AP GoPo Chapter 13 Guided Reading
1. A bit about the president and elections…
a. General election campaigns usually begin ____________
b. Need _______ electors to win
c. The electors vote on the Monday following the second Wednesday of _________
d. Inauguration date ____________
e. Last year someone won the popular vote but lost the election __________
2. Chief Legislator
a. Can the President create laws?
b. What are some ways that he legislates? (Influence, agenda, budget, signing or veto, etc…)
c. President says no, but Congress says yes. Who wins?
d. Tell me a bit about the “line item veto”. Do you agree with the Supreme Court’s ruling on it?
e. How have presidential vetoes changed over time?
f. President with the most vetoes? ___________________________
g. What’s a signing statement? (Put it in layman’s terms so you understand it)
3. Chief Economist
a. He submits a ____________ to Congress.
b. He also appoints the ________________ ______________ ____________ (AKA: The Fed)
i. Is this person politically aligned?
c. Who did President Obama appoint?
d. Do you really understand what the Fed does? If not, you should ask and I’ll try to explain.
4. Party Leader
a. What does the President do that makes him the party leader? (Fundraising? Day-to-day
operations? Campaigns?)
b. Who’s the national party chair for the Democrats? Republicans?
5. Chief Diplomat
a. When the President makes an executive agreement, how long does it last?
b. What roles are included for the President as Chief Diplomat? Who has the final say in treaties?
6. Commander in Chief
a. What can the President do? What power is reserved to Congress?
7. Chief Executive
a. Appoints the ___________ of the ______ departments of the federal government.
8. Chief of State
a. Largely a ________________ role. Does things like:
9. The Vice President
a. John Nance Garner: “Ain’t worth a _____________________________________”
b. Many have served a largely _____________ function, kind of like the Chief of State for the
President.
c. Who were some vice presidents that later went on to win the presidency under their own
campaign?
d. Who were some VP’s who lost their bids at becoming POTUS?
e. When you run for POTUS and you are from the North, you choose your VP as someone from the
South. If you are a man, maybe a women. If you are white, maybe a minority. We call this the
“______________ _______________”
10. The President’s Cabinet
a. In the Cabinet, how many departments are there?
b. First President to use a cabinet?
c. What do we call the heads of all the 15 departments?
d. Newest Cabinet department to be added, and by whom?
e. How many departments were there when Washington was President?
f. First woman to be appointed to a “big four” cabinet position was? Who appointed her?
11. How is the Executive Office of the President different from his cabinet?
a. To help you get an idea, draw it like a tree map, with the EOP at the top and then have the offices
that make it up below.
b. So under that chart above, you have the White House Office (WHO). Now chart out the White
House Office with who is in it and what they do.
c. Now do the same for the National Security Council (NSC) (Be sure to include who’s technically in
charge of the NSC)
d. And the office of Management and Budget (OMB)
12. Presidential Succession
a. How many amendments did it take to figure out “Oh, yeah, so maybe we should write down an
order in case the President dies…”?
b. Now give me about 4-5 placements of the order of succession… here, I’ll get you started.
i. POTUS  VPOTUSSpeaker of the House (AKA: ______________)  President Pro Tem of
the Senate (AKA__________________)  Secretary of State (AKA____________________)
ii. So, when you look at the list, are you surprised by the order of any on the list? (I mean, do
you think any are too high or too low? Who would you move up or down?)
c. What if the President isn’t dead, just incapacitated? (For example, having an impacted tooth
removed, or in a really really deep sleep where he asked to not be disturbed…)
13. Source of the President’s Power
a. Powers that are directly written in the Constitution (we’d say enumerated):__________________
b. Powers that are not directly written, but are implied: ___________________
i. A lot of these powers come from the __________ __________ ___________
ii. An example of a President who used an inherent power
1. _________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
c. Statutory Powers which are
__________________________________________________________________________
d. Special Powers
i. Executive Orders allow the President to
1. Enforce ______________ rulings or Congressional statutes
2. Enforce special __________________ Provisions
3. Guide the administration in _________________ with foreign countries
4. ____________ or _____________ guidelines or rules of one of the executive
departments or agencies.
5. How limited are Executive Orders: _______________________________
ii. During special times when the country may be under a crisis, he has _______________
powers. (Usually used with what relationship: ________________________)
iii. Lastly is the one called ________________ ________________, most famously associated
with Watergate when Nixon claimed that “when the President does it, it is not illegal.” Or
Bill trying to hide the Monica cover-up.
14. In the words of Bobby Seale “All Power to the People”
a. Power of Persuasion
i. How often do Presidents use the Bully Pulpit to try and persuade us? Can you give me an
example of a situation when a President would be forced to appeal to the public more than
usual?
b. When President Bush’s approval ratings spiked to near or at 90%, that was known as the
“_________________________________________ effect”
c. Generally speaking, what happens to Presidential approval ratings over time? (What’s the trend?)
What’s it called when the rating is really high right at the start?
d. Just look at that list of “American’s Evaluation of the Presidential Greatness” vs. the rankings of
“Presidential Scholars Evaluation of Presidential Greatness”
i. Do you agree more with the American people or the scholars point of view? Do you think
anyone is getting picked on? Do you think anyone should be moved higher or lower? Who?
15. Evolution of Power
a. Who was the first President to really push the idea of emphasizing the needs of the common
person? (What was that idea called?)
b. Which two major events began to make the public look at the Presidency in a negative light? (Make
sure you understand both)
c. Give me the definition of impeachment and the specific roles that both the House and the Senate
control. (If power lay only with one, it would not be balanced, so each has a role.)
d. How many Presidents were impeached? Who was the closest to being removed? Do you know how
close he was to being removed?
e. Political scientists would use what word to describe modern Presidents when it comes to their
power? ___________________(Do you agree, or would you use another word?)
16. What about Women in the White House? Has Michelle increased or decreased the power that has been
held by many former First Ladies?
17. Did you like Barbara Bush’s comment? (I thought it was funny)
18. How likely do you think it is we will see a female President within the next 30 years? (Some of you are
saying “30?!?!?!?! Get with the times, Mr. Schmitt, it’s going to happen in 9 months!)