Executive branch Institution worksheet alexander leija

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Political Science

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Dec 6, 2023

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The Executive Using the links provided please answer the questions in your own words using your textbook and the links provided. . Please do not copy and paste sections of articles or google to try and find answers. Everything you need to answer the questions are contained in the links and in your textbook (if specifically referred to). As Congress has abdicated its responsibility for making laws more focus has shifted to the executive branch. Senator Sasse said, Congresspeople have delegated large swaths of their power to “alphabet soup agencies” located in the executive branch that the president is responsible for. Below, you see the growth of government spending in the United States. While the big upticks in spending can be attributed to wars (War of 1812, Civil War, WWI, and WWII), there has been a tendency for government to emerge from wars bigger than when they entered the war. In addition, the change in government activities as we moved from an agrarian economy in the 18ht and 19 th centuries to an Industrial economy in the 20 th century redefined governments role in the economy. All governments, not just the Federal government have grown over time. 1. According to the chart below, in 2018 federal government expenditures were _35____% of GDP 2. In 2018, total government spending was __31.6__% of GDP. As the chart clearly indicates, government at all levels has grown as the demands of society on government have increased. But clearly, a changing philosophy about the role of the federal government in society has let it to grow the most in terms of expenditures. Over time this has led to two sometimes contradictory and sometimes complementary dimensions to the presidency. The first is the Single Executive Image. The Single Executive Image is the view that there is a single person leading our government and the free world. The Single Executive Image portrays the president speaking in a lone clear voice, as the one person in charge of government. The president is the nation’s principle problem solver, who identifies the nation’s most pressing issues and offers solutions. In times of crisis, The President protects the nation. As the only person elected by the entire country, the president is seen as the representative of the people. The president is the single most important, visible, powerful, and unique person in our nation. The presidency has come to embody our hopes and our fears. It personalizes the entire executive branch in the office of the presidency by embodying all its units, staff, and decisions in one person – The President. American government has become presidential government. The Single Executive Image stems from four factors: 1. Presidential Elections 2. The Mass Media 3. Presidential actions 4. Public perceptions Presidential Elections: The process of electing the president has changed over time. Nominating the president began as a congressional activity in what is called the “King Caucus” . It then changed to national conventions taking center stage
and finally to primaries and caucuses becoming the main way of getting delegates. Read the following article and answer the questions below. http://connect.brookings.edu/narrowing-the-field-lesson- one?ecid=ACsprvt8vH6Dx3uY270mjJklLDxmWwa1cHQMH1FPLwKBFMyu1GwRKIt1mJZfiyvsi6exxNMKSI9Y&utm_campai gn=Email%20Course%20- %20Narrowing%20the%20Field&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=81758857 3. According to the author, who controlled the nomination of presidents from the 1830’s - 1960’s? King caucus/congress caucus. 4. How many ballots did it take for Woodrow Wilson to secure the 1912 Democratic Nomination? 5. What events caused the change in 1972 that put primaries in the forefront of nomination fights? One of the events that caused the change in 1972 was the reform of the Democratic Party’s delegate selection process after the 1968 election .The other one was the Watergate scandal. After capturing the nomination of a party, presidential candidates must run a national campaign and secure the votes of the people. The electoral college ensures that candidates will seek to build a majority national coalition although because of the winner-take-all nature of state electoral votes we have had candidates that lose the popular vote but win the electoral college (Wrong Winners). 6. According to your textbook , who is the most recent “Wrong Winner”? James Buchanan The shift in the nomination of presidents has led to individuals (their personalities, resources, and connections) to eclipse Political Parties in shaping presidential choices for voters and shaping the expectations voters have for the president. Mass Media: Over time the mass media has come to focus increasingly on the president. This study from the 1980’s show how much more the media focused on the president when compared to other branches and that tendency has increased.
7. What does the chart tell us abou t news coverage of America’s political institutions? Presidential Actions: Presidents themselves have contributed to the growth of the signle executive image by seeking to increase their power. Beginning with Washington, presidents claimed “Inherent Powers” as a tool and in the Great Depression in the 1930’s, President Roosevelt was delegated broad powers to create programs to deal with the economic crisis. Today, some legal scholars claim that the president has Unitary Powers that are virtually unchecked. 8.According to the article, “ Trump Says He Alone Can Do It. His Attorney General Nominee Usually Agrees. ” https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/politics/william-barr-executive-power.html How does William Barr reject “mainstream” constitutional views? Mr. President, there’s no doubt that you have the authority to launch an attack,” Mr. Barr said, as he later recalled. 9. What did William Barr’s broad view of presidential authority lead him to tell the Trump Administration (in a 19 page memo) about the Mueller investigation into obstruction of Justice? The constitution, he claimed, does not permit congress to make it a crime for the president to exercise his executive power corruptly. 10 What did William Barr say about coercive interrogation? “Generally, under the laws of war, absent treaty, there is nothing wrong with coercive interrogation, applying pain, discomfort and other things to make people talk,” he said, pausing, then adding, “as long as it doesn’t cross the line and involve the gratuitous barbarity that’s involved in torture.”
President Joe Biden has signed a flurry of executive orders, actions and memorandums aimed at rapidly addressing the coronavirus pandemic and dismantling many of President Donald Trump's policies. In just his first 6 days in office, he signed 33 executive orders. Executive orders largely deal with domestic policy and are essentially laws that do not have to be passed by congress. In the international sphere, presidents use executive agreements to bypass Senate approval of treaties. 11. Looking at the chart (above), what has happened to the Use of executive agreements when compared to the use of treaties and why is that relevant to our discussion of the SEI? Public Attitudes: Since the turn of the 20 th century, presidential popularity has tracked domestic and international events and conditions in ways that seem to hold the president responsible and not congress. The chart below shows one measure of the economy (consumer sentiment) and presidential job approval. There is a close relationship. Not only are presidents rewarded or punished for the state of the economy, their job approval is also affected by international events. Wars and crisis shift presidential job approval. Scandals may also hurt presidential popularity. https://news.gallup.com/interactives/185273/presidential-job-approval-center.aspx Using the link and outside research, please answer the next two questions. 12 . Why was Richard Nixon’s job approval rating so low during 1975? Watergate crisis. 13 . Why did George W. Bush’s job approval rating spike in 2001? September eleven attacks. While the Single Executive Image is one half of the presidency, Congress ’s delegation of powers, our expectation that the president does more, and presidents’ desires for more power have led to a situation where no one person can do all the things that a president has over time acquired responsibility for. That simply put, the president needs help to accomplish his responsibilities. This has led to the growth of the “ Institutional Presidency .” The institutional presidency is the collection of offices, units, and people who do the work for which the president is held responsible. Early presidents came into office and were able to fire every federal worker right down to the people that delivered mail and replace them with people of their choice. Often, the y were political supporters. This system of “Patronage” meant that jobs in the federal bureaucracy were filled by people whose chief qualification was loyalty to the president rather than competency. You could get both but you couldn’t have competency wi thout loyalty. This concerned Good Governemnt Advocates. There were calls for creating a professional civil service and President Garfield ’s assassination in 1881 by Charles J. Guiteau provided the impetus to pass reform. Guiteau had followed various professions in his life, but in 1880 had determined to gain federal office by supporting what he expected would be the winning Republican ticket. He composed a speech, "Garfield vs. Hancock", and got it printed by the Republican National Committee and campaigned for Garfield. He felt his contributions were sufficient to warrant a job in the federal government. When his attempts were rebuffed, he shot Garfield in Washington D.C. on July 2 nd . Congress went to work on a civil service reform act called the Pendleton Act and passed it in January of 1883. The Pendleton Act provided that Federal Government jobs be awarded based on merit and that government employees be selected through competitive exams. The act also made it unlawful to fire or demote for political reasons employees who were covered by the law. The law further forbids requiring employees to give political service or contributions. The Civil Service Commission was established to enforce this act. The Pendleton Act fundamentally changed the nature of the relationship between the President and the executive branch. Before the Pendleton act anyone who worked for the president was dependent on the president for his/her job but after the Pendleton Act, federal government employees worked for multiple administrations of different political parties. This lead to a decline of presidential authority over the very people that carry out his orders. Before the Pendleton act, if you didn’t d o what the president said, he could fire you but afterwards ignoring or disobeying the president didn’t have the same consequences.
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