Chapter 13

The Presidency

Section 1

The President's Job Description

The President's RolesThe President's Roles

Chief of state - The ceremonial head of the United States government

Chief executive - Vested with the executive power of the United States

Chief administrator of the Federal Government -Administers the federal bureaucracy

Chief diplomat - The main architect of American foreign policy

Commander in Chief – Commands the nation's armed forces

Chief legislator - Sets the shape of public policy

Chief of party - The leader of the political party in power

Chief citizen - The representative of all the people

Each role is played simultaneously and is inseparable from the others

Formal Qualifications for the Presidency

The President must be a natural-born citizen of the United States who has lived in the country at least 14 years.

The President must be at least 35 years old.

The President's Term

The President is elected to a four-year term.

The 22nd Amendment limits Presidents to two full terms in office.

Pay and Benefits

The President’s salary•$400,000 per year.•is fixed by Congress.

Presidents receive many fringe benefits, including use of the White House and Camp David, cars, airplanes, and a yacht.

Section 2

Presidential Succession and The Vice Presidency

The Constitution and Succession

If a President dies, resigns, or is removed from office

Order of presidential succession •Vice President, Speaker of the House, President Pro Tempore, cabinet members in order of precedence

Presidential Disability

If the President is disabled, the VP may temporarily assume the duties of the office.

The President may resume his duties by informing the Congress that no inability exists.

The cabinet and the VP may challenge the President’s resumption of power.

The Vice Presidency

The constitutional duties of the Vice President are to preside over the Senate and help decide the question of presidential disability.

The office of Vice President is often treated as an unimportant one.

The Importance of the Office

The VP must be ready to assume the presidency at a moment’s notice.

If the office of VP is vacated, the President must nominate a new Vice President.

The nomination must be confirmed by a majority vote of both houses of Congress.

1973 President Nixon

VP Spiro Agnew resigns

Gerald Ford becomes VP

1974 Nixon resigns

Ford becomes President

Nelson Rockefeller becomes VP

Section 3

Presidential Selection: The Framer's Plan

Original Constitutional Provisions

The Framers created the Electoral College as an alternative to either popular election or congressional election of the President.

The electoral vote was State by State, with each elector casting votes for two candidates.

The candidate with the most votes became President; the runner-up became Vice President.

In case of a tie, the House of Representatives was charged with electing a President.

The Impact of the Rise of Parties

The Election of 1800• Parties arose during the administrations of Washington and Adams, and each put up its own candidates and electors in the election of 1800.

•led to a tie between Jefferson and Burr in the election of 1800, and the House finally chose Jefferson.

The 12th Amendment•required presidential electors to specify which person they wanted for President and which for Vice President, so that the election of 1800 would never be repeated.

Section 4   

Nominating Presidential Candidates Today

The Role of Conventions

Extent of Control by Law•There is little legal control over the convention process.

•Conventions are left up to the parties' control.

Convention Arrangements

The national committee of each party calls a convention in the summer of each presidential election year.

The Apportionment of Delegates

The party tells each State how many delegates it may send.

The number is based on the State’s electoral votes, with bonus delegates for those States that have supported the party in recent years.

Selection of Delegates

State laws and/or party rules fix the procedures for selection of convention delegates.

The procedure differs from State to State.

Presidential Primaries

History•Presidential primaries were first held in the early 1900s.

•Today 36 States hold some form of presidential primary.

Primaries Today

Primaries are delegate-selection processes and/or elections in which voters can express their preference for presidential candidates.

Evaluation of the Presidential Primary

Primaries democratize the presidential nomination process and force office-seekers to test their candidacies before the public.

Unlike the party in power, the party out of power usually has a hard-fought primary campaign.

Caucuses and Conventions

The caucus-convention process is the oldest method for picking national convention delegates.

States that do not have primaries choose convention delegates through precinct-level caucuses and local, district, and State conventions.

Section 5

At the National Convention

The Convention Setting

Party conventions meet in large auditoriums, with seating arranged State by State.

Large areas of the hall are reserved for spectators and for the press.

The Opening Session

Conventions run for about four days, with one or two sessions per day.

At the opening session, temporary convention officials are chosen and welcoming speeches are given.

The keynote address a high point of the opening session

Usually delivered by a dynamic orator

Sets the tone for the convention

The Second and Third Sessions

At these meetings, permanent convention officials are chosen, credentials of delegates are examined, rules are adopted, and the party platform is debated.

The platform is an important document that states the party's position on key issues.

The Final Sessions

In the final sessions, nominations are made and balloting proceeds.

Once the candidate has been selected, the vice-presidential nominee is named and the candidate makes his or her acceptance speech.

Whom Does the Party Nominate?

Incumbent presidents almost always get another nomination if they want it.

In order to win their party's nomination, candidates must have considerable political experience and popularity.

Historically, nominations have gone to white male Protestants who have been governors or senators.

Section 6

The Election

The Electoral College Today

Electors are chosen by popular vote.

The party that wins the majority of the popular vote in each State gets all of that State’s electoral votes.

Electors meet at a time set by law to elect the President, and their votes are sent to Washington, where they are counted on January 6th.

In case of a tie for either President or VP the decision is made by Congress.

Flaws in the Electoral College

The First Major Defect•Because electoral votes are not distributed in exact proportion to the population, the winner of the popular vote may not win the electoral vote. (ask Al Gore)

The Second Major Defect• Electors are not bound by the Constitution or by any federal law to vote for the candidate favored by the people of their State.

The Third Major Defect •Elections may be thrown into the House of Representatives, where voting is State by State.

Proposed Reforms

The District Plan•The district plan would allow electors to be elected in each congressional district, rather than the current winner-take-all plan.

The Proportional Plan•The proportional plan would give each candidate the share of the electoral vote that he or she earned in the popular vote.

Direct Popular Election•Under this system, the electoral college would be abolished, and each citizen's vote would count equally toward the presidential election.

The National Bonus Plan•Under this complex plan the winner-take-all feature of the electoral college would be kept but weighted in favor of the winner of the popular vote, and the electoral college would be abolished.

Defenders of the current electoral college system emphasize that it is a known process, that it identifies the winner quickly and certainly, and that critics exaggerate the danger of an undemocratic outcome.