assign the class roles as the National Security Council. This includes the Vice-President, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Defense, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Director of National Intelligence, the White House Chief of Staff to the President, the Counsel to the President, and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy. Other attendees might include the Attorney General, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the heads of other executive departments and agencies, as well as other senior officials, as appropriate.

Ask students to prepare a National Security briefing on a contemporary global conflict or issue, such as the Iranian nuclear program.

Require students to brief you, the President, on the policy options available to the United States, and to make a recommendation on a specific course of action.

This active learning assignment develops students’ understanding of the national security decision making process and the role of the president and other key administration officials in foreign and national security policy.

CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Ask students to get into groups of three. One student in each group should be assigned the role of the President, White House Chief of Staff, and Chief Campaign Advisor.

Ask them to develop the rest of the White House Staff. Students may need to research the current White House staff (available at www.whitehouse.gov) and their roles.

Ask students to identify the heads of at least fifteen cabinet offices and the key leadership positions that comprise the Executive Office of the President.

Ask each group to identify the criteria they would use to fill each position. What positions might be added or eliminated?

Be sure that each group identifies both the characteristics of the individuals they would choose to fill the position as well as identifying the positions and titles necessary, in their opinion, for running the executive office.

Alternatively, focus on the following discussion questions: After President Obama was reelected he found himself with

at least four major cabinet vacancies after the election. What sort of procedures did he follow in selecting these important nominees?

Do we know of people who were not put forward because of background checks? What kind of credentials did they seem to need? Were they political people or professional people?

Did the Republican threat of a filibuster against one perspective nominee deter Obama from making that nomination?

This assignment examines the considerations that influence presidential appointments.

CLASS ACTIVITY 9: Discuss the line of presidential succession as outlined in the US Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. The process of succession moves from President to Vice President to Speaker of the House, to President pro tempore of the Senate, to the Secretaries of the Cabinet in the order of the creation of that department (e.g., State, Treasury, Defense, Attorney General, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, etc.). While the line of succession was created to help establish stability in the event of a political crisis, it also raises some interesting questions.

Ask your students to discuss the challenges presented by the line of succession. In particular, how would they feel if an unelected cabinet secretary further down on the line of succession, say, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, were to assume the office of president?

Similarly, because the Speaker of the House and President pro tempore of the Senate are second and third in line of succession respectively, it is entirely possible that one party’s control of the presidency could be replaced by another’s in the event of a transition. A Democratic administration could be replaced by a Republican administration, or vice versa. Ask your students what political challenges such transitions might create.

This discussion item focuses on the question of presidential succession.

CLASS ACTIVITY 10: What influences a president’s public approval? Use the infographic from the textbook as the basis for a discussion around the following questions:

The infographic provides public approval ratings over time for Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. What factors help explain the shifts in public approval for the two presidents?

How closely does presidential approval correlate with economic growth (measured in the infographic as percent growth in gross domestic product)? Is presidential approval primarily the result of economic performance? Or are other factors more important?

Imagine that you were asked to advise the president about their performance. Based on what you learned from the infographic, what would your advice be?

This discussion item helps to develop data literacy and encourages students to think about the factors that affect presidential approval.

Research ActivitiesRESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Ask students to survey 10 of their friends about the characteristics of a “great leader.” Also, ask them to survey 10 of their friends about who they believe were the greatest US Presidents.

Ask students to present their findings in a short paper and compare their findings to the results to one of the historical rankings, such as that provided by the Institute for the Study of the Americas (americas.sas.ac.uk/research/survey/index.html). A summary of a number of studies can also be found on the Wikipedia page “Historical Rankings of Presidents of the United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States).

Ask students to consider what makes a president “great” using one or more examples from their own survey data.

This activity gives students an opportunity to reflect on the characteristics that define effective presidencies.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: For a reading and writing connection, have students keep a clipping file of newspaper coverage of the president for at least one week.

Have them categorize the articles into stories about the president’s (domestic and international) roles and personality. Then have them assess the tone and nature of the coverage.

Once they have analyzed their clippings, have them write an analytical essay concerning the presidential news coverage and bias in the media.

This activity explores the relationship between the presidency and the media and examines the various activities and functions of the president.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Have students do a media analysis of presidential coverage. For one month, they should watch a variety of network and cable news programs, read a variety of newspapers and weekly news magazines, listen to talk radio (be sure they get right and left-wing stations), and check out Internet news sites. After they have collected their data (their notes from listening), ask them to write a short paper considering the following questions:

How is the president covered? What gets the attention of the media and why?

Is the president “staging” or “spinning” any of the coverage or are the media in control? What implications do your findings have on how we perceive the President?

This activity explores the relationship between the president and the media.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: In times of crisis, the American public frequently “rallies around the flag,” providing a sharp spike in presidential approval ratings. Yet the willingness of the American public to continue to support the president often rests on the ability of the president to mobilize them.

Ask students to review the speeches given by President Franklin Roosevelt following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 (available at http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=73) and the speech delivered by President George W. Bush following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks (available via CNN at http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/bush.speech.text/index.html).

Ask them to write a short paper compare and contrast the two speeches. Which do you believe was more effective? Why?

This activity highlights the impact of the “rally round the flag” phenomenon and gives students the opportunity think about the importance of effective of presidential communication.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Ask students to view a recent State of the Union address, available through the White House website (www.whitehouse.gov). Then ask them to evaluate how effectively the speech set the congressional agenda. What factors might enhance or undermine the president’s ability to lead Congress?

This activity explores the importance of agenda setting for the President.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Ask students to revisit the agreement over presidential power expressed in the Federalist Papers, particularly Federalist Paper No. 69, written by Alexander Hamilton, which can be found on the Constitution.org website

(http://constitution.org/fed/federa69.htm). In it, Hamilton argues that the power of the presidency would be strictly limited under the new Constitution. You can also have them read Anti-Federalist Paper No. 70, (http://www.rightsofthepeople.com/freedom_documents/anti_federalist_papers/anti_federalist_papers_70.html) in which critics of the new Constitution argues that the powers of the presidency are too broad and create the danger of centralizing power in an “elected king.”

Ask students to write a short paper in which they compare and contrast the two perspectives, and then analyze how the evolution of the modern presidency either confirmed or undermined the arguments of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists.

This activity exposes students to the founders debates over the presidency and gives students a chance to think about how those perspectives and debates helped to shape contemporary U.S. politics.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Numerous films have been produced centering on the power, prestige, and drama of the presidency. Ask your students to review one and assess how accurately it captures the nature of presidential politics or campaigns. Possible films might include: All the President’s Men (1976), The American President (1995), Bob Roberts (1992), Dave (1993), Frost/Nixon (2008), The Ides of March (2011), Nixon (1995), Primary Colors (1998), Thirteen Days (2000), W. (2008), or Wag the Dog (1997).

An engaging class discussion could also derive from their viewings, centering on the challenges presented by Hollywood representations of the presidency.

This activity gives students an opportunity to reflect on how Hollywood portrays the president and the how closely these representations correspond to the real powers of the office.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: The Miller Center at the University of Virginia maintains an extensive collection of presidential speeches from the early days of the country through today.

Ask students to visit their website (http://millercenter.org/president/speeches) and select a speech to analyze.

Ask them to create a word cloud using the free Wordle site (http://www.wordle.net/). The program will create a word cloud that gives more frequently used words in the speech greater prominence, like the one pictured below, based on President Barack Obama’s 2010 State of the Union address.

Ask them to write a short reaction based on their findings, focusing in particular on analyzing the major themes that emerge and assessing the degree to which those themes help set the Congressional agenda.

This activity gives students a create way to analyze major themes emerging from presidential speeches and exposes students to the importance of the President’s State of the Union speech in helping to set the agenda of the Congress.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 9: Ask your students to watch the “Thinking Like a Political Scientist” video on MyPoliSciLab. In the video, University of Oklahoma political scientist Glen Krutz discloses why persuasion is vital to a president’s success and how technology has created obstacles and opportunities for presidents. In particular, he asks, “Why do presidents try to persuade you to support their policies?”

After screening the video, have your students collect recent polling data on presidential approval ratings from several organizations and metapolls. Examples might include Gallup (http://www.gallup.com), Public Policy Polling (http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/), RAND (http://www.rand.org/), and Rasmussen (http:// www.rasmussenreports.com). Examples of metapolls could include Nate Silver’s Five Thirty Eight blog (http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/) or Real Clear Politics (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/).

In a short reflection paper, ask students to discuss any differences they note. You might consider asking them to reflect on possible reasons for the difference in data, particularly if there is a wide range of results.

Ask students to reflect on why presidential approval ratings are important. How does presidential approval influence the president’s relationship with the other branches of government? How might it affect the ability of the president to achieve their policy goals?

As an alternative, the video can be used as a lecture starter or as a prompt for a short writing assignment using the questions outlined above.

This activity explores presidential approval ratings and the dynamics of polling.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 10: Presidents have many responsibilities, some outlined in the Constitution and others acquired over time. Political scientists have grouped them into categories commonly known as the roles of the presidency. In the “You Are a First-Term President” simulation in MyPoliSciLab, you will learn these roles as you address the challenges of a first-term president.

Have your students complete the simulation and explore the many roles played by the President of the United States.

Ask students to complete the associated quiz in MyPoliSciLab. As an alternative short writing assessment assignment, ask your

students to complete a short response paper in which they discuss the themes raised in the simulation as they relate to the material covered in lecture and the chapter.

This active learning assignment encourages students to reflect on how the pressure to get reelected affects presidential decision making.

Participation ActivitiesPARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Visit the White House website (www.whitehouse.gov) and click the “contact us” link. Note that you can contact the president, vice president, first lady, and the vice president’s wife through that site. Write a note to the President about a specific policy or political issue that interests you. Be sure to send a copy to your professor as well.

This activity allows students to express their own views on issues they believe are important and exposes students to one of the avenues of political engagement available to them.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Look at the White House petitions site started by President Barack Obama’s administration. The site is available at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/.

Review the issues that petitioners are raising. While at the site, find at least one petition you would consider signing and explain why you would consider singing it.

Then write a short paper in which you reflect on the extent to which the topics of the petitions, including the one that interests you, are within the President’s powers or would require legislative action.

This activity explores the limits on Presidential power and the ways in which the presidency attempts to mobilize popular support to achieve its political objectives.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Interview senior citizens about their recollections of past presidents as part of an oral history project. Collect additional recordings of presidential speeches, many of which are available online, including State of the Union addresses and radio addresses. Write a paper discussing how perceptions of the presidency and its powers have changed over time, referencing interviews, presidential speeches, and other appropriate materials.

This activity gets students engaging with their community and reflecting on the evolving nature of the presidency.

Suggested ReadingsREADING 1: Thomas Cronen and Eugene Genovese. (1989). The Paradoxes of the American Presidency. New York: Oxford University Press. An update of Cronn’s classic 1980 text, The State of the Presidency, this book explores the complex institutional structures of the American Presidency through a

series of paradoxes that define the office. These paradoxes include the public’s demand for a strong leader accompanied by a suspicion of power and for bold vision and effective governmental programs at low social and economic cost. The most recent (3rd) edition, printed in 2009, updates the classic text to include the George W. Bush and Barak Obama presidencies.

READING 2: Richard Neustadt. (1991). Presidential Power: The Politics of Leadership. New York: Free Press. This updated version of Neustadt’s classic 1960 text develops the argument that presidential power is derived not from the Constitution, which provides for a relatively limited role for the President and a much more expansive role for the Congress. Neustadt contends that presidential power is primarily the result of the president’s power of persuasion.

READING 3: Stephen Skowronek. (2008). The Politics Presidents Make: From John Adams to George Bush. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Another classic work on the power of the presidency, Skowronek argues that the relative influence of any given president depends largely on the political context of the time.

READING 4: George Edwards. (2009). The Strategic President: Persuasion and Opportunity in Presidential Leadership. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Edwards argues that the most successful presidents are effective not at transforming their political environment, but rather at taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves to effect political change. For Edwards, the oft-cited “bully pulpit” of the presidency may not be as strong or effective as observers contend.

READING 5: George Edwards and Desmond King. (2007). The Polarized Presidency of George W. Bush. New York: Oxford University Press. This text examines the domestic and foreign policies of the George W. Bush

presidency in the context of an increasingly polarized electorate. The trend of increasing executive powers, which certainly predated the Bush administration, continues into the present administration. This text offers valuable insights into this historical process and sets the stage for understanding contemporary trends.

READING 6: Nancy Gibbs and Micahel Duffy. (2012). The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity. New York: Simon and Schuster. In this accessible book, Gibbs and Duffy explore the complex relationship between current and former presidents, and the fellowship of former presidents (and political rivals) after they leave office. The book focuses on post-World War II presidents, from Truman and Hoover through the close personal friendship between Bill Clinton and George HW Bush, to the most recent former president, George W. Bush.

READING 7: Nearly every president has produced at least one autobiography, and some can make compelling reads. Among the more recent are:

Barack Obama. (2007). Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. New York: Crown.

George W. Bush. (2011). Decision Points. New York: Random House.

Bill Clinton. (2005). My Life. New York: Vintage. George H.W. Bush. (1999). All the Best: My Life in Letters and

Other Writings. New York: Touchstone Books. Ronald Reagan. (1990). An American Life: The Autobiography.

New York: Pocket Books.

READING 8: Gregg Stebben and Austin Hill. (2006). White House Confidential: The Little Book of Weird Presidential History, Revised and Expanded Edition. Nashville: Cumberland House.

This humorous little book provides a light diversion into the less covered side of the presidency, emphasizing the seedy history, strange family relationships, sandals, and questionable financial dealings that never made the mainstream press.

READING 9: Bob Woodward has made a name for himself over a thirty year career covering the presidency, including his Pulitzer Prize winning coverage of the Watergate scandal. Among his most well-known works are: All the President’s Men (with Carl Bernstein, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994), which recounts the Watergate scandal; The Final Days (with Carl Bernstein, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1976), which tells the final days of the Nixon administration; Bush At War (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2002), which examines the lead up to the War in Iraq; and Obama’s Wars (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011), which explores Obama’s early strategy in dealing with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

READING 10: Nick Ragone. (2011). Presidential Leadership: 15 Decisions that Changed the Nation. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. This book explores some of the most significant decisions made by US Presidents—from Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, to Jefferson’s decision to purchase the Louisiana Territory, to Nixon’s decision to visit China. Ragone argues that what defined many of these decisions was the willingness of the President to reject the counsel of his advisors and take political risks.

READING 11: Fred Greenstein. (2009). The Presidential Difference: Leadership Style from FDR to Barack Obama, 3rd edition. Princeton: Princeton University Press. In the new edition to the classic text, Greenstein explores the qualities that define effective presidential leadership. He evaluates presidents in terms of political skill, vision, cognitive style, organization, communication ability, and emotional intelligence, and argues

that the most effective presidents are able to speak to the needs and desires of the people.

READING 12: Bruce Buchanan. (1988). “The Six-Year One-Term Presidency: A New Look at an Old Proposal.” Presidential Studies Quarterly. 18(1): 129-142. Buchanan evaluates the proposal to establish a single, six-year presidency similar to the model employed in Mexico. He concludes that while the proposal continues to attract interest, several important challenges remain, most importantly, a lack of faith in the political judgment of the mass electorate by the political elites.

READING 13: Richard Ellis and Aaron Wildavsky. (1991). “’Greatness’ Revisited: Evaluating the Performance of Early American Presidents in Term of Cultural Dilemmas. 21(1): 15-34. Ellis and Wildavsky offer a fresh take on the question of presidential greatness by establishing a clear set of criteria on which to base assessment. Based on this model, they reevaluate US presidents from the founding to the Civil War.

READING 14: Richard Pious. (2002). “Why Do Presidents Fail?” Presidential Studies Quarterly. 32(4): 724-742. Pious turns the question raised by Ellis and Wildavsky on its head, exploring not what defines presidential greatness, but what leads to presidential failure, and the paradox that as the modern presidency has increased in power and experience, it has seen more rather than fewer dramatic failures.

READING 15: Recent issues of the journal Presidential Studies Quarterly, published by the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, provide engaging material and outstanding recent scholarship. Recent tables of contents can be accessed through the journal’s website (http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0360-4918).

READING 16: The Miller Center (http://millercenter.org/president/) at the University of Virginia is a nonpartisan institute that seeks to expand understanding of the presidency. Its website provides numerous resources, including an extensive database of presidential speeches, historical analyses of presidential campaigns, and biographies of US Presidents and their cabinets.

READING 17: The Library of Congress website (http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/index.html) maintains links to Presidential Libraries from Herbert Hoover to George W. Bush. Many of the individual libraries have extensive collections of executive documents available electronically. Additionally, the Library of Congress website has its own outstanding collection.

READING 18: The White House website (www.whitehouse.gov) provides the public face of the Presidency and includes both contemporary and historical documents, such as presidential briefings, biographies, and agendas. It also has e-tours of the White House itself.

READING 19: While numerous films have been made about the Presidency, a few outstanding films stand out. All the President’s Men (1976) is a political thriller based on Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s investigation of the Watergate scandal that eventually forced President Richard Nixon to resign from office. Frost/Nixon (2008) is a fascinating retelling of President Nixon’s 1977 interview with David Frost, his first following his resignation. Thirteen Days (2000) deals with the decision making process of ExComm during the Cuban Missile Crisis. More recently, The Ides of March (2011) stars George Clooney as a charismatic governor with his eyes on the White House, a plot line not dissimilar to Primary Colors (1998). In the realm of non-fiction, the PBS Series The American President (2000) provides

engaging biographies of US Presidents from George Washington to George Bush.

READING 20: The TV series The West Wing (NBC) ran for seven seasons and produced many episodes considering themes raised in this chapter. Among the most engaging were Shutdown (Season 5, Episode 8), which dealt with budget politics and the challenges of divided government, Enemies (Season 1, Episode 8), which explores the relationship between president and vice president, and 20 Hours in L.A. (Season 1, Episode 16), which examines the nature of presidential campaigns.