AP NOTES 2/20

AP Midterm Review

Constitiutional vs Extra-constitutional presidential resources

enumerated
-commander in chief
-chief executive

extraconstitutional
-personal reputaion
-party leader
-opinion leader
-presidential staff
-administrative power


5 periods of the presidency

Patrician (washington- JQ adams)
-1788-1828
-Personal reputation and prestige, literal interpretation of prsidential powers
-followed very narrow constitutional interpretation
-very strict separation of power
-only real extra-constitutional resource they had to draw on was their personal reputation
-their actions really seemed like they were for the good of society

Party (Jackson - McKinley)
-1828-1900
-Popular election, party leadership, and patronage as sources of prsidential authority
-Election victory gives mandate to the president
-dispensement of patronage becomes HUGE

Progressive (T. Roosevelt - Hoover)
-1900-1932
-Popular rhetoric, resurgent executive power, and legislative issue advocacy
-presidents can now speak directly to the people
-resurgence of executive power comes with growth of government in general
-many new depts, etc are under the executive
-presidents take specific issues under their wing, advocate certain legislative positions, sort of proto-legislative agenda

Modern (FDR- Eisenhower)
-1932-1960
-Legislative agenda, unilateral powers, enlarged staff, and mounting public expectations
-read the Greenstein, it's all there

Post-modern (Kennedy - Present)
-1960-
-Reliance on administrative powers, personalized connection to public, isolation in White House
-huge reliance on administrative powers
-appointment power
-rule-making
-tendency for presidents to be isolated in the white house
-this is a problem that comes with vastly enlarged staff
-the staff does all sorts of shit that is possibly bad, then tries to cover for him



What links the five periods together?
-recurring or repeating pattern
-innovations in extraconstitutional authority that provide initially new resources
-eventually, however, they become constraints on presidential power, and that sparks new innovation
-example; initially presidents drew on personal prestige for their power, non-partisan standing
-over time, the non-partisan standing begins to limit presidents in their sphere of action, so its abandoned
-parties develop instead
-role as party leader is HUGE, gives president huge powers
-embrace of the party provides lots of extraconstitutional resources
-the constraint then comes in
-presidents have to compete with rival party leaders
-congress, local, whatever
-president is emasculated
-innovation that fixes this- speaking directly to the public, also taking greater control over the executive branch
-presidents keep party leadership, but embrace their direct relationship with the people, expanded executive branch
-new technology helps here
-enlarged bureaucracy gives president huge powers here over administration, etc
-constraint comes in as public expectations
-now, the president has nearly all of the public's focus on government and politics
-the president has to be EXTREMELY effective to garner favor
-the president has come to personally embody the govt
-the govt has continued to grow in size, scope
-makes the job of the pres much much harder still
-now, presidents have to turn to new tools to control the massive bureaucracy
-appointments, rulemaking are the tools of choice
-problem here- the tools depend on a large presidential staff
-this is another constraint
-large presidential staff is hard to manage
-may force presidents towards isolation, or even unwise action
succinctly-
-the problem of the non-partisan constraint is solved by the party president
-the problem of the party constraint (competition?) is solved by a growing executive
-the problem of a growing executive (hard to manage) is solved by a growing personal staff
-the problem of a growing personal staff (isolation, actions taken on pres's behalf that are just unwise, etc) is solved by....? nothing yet?

the modern president- G W Bush
-picks and chooses from all five models
-at times acts non-partisan, above politics
-at times pushes the party hard to get what he wants
-at times acts through a massive bureaucracy- social programs, etc
-at times uses unilateral constitutional powers- war powers, etc
-at times is surrounded and even isolated by his staff

a barrier to executive power and reformation
-each reformative president
-jefferson, jackson, lincoln, fdr, reagan
-they're all trying to reform the entire system of government
-each successive president has more and more power to reform
-lincoln, for instance, has the party machine behind him, something that jefferson didnt have
-reagan has all sorts of communication tools, etc, with the fully modern presidency
-HOWEVER each of them is faced with much more formidable opposition
-lincoln has to keep the party together (not to mention the country)
-FDR has to deal with supreme court, unhappy congress, etc
-Reagan is constrained by the entrenched liberal commitments of the bureaucracy
the essential paradox to the presidency
-presidents DO more, but ACHIEVE less
-more tools, but far more barriers

the exam itself
what's a good answer
-an answer that demonstrates proficiency of the materials in lecture and readings
-MENTION SPECIFICS
-address the main concepts for each question and address them with readings
-
REALLY think about concepts
-dont fall into the trap of thinking about specific presidents while losing sight of the presidency as a whole

he's gonna put 7 or 8 questions and we answer 4
-i really like him now
-sweet. know 50% of them?
-maybe do 2/3 or 3/4 just to be safe