Seven Roles of the Presidency
Electing a President
Important Terms
The Executive Branch
Potpourri
100
In this role the president can order airstrikes or set up a new military base.
What is Commander-in-Chief?
100
The person who fills this office is usually chosen to "balance the ticket."
What is the vice president?
100
This decided that executive privilege is not unlimited.
What is United States v. Nixon?
100
People in this oversee the political and policy interests of the president. They are not confirmed by the Senate and can be hired and fired at will.
What is the White House Office?
100
The powers of the president are derived from this general part of the Constitution.
What is Article II?
200
The president plans the federal budget and suggests tax cuts or hikes in this role.
What is the Guardian of the Economy?
200
This was created by the Founders to ensure small states would have a say in the election, designed to prevent presidential bribery, and prevent the "rabble" from deciding elections.
What is the Electoral College?
200
This process involved presidents refusing to spend money appropriated by Congress. This was changed by the Budget Reform Act of 1974.
What is impoundment of funds?
200
In this structure of the White House Office, assistants report directly to the president, with no screening by a chief of staff. This was utilized during Carter's administration.
What is a circular structure?
200
This informal power is often the president's most helpful tool; the president usually uses this power on three audiences: fellow politicians in DC, party members around the country, and the general public.
What is the power of persuasion?
300
President Wilson negotiated the Treaty of Versailles after World War I in this role.
What is Chief Diplomat?
300
This is the day with more presidential primaries and caucuses than any other.
What is "Super Tuesday?"
300
This is the phenomenon where the election of a very popular president can also lead to a large number of Congressional representatives and senators being elected as well.
What are presidential coattails?
300
This is composed of the secretaries of the executive branches and the attorney general. Every president has had one of these.
What is the cabinet?
300
This allows the vice president to serve as "acting president" when the president declares that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, or when the vice president and majority of the cabinet declare him incapacitated.
What is the Twenty-fifth Amendment?
400
President Obama recommended the health care legislation and then signed it into law in this role.
What is Legislative Leader?
400
This prevents a president from serving for more than two terms.
What is the Twenty-second Amendment?
400
This is when a president refuses to sign a bill within ten days and Congress has already adjourned. The bill does not become law.
What is a pocket veto?
400
Agencies in this report directly to the president and perform staff services for him. Presidential appointments in these agencies require Senate confirmation. The OMB, CIA, Council of Economic Advisers, and Office of the US Trade Representative are the principal agencies in this.
What is the Executive Office of the President?
400
This president made the most use of the veto power before the 1860s.
Who is Andrew Jackson?
500
The president gives awards and represents the United States to the world in this role.
What is Head of State?
500
When no candidate receives a majority of the votes in the Electoral College, this body decides who wins the presidency. This has only happened twice in American history.
What is the House of Representatives?
500
This is a statement written when a president signs a bill explaining presidential attitudes about the law, telling the executive branch how to implement it, and sometimes expressing the president's opinion about its unconstitutional nature. Members of Congress do not like these statements because they often block the enforcement of a law passed by Congress.
What is a signing statement?
500
These have quasi-independent status and the difference between these and executive agencies is not precise. In general, heads of these serve for fixed terms and can be removed only for cause. The Federal Reserve Board and Consumer Product Safety Commission are examples.
What are independent agencies and commissions?
500
Who succeeds to the presidency if the president, vice president, speaker of the house, and president pro tem of the Senate are unable to take the office?
Who is the Secretary of State?
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