History Homework 2 seperate parts

Lesson 4: The Presidency

“Being a President is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or be swallowed."

-President Harry Truman

Expected Outcomes To appreciate the process of becoming president; to understand the powers and constraints of the office; and to comprehend the logic and criticisms behind executive privilege and unitary executive theory.

Overview

Ironically, the United States was founded upon the rejection of one-person rule (the King of England), and yet Americans often expect so much of presidents, holding them accountable for the nation’s economic performance - when a president’s ability to influence the economy is extremely limited.

The presidency of the United States combines various domestic and international responsibilities, and in the age of nuclear weapons, the Oval Office of the White House office has been described as the most powerful office in the world, both in reality and symbolically. The president acts as the leader of the party, a chief legislator, chief diplomat, a Commander-in-Chief, and a crisis manager. In modern times, Franklin Delano Roosevelt best reflects the heightened profile of the presidency, as he led the nation through both the Great Depression and World War II.

It is possible to view the entire history of the United States through the window of the White House. The kinds of presidents the U.S. has experienced, with their personal and partisan orientations, have often reflected upon the country as a whole. Some presidential events – such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy – became a part of every Americans’ individual life story, and everyone who remembers that day also remembers exactly where he or she was when they learned of the assassination in Dallas.

It is useful to divide up American history into dominant themes, and to group presidents together who faced similar circumstances. It is important to know the succession of presidents from 1961 onwards, as well as their party affiliations (D) for Democratic and (R) for Republican. Early Republic and the Formation of National Government 1789-1829

George Washington

John Adams

Thomas Jefferson

James Madison

James Monroe

John Quincy Adams

Jacksonian Democracy and Westward Expansion 1829-1853

Andrew Jackson

Martin Van Buren

William Harrison

John Tyler

James Polk

Zachary Taylor

Millard Fillmore

Sectional Conflict and Reconstruction 1853-1881

Franklin Pierce

James Buchanan

Abraham Lincoln

Andrew Johnson

Ulysses Grant

Rutherford Hayes

The Gilded Age, Industrialization and Urbanization 1881-1897

James Garfield

Chester Arthur

Grover Cleveland

Benjamin Harrison

Grover Cleveland

The Progressive Era and Becoming a World Power 1897-1921

William McKinley

Theodore Roosevelt

William Taft

Woodrow Wilson

The Great Depression & World Conflict 1921-1961

Warren Harding

Calvin Coolidge

Herbert Hoover

Franklin Roosevelt

Harry Truman

Dwight Eisenhower

Social Change & Soviet Relations 1961-1989

John Kennedy (D)

Lyndon Johnson (D)

Richard Nixon (R)

Gerald Ford (R)

Jimmy Carter (D)

Ronald Reagan (R)

Economic Globalization and Domestic Political Polarization 1989-

George H. W. Bush (R)

Bill Clinton (D)

George W. Bush (R)

Barack Obama (D)

While it is possible to categorize presidents in this way, it is also conceivable that there are political cycles of alternation between Democratic and Republican presidents. Political scientist Arthur Schlesinger, for example, proposed that there are national cycles between conservatism (a preference for order and tradition) and liberalism (a preference for change and personal liberty). Schlesinger further claimed that conservatism was about “private interest” and economic growth while liberalism was about “public purpose” and social responsibility. Presidents simply fit into these larger national movements. Most (but not all) Republicans advance private interest; and most (but not all) Democrats advance public purpose. This can be called the “Schlesinger cycle.”

Another political scientist, James Barber, considered the influence of a president’s personality on his performance in the White House. Barber found repeating patterns of common elements relating to character, worldview, style, approach to dealing with power, and expectations.

Based on these findings, Barber concluded that presidents were either “active” or “passive.” For example, John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson were highly active; Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan were highly passive. Interestingly enough, passive presidents often did better in approval ratings.

Barber also analyzed the emotional attitudes of presidents toward their work. Some presidents were “positive” and others were “negative.” Franklin Roosevelt and Reagan, for example, were presidents who enjoyed their work. FDR and Reagan left office with rather high approval ratings and were treated favorably by historians. However, Thomas Jefferson and Richard Nixon had negative feelings towards the job, with more mixed results.

Barber developed four repeating categories into which he was able to place all presidents: those like FDR who actively pursued their work and had positive feelings about their efforts (active/positives); those like Nixon who actively pursued the job but had negative feelings about it (active/negatives); those like Reagan who were passive about the job but enjoyed it (passive/positives); and, finally, those who followed the pattern of Thomas Jefferson -- who both was passive and did not enjoy the work (passive/negatives).

Interestingly, the category of presidents who proved troublesome and unpopular under Barber's analysis is that of those who turned out to be active/negative.

Barber placed Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon in this class of active/negatives. Scholars taking up where Barber left off (Barber recently died) have classified Pres. George W. Bush as active/negative, perhaps one reason for the steady decline he experienced in his approval ratings over his years in office. Still other political scientists consider economic factors – such as the Stock Market – as critical in determining the overall performance and approval rating of a president. If true, a president’s personal characteristics have little to do with overall approval ratings. Clearly, the presidency is one of the most studied institutions in American government, and generations of political scientists have studied the presidency in order to better understand where then country has been where it is, and where it is going.

It is vital to an understanding of the presidency to consider written documents and first-hand texts from the presidents themselves. Below, two documents have been selected that attest to the power of the office: the first, by Andrew Jackson, led to the tragedy of the forced removal of Native Americans from their homelands; the second, by Abraham Lincoln, led to the formal freedom of African-Americans, who had been held in slavery.

Audio/Video Archives

Modern presidents provide political scientists and historians with a more complete picture of their presidencies. Their speeches were often recorded on tape, and their actions were also captured on film and video, sometimes to their dismay.

The links below are windows into the modern presidency during important turning points, during key moment in time. It is important to visit each link. However, due to the length of some lengths, do not feel that you must listen or watch the entire piece. Some presidents might gain your attention more than others. You might consider leaving these windows open while continuing to read the text in this unit. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Fireside Chat, 1940 (Video) Dwight Eisenhower: Warning of “Military-Industrial Complex,” 1961 (Audio) John F. Kennedy: Inaugural Address, 1961 (Video) Lyndon Baines Johnson: Report on Vietnam and Decision Not to Seek Re-Election, 1968 (Audio) – Note: Scroll to the very end to hear his decision. Richard Nixon: Remarks on Departure from White House, 1974 Jimmy Carter, Inaugural Address, 1979 (Video) Ronald Reagan: First Inaugural Address, 1981 (Video) Remarks on Soviet “Evil Empire” (Audio/Real Player) George H. W. Bush: Announcing Ground War Against Iraq, 1991 (Video) Bill Clinton: Remarks on Impeachment, 1998 (Audio) George W. Bush: “With us or against us” speech, 2001

George W. Bush: “With us or against us” speech, 2001 Part 2

It is time to examine more closely the office of the Presidency as outlined by the U.S. Constitution.

Scope and Limits of Executive Power

The Presidency of the United States, which constitutes the Executive Branch of government, is described in Article II of the Constitution, and Section 1 is largely concerned with the requirements of the office.

Section 2 outlines his basic powers and responsibilities, which include being “Commander in Chief.”

Some constitutional scholars claim that congressional “authorization” of the use of force with a “joint resolution” does not meet the standard of a full vote to declare war as outlined by the Constitution. (The U.S. has not “declared war” since Pearl Harbor during World War II nor is likely to any time in the future.)

Maintaining civilian control over the military is an important feature of a democratic republic, and it further maintains a clear line of authority and hierarchy during a conflict.

Section 3 includes that the president must give updates on the “State of the Union” to Congress - without specifying how often. Tradition now compels the President to give an annual speech in January or February.

Section 4 explains the conditions for removing a president from office – for “impeachment.” Complete removal from the office requires an impeachment by the House of Representatives and a conviction in a trial by the Senate.

After FDR’s long tenure as president, the Republican Congress sponsored a constitutional amendment (ratified by more than 3/4ths of the states) to prevent any other president from installing himself in the White House for decades, perpetually getting re-elected to 4-year terms.

The above information describes the clear and incontrovertible duties and responsibilities of the presidency. Over time, many of these duties and responsibilities have been compartmentalized. At first, there was only the Department of State and Treasury, but American government became more complex over time, and today the president’s cabinet includes the following:

The White House Administration, The Cabinet

The structure and process behind much of the Executive Branch is fairly established. There are other areas of presidential power, however, which have traditionally been subject to debate.

Controversies Regarding the Executive Branch

The presidency is central to the debate surrounding the separation of powers. To what extent can a president act without congressional oversight? Can a president deploy troops overseas without a congressional declaration of, or authorization for, war? What should be the threshold for removing a president from office, or impeachment?

Executive Privilege and Impeachments

The pressures of the presidency visit upon all its occupants – Democrats and Republicans. Sometimes, personal and political situations emerge that test the limits of the constitution. For most Americans over the age of 40, the Watergate scandal remains one of the most memorable events of American politics. Beforehand, the public and the press had an enormous amount of respect for the office of the president; afterwards, there was much less. More importantly, the Watergate scandal raised all kinds of constitutional questions. First, we must examine the timeline of the scandal itself. President Richard Nixon had always been a controversial figure. As a politician, he had been close to Eugene McCarthy during the interrogation of suspected communists (almost none turned out to be real communists) in the hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Richard Nixon had also stood in stark contrast to his democratic challengers, especially to George McGovern, the democratic candidate for president in 1972. Nixon was portrayed as a tougher, law-and-order president, a hawk who would not capitulate to Communist China, the Soviet Union or Vietnam. After running on a “peace with honor” campaign to end the Vietnam War, President Nixon and his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, actually expanded the war by heavily bombing Cambodia, with disastrous results as it turned out (as the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime rose out of the ashes). The Nixon-Kissinger foreign policy was extremely controversial both at home and abroad.

The 1972 election for president was a heated one. The Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) apparently decided to “get the dirt” on the Democratic candidate, George McGovern, possibly exposing his psychological profile (back then, few people went to therapy, so those that did were suspect).

CREEP hired five men to burglarize the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Complex on June 17, 1972, but they were caught. President Nixon’s subsequent behavior - his cover-up of the burglary and refusal to turn over evidence – led to Congressional hearings. Congress demanded that Nixon turn over hours of secretly-recorded tapes. Nixon refused, citing “executive privilege.” This means that, especially according to presidents, the executive branch is immune to certain encroachments by Congress and the judiciary – particularly when the president has to protect national security. According to President Nixon, “Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the manner in which the president personally exercises his assigned executive powers is not subject to questioning by another branch of government.”

President Nixon and Congress came head to head. The issue went before the Supreme Court in United States v. Nixon (1974). Nixon lost in an 8 – 0 decision (William Rehnquist, a close friend of Nixon and recently appointed to the Court, abstained).

Chief Justice Burger delivered the opinion:

"Absent a claim of need to protect military, diplomatic, or sensitive national security secrets, we find it difficult to accept the argument that even the very important interest in confidentiality of Presidential communications is significantly diminished by production of such material for in camera inspection with all the protection that a district court will be obliged to provide…"

A week after Nixon lost the case, the House Judiciary Committee to issue three articles of impeachment on July 30, 1974. The document indicted Nixon for illegal wiretapping, misuse of the CIA, perjury, bribery, obstruction of justice, and other abuses of executive power.

“In all of this,” the Articles of Impeachment summarize, “Richard M. Nixon has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as president and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.” Impeachment appeared inevitable, and Nixon resigned beforehand on Aug. 9, 1974.

Impeachment had also appeared inevitable a century earlier, in 1868, when the United States House of Representatives issued eleven articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Why?

The reasons were mostly political. Johnson had not supported the Radical Republicans and their reconstruction plan for the South. Congress tried to reduce his power through the Command of Army and Tenure of Office Acts. In 1868, Johnson was accused of violating the Tenure of Office Act and was impeached by the House. At the Senate trial he was acquitted by one vote.

Another president, Bill Clinton, was impeached in 1998, when the House Judiciary Committee introduced four articles of impeachment, two of which were approved by the entire House. The Senate did not convict Clinton, however, and he remained in office.

How did this crisis come to be? Monica Lewinsky was a White House intern who became romantically involved with President Clinton. Lewinsky recounted a sexual involvement with President Clinton to Linda Tripp, who was recording these conversations (unknowingly to Lewinsky). Tripp later turned over the tapes to Kenneth Starr, an independent prosecutor.

Clinton denied having sexual intercourse with Lewinsky while under oath in an unrelated trial. In a nationally televised clip from a White House news conference, Clinton claimed “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” However, there was some evidence that the Clinton-Lewinsky affair did involve some kind of sexual activity, which led to the perjury charge.

Under pressure from Starr, and in light of a dress owned by Lewinsky with Clinton’s DNA on it, Clinton apologized for misleading the American people. Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives for perjury, but he was not removed from office by the Senate – even though it was controlled by Republicans. President Clinton’s impeachment case also raised questions for the popular culture: Should a president’s private life be part of his public life? Some people think that how a president behaves in his private life has direct implication for how he comports himself as president. Others feel that what happens behind closed doors should not matter in terms of public or political life.

In short, just two presidents were impeached by the House (but, not convicted by the Senate), and just one was on the verge of impeachment (President Richard Nixon), when he resigned.

After all, it is difficult to carry out a complete impeachment and conviction. Removing a president from office requires two steps:

· A formal accusation, or impeachment, by the House of Representatives.

· A trial and conviction by the Senate. Impeachment requires a majority vote of the House; conviction is more difficult, requiring a two-thirds vote by the Senate.

In any case, that the House of Representatives impeached President Clinton for perjury relating to a sexual matter certainly lowered the cultural and political threshold for impeachment.

Unitary Executive Theory

President George W. Bush has raised several constitutional questions regarding presidential authority. After 9/11, Congress granted the president the power to punish those responsible for the attacks. It passed a Joint Resolution to enable the president to fight the War on Terror.

Three controversies have emerged, however. Was this Authorization broad enough - or are the powers of the executive branch wide enough - to allow President Bush to do the following:

· Detain terror suspects for an unlimited period, in Guantanamo for instance, without formal charges?

· Operate secret jails in foreign countries?

· Extradite terror suspects to countries knowing the suspects will be tortured?

· Conduct electronic surveillance of Americans without a warrant?

The Bush administration cited the principles of Unitary Executive Theory, and said yes, despite what members of Congress said, the president’s wartime powers granted him that authority. Besides, from 2001 to 2006, the Congress was firmly behind President Bush’s policies, even passing the Military Commissions Act making it easier to suspend habeas corpus (where the government must account for a person’s detention) in the event of a national emergency.

Bush administration officials and their supporters also pointed out that the war on terror necessarily involved strategies and practices that did not have to be employed in previous wars, before the threat of terrorism.

Lastly, many conservatives point out that no new terrorist attacks have taken place on American soil since 9/11, which may have attributed to the strong leadership exercised by the president.

Unitary Executive Theory is more than a political fashion, however. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and John Roberts, among others, are widely considered to be principle backers of Unitary Executive Theory. The theory relies on the Vesting Clause of Article II which states “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” Proponents of a unitary executive use this language along with the Take Care Clause: "[The President] shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed..." to argue that the Constitution creates a "hierarchical, unified executive department under the direct control of the President."

Unitary Executive Theory argues for strict limits to the power of Congress to divest the President of control of the Executive Branch – especially during wartime. Proponents of the theory argue that the president possesses all of the executive power, and can therefore control subordinate officers and agencies of the executive branch.

President Bush exercised his powers under this theory, first and foremost, by directing the Pentagon and intelligence agencies to conduct detentions and domestic surveillance in manners that they had not before – and without congressional oversight. Second, President Bush issued many “signing statements” to laws passed by Congress. Past presidents issued such statements to indicate their reservation to the laws (without vetoing them), but the Bush administration made it clear that it reserved the right not to adhere to the letter of the law as stated. There was an ongoing controversy concerning the extensive use of signing statements to modify the meaning of laws. The Bush administration defended their interpretation of “signing statements” while the American Bar Association described them as “contrary to the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers. ”The American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way have also been opposed to the Bush administration’s interpretation of its own powers. Finally, prominent writers like Bob Woodward, a Washington Post reporter who broke the Watergate story, condemned the Bush administration as resurrecting the authoritarian “Imperial Presidency” of the Nixon era.

Critics of the Bush administration argued that there are no real constitutional or historical grounds for concentrating so much power into the hands of a president, even in a time of war (although President Abraham Lincoln did centralize power around the White House during the Civil War and suspended habeas corpus several times). The possibility of excessive executive power is deeply emotional because it resurrects what some Americans see as a basic instinct to counter tyranny (stemming from the American Revolution of 1776). As a result, many of the objections to Unitary Executive Theory tend to be rather strident.

Again, defenders of the Bush administration point to both the Vesting Clause in the Constitution and to the new realities of the War on terror. Unitary Executive Theory will continue to be controversial, reflecting the complex relationship Americans have with the presidency.

Conclusion

Perhaps Americans are unrealistic in their attitudes regarding the presidency. Many people expect too much from a president, and this invariably leads to disappointment. Many people are also quick to blame a president when things go badly – especially the economy, which is almost completely beyond any president’s influence. Yet, the presidency is a good barometer of the mood of the country. Who becomes president - and why - says a lot about the historic direction of the nation. It is fitting to conclude with a portrait of an American President: Teddy Roosevelt, one of the few men larger than the office of the presidency.

Teddy Roosevelt was President of the United States from 1901 to 1909, and he was a complex figure. He was a “progressive” Republican who put Main Street before Wall Street, an explorer of the Dakota Badlands, a cowboy and a “rough rider” who led a charge up San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War. He was also a Police Commissioner in New York City - and yet he was comfortable in the highest intellectual circles. In fact, with a photographic memory, Teddy Roosevelt could read a poem in French and, years later, repeat it back to you. He devoured several books a day.

Teddy Roosevelt oversaw the greatest engineering feat of mankind, the Panama Canal. His trip to Panama was the first trip abroad for a U.S. president in office. And yet, he knew that to build the canal also meant compromising on some of America’s ideals, and he pursued a policy of “gunboat diplomacy” in Latin America. “Speak softly and carry a big stick,” he said. Ironically, but deservedly, Teddy Roosevelt was the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize, winning its Peace Prize in 1906, for negotiating the peace in the Russo-Japanese War. Oddly, Teddy Roosevelt was only 5 feet 8 inches tall, but in real life and in photographs he seemed big. A larger than life figure, Roosevelt overcame immense personal challenges. His mother and his wife died on the same day – only two days after the birth of his first child.