Ch 8: US President

1) The President of the US

a) Requirements
i) 35 years old or older
ii) Be born a US citizen (i.e. in the US or of a parent who is a US citizen)
iii) Live in the US for at least 14 years before the election
(1) The Vice-President must also meet these requirements
b) Salaries and Benefits
i) President
(1) $400,000 a year
(a) Pres pays income tax
(2) Live in White House with spouse and kids under 18 without paying for food,
electricity, phone, satellite TV and water
(3) Secret Service protection for Pres, spouse and kids which continues 10 years after
leaving Presidency
(4) Clothing allowance for Pres and spouse
(5) Free medical and dental for Pres, spouse and kids under 18
(6) Limos, Air Force 1, Marine 1 and other methods of transportation
(a) Plane is known as Air Force 1 to signify that the Pres is aboard. It could be
any plane.
(7) Camp David Weekend retreat located in Maryland
ii) Vice-President
(1) $221,100 a year for the VP’s job of President of the Senate.
(a) VP pays income tax
(2) Live in the VP mansion with spouse and kids under 1 without paying for food,
electricity, phone, satellite TV and water
(3) Secret Service protection for VP, spouse and kids fewer than 18. Kids over 18
have choice of protection or not
(4) Clothing allowance for VP and spouse
(5) Free medical and dental for VP, spouse and kids under 18
(6) Limos, Air Force 2, Marine 2 and other methods of transportation
(7) Plane is known as Air Force 2 to signify that the VP is aboard. It could be any
plane
c) Presidential Succession
i) President. If the Pres dies then…
ii) Vice President. If both the Pres and the VP die then…
iii) Speaker of the House. If all three die then…
iv) President Pro Temp of the Senate. If all four die then…
v) The positions of the Cabinet in order of when the Cabinet position was created:
(1) Secretary of State
(2) Secretary of Treasury
(3) …
(4) Secretary of Homeland Security
 vi) After September 11th, the list was expanded from 20 to 232, which are
undersecretaries, assistants to undersecretaries etc.
2) Powers and Roles of the President
a) The Pres has the power to influence legislative
i) Use State of the Union address to influence Congress to write the bills the Pres wants
ii) Can threaten to use or use veto power on a bill Congress writes
iii) Can write and sign into law Executive Orders
(1) Executive Orders are like any other law except that they cannot go against any
law written by Congress or any ruling by the US Supreme Court
b) Pres is Commander-in-Chief of the US military
i) Put troops into any area, even if this might spark a war
(1) Congress used the War Powers Act to limit this power, saying that Congress can
pull troops back into the US after 90 days if Congress doesn’t like the troop
placement
c) The Pres is the US’s foreign policy leader (99% of job)
i) Travels to international meetings
ii) Pres nominates all US Ambassadors and US Diplomats to foreign nations. Senate
approves the nominations
iii) Creates treaties, alliance and agreements. Senate must approve all treaties written by
the Pres
d) The Pres has judicial powers that can be used in the federal court/prison system
i) A reprieve – postponement in the carrying out the sentence
ii) A commutation - shortening of a person’s prison sentence for the purpose of letting
the person out of prison
iii) A pardon – forgiveness of the crime and the expunging of the crime from the record
so it’s as if the crime never happened. If the person is in jail, the person gets out of
jail and no longer has a prison record
3) Executive Departments and Cabinet
a) State Department – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
i) Helps the Pres put foreign policy into effect
ii) Runs the US embassies and US Ambassadors program
iii) Acts as the go-between between the Pres and foreign government leaders
iv) Issues passports to US citizens and visas to foreigners
b) Defense Department – Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
i) Acts as the go-between between the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pres
ii) Runs the US military academics and college ROTC programs
iii) Runs the US military
iv) Maintains military assets
c) Treasury Department – Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson
i) Manages the money system
(1) Internal Revenue Service (IRS) which collects taxes
(2) Bureau of Engraving and Printing prints all US paper money and postage stamps
(3) Bureau of the Public Debt manages the national debt, US Treasury Bonds, and US
Savings Bonds programs
d) Justice Department – Attorney General Michael Mukasey (Only one that is not a
“secretary”)
 i) Responsible for investigating federal crimes and enforcing the nation’s federal laws
(1) Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATFE)
(2) Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
(3) Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)
(4) US Marshals Service
e) Homeland Security Department – Secretary Michael Chertoff
i) Newest of the 15 departments. Created after September 11th. Most were just shifted
over to Homeland Security
(1) US Coast Guard
(2) US Secret Service – emphasizing stopping US money counterfeiting
(3) Transportation Security Administration – airport security
(4) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
(5) US Citizenship and Immigration Services
f) Interior Department
i) Responsible for managing/conserving the nation’s land, air, water and animal
resources
(1) Bureau of Indian Affairs
(2) National Park Service
(3) Fish and Wildlife Service
g) Agriculture Department
i) Helps farmers and manages US food sources
(1) Food Stamps program
(2) School Lunch program
(3) Women, Infants and Children program (WIC)
(4) Food Safety and Inspection Service
h) Health and Human Services Department
i) Helps protect and maintain the health of the US citizenry and stop disease outbreaks
that are a risk to national health
(1) National Institutes of Health (NIH)
(2) Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
(3) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
4) Independent Agencies – 80 government agencies that execute law but are not part of the 15
executive departments
a) EX:
i) CIA which spies outside the US
ii) NASA which runs the nation’s space program
b) Regulatory Agencies – write and enforce government rules and regulations
i) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
ii) Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
iii) Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
iv) National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
c) The “bureaucracy” is all the various people in government jobs that help run the
government and the nation. The total number of people who make up the federal
bureaucracy is about 10 million people
5) Lagniappe
a) 12th – Election of the President and Vice-President
 b) 20th – Lame Duck Amendment
c) 22nd – Two-Term Limit for President
d) 23rd – Presidential Electors for Washington DC
e) 25th – Presidential Disability and Succession
6) Vocabulary
a) Amnesty – a blanket pardon offered to a group of law violators
b) Bureaucracy – a large, complex administrative structure that handles the everyday
business of an organization
c) Cabinet – presidential advisory body, traditionally made up of the heads of the executive
departments and other officers
d) Chief diplomat – term for the President as the main architect of foreign policy and
spokesperson to other countries
e) Chief executive – term for the President as vested with the executive power of the United
States
f) Chief of State – term for the President as the ceremonial head of the United States, the
symbol of all the people of the nation
g) Clemency – mercy or leniency granted to an offender by a chief executive
h) Commander-in-Chief – term for the President as commander of the nation’s armed forces
i) Executive agreement – a pact made by the President directly with the head of a foreign
state; a binding international agreement with the force of law but which (unlike a treaty)
does not require Senate consent
j) Executive departments – often called the Cabinet departments, they are the traditional
units of federal administration
k) Executive office of the President – an organization of several agencies staffed by the
President’s closest advisors
l) Executive order – direct, rule, or regulation issued by a chief executive or subordinate,
based upon constitutional or statutory authority and having the force of law
m) Independent agencies – additional agencies created by Congress located outside the
Cabinet departments
n) Line-item veto – a President’s cancellation of a specific dollar amounts (line items) from
a congressional spending bill; instituted by a 1996 congressional act, but stuck down by a
1998 Supreme Court decision
o) Oath of Office – oath taken by the President on the day he takes office, pledging to
“faithfully execute” to office and “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution
p) Spoils system – the practice of giving offices and other favors of government to political
supporters and friends
q) Treaty – a formal agreement between two or more sovereign state
r) State of the Union Address – yearly report of the President to Congress, as required by
the Constitution, in which the nation’s condition is described and programs are
recommended
s) Joint Chiefs of Staff – group made up of the highest-ranking officers from the Army,
Navy and Air Force that advises the President of military affairs