Executive Branch CDA Review
What are the 3 FORMAL qualifications to
become President?
What are 4 Examples of
INFORMAL/UNWRITTEN qualifications?
What branch consists of President, VicePresident, Cabinet, and federal
bureaucracies?
How long is the term of office for the
President?
What is the purpose of the State of the Union
Address?
Which Article of the Constitution sets up the
Executive Branch?
What is the ONLY Constitutional duty given
to the Vice-President?
What is a “check” the Legislative branch has
on the Executive branch? (Hint: Starts in
HOR)
What happened to both Presidents Bill
Clinton and Andrew Johnson?
 Natural Born Citizen
 35 Years of Age
 U.S. resident for past 14 years
 Male
 White
 Protestant
 Formal Education
 Previous Government Experience.
Executive Branch
Four Year Term/Two Terms Limit
A President can be elected, then has to be
reelected for a total of eight years,
 To outline the President’s agenda
(Course of action for the year)
 Provide information on the present
condition of the nation
 Propose/Request Action for which
Congress is responsible (budgets,
declare war, revise tax system, etc.)
Article II
The vice president has one primary
Constitutional duty: To preside over the U.S.
Senate. As President of the Senate, the Vice
President would cast a vote in the event of a
Senate deadlock during a vote.
Impeachment
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Impeached by a simple majority vote
in the House of Representatives, but
not enough votes (2/3 majority) in the
Senate to get kicked out of office.
Both were later acquitted (found not
guilty) by the Senate.
A simple majority of the U.S. House of
Representatives (at least 218 votes)
is required to impeach a U.S.
President, followed by a two-thirds
majority vote in the Senate (at
least 67 votes).
The number of votes required make
impeachment difficult. No American
What is an example of the president’s role as
Chief Agenda Setter?
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What cabinet department is responsible for
negotiating with foreign countries?
What is an example of the President as Chief
of State?
What role is the President performing when
he meets leaders of other countries?
What role is the President performing when
he is representing the U.S. in ceremonial
gatherings with other country leaders?
Military powers of America belong to who?
What role is the President performing when
he is a symbol of the people of America AND
acts as the head of USA?
NASA and UPS are examples of what body
which the President oversees but doesn’t
directly regulate?
President has been removed from
office by impeachment.
Presidents regularly meets with
Congressional leaders & recommends
legislation to support his agenda.
Many U.S. Presidents have used the
State of the Union address to set an
agenda.
This is known as the Bully pulpit: use
the office of POTUS to promote
programs and influence Congress to
accept legislative proposals
Modern Presidents now use the
media to bring attention to their
proposals and to place pressure on
legislators.
A President may also threaten to veto
a bill before it even gets to the Oval
Office. This action reminds legislators
of the President's agenda and
pressures them to rethink bills that
they know will be vetoed.
The State Department
Chief of State when he represents the
Nation)
• Make treaties and executive
agreement (agreement with other
nations, no Senate approval)
• Welcome foreign leaders
• Sends Humanitarian aid
• Name ambassadors
• Recognize other nations
Diplomatic Hat/Chief of State
Chief of State And Foreign Policy Leader
The President (a civilian) is the Commander
in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces; but only
Congress has the power to declare wars and
approve treaties to end them. This is an
example of SHARED POWERS.
Chief of State
Government Corporations such as
AMTRACK, the FDIC, the USPS (United
States Postal Service)
What is foreign policy?
What is domestic policy?
What is the group of 15 advisors who helps
the President make decisions?
How is the President’s cabinet chosen?
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Foreign policy is a government’s
strategy for interacting with other
nations and non-state actors
 Usually created by the head of the
government (chief executive) and the
foreign minister
 In the U.S. that is the President and
Secretary of State (State Department)
 Overlaps with domestic policy: For
Example:
 War on Drugs
 Global War on Terror (GWOT)
 Results of globalization/global
warming
 Remember the “3 D’s: Defense,
Diplomacy, Development”
Domestic policy = administrative decisions
directly related to all issues/activity within
a nation's borders. It covers a wide range of
areas, including business, education, energy,
health care, law enforcement, money and
taxes, natural resources, social welfare, and
personal rights and freedoms.
1. The Cabinet. The Cabinet includes
the Vice President and the heads of
15 executive departments — the 14
Secretaries of: Agriculture
2. Commerce
3. Defense
4. Education
5. Energy
6. Health & Human Services
7. Homeland Security
8. Housing & Urban Development
9. Interior
10. Labor
11. State
12. Transportation
13. Treasury
14. Veterans Affairs
as well as the Attorney General, who is
the head of the Department of Justice
(DOJ) the 15th Department
 Cabinet officers are nominated by
the President and confirmed by the
U.S. Senate by a majority vote.
 Each official receives the title
Secretary, except the Attorney
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Which President was impeached for
committing perjury, lying under oath?
Which President was impeached for illegally
firing Edwin Stanton, and thus violated the
Tenure of Office Act?
Which President resigned before he could be
impeached?
Define Impeachment
General who leads the Department of
Justice.
Cabinet members serve at the
pleasure of the President and may be
dismissed at any time.
Tradition holds that Cabinet
Secretaries resign when a new
President takes office.
The Ineligibility Clause of the U.S.
Constitution, however, states “no
person holding any office under the
United States, shall be a member of
either House during his continuance
in office.” This prevents any sitting
Member of Congress from serving in
the Cabinet unless he or she resigns
from Congress.
William Jefferson Clinton
Andrew Johnson
Richard M. Nixon
Impeachment in the United States is an
expressed power of the legislature that allows
formal charges to be brought against a civil
officer of government for crimes alleged to
have been committed while in office. This is
basically an accusation of wrongdoing.
The actual trial on such charges, and
subsequent removal of an official upon
conviction, is separate from the act
of impeachment itself.
This Legislative power is considered one of
the “Checks and Balances” built into the
Constitution.
Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton are the only
two presidents to have been successfully
impeached by the House of Representatives,
Both were later acquitted (found not guilty) by
the Senate.
The impeachment process of Richard
Nixon was technically unsuccessful, as Nixon
resigned his office before the vote of the full
House for impeachment.
Who has the power to impeach a federal
official, according to the Constitution?
What is a formal agreement made between
the USA and another country?
One foreign policy tool is a sanction. What
are some examples of this tool used by the
Executive Branch?
To date, no U.S. President has been
removed from office by impeachment and
conviction.
Congress, the Legislative Branch. The
House of Representative votes to bring
formal charges…impeachment. The trial to
find the person guilty and remove him or her
from office is the responsibility of the Senate
A Treaty
Economic sanctions are used as a tool
of foreign policy by many governments.
Economic sanctions are used as an
alternative weapon instead of going to war to
achieve desired outcomes.
U.S. Examples:
2017 President Obama lifted sanction of U.S.
citizens traveling to Cuba and Cuban
immigration to the United States.
2006–07 economic sanctions against the
Palestinian National Authority after HAMAS
was elected to the Government.
Economic sanctions against North Korea.
Sanctions against Iraq four days
after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait
1990s Disinvestment from South Africa to
pressure SA to end Apartheid.
What type of aid is being provided when food,
water, and clothing is provided during a
crisis?
What are organizations run by the federal
government but not under the direct control of
the Executive Branch called?
What are examples of Executive Branch
“Checks” on the Legislative Branch?
Humanitarian Aid, also known as Disaster
Relief.
Independent Agencies. NASA, the Securities
and Exchange Commission SEC, and the
FDIC are examples.
• VETO POWER***
• Call Special Session of Congress***
• Setting policy agenda (influencing
Congressmen, the public, State of the
Union, using the media, etc.)
**(Executive Orders – give directives to
bureaucracy without Congress passing a law)
**(Executive Agreements – make agreement
with leader of another country, doesn’t need
Senate approval but is not U.S. law and is
not binding for other Presidents)
When the President orders U.S. Troops to
perform an act of combat, what role is he
performing?
He is acting as Commander in Chief
If the President AND the Vice President are
both unable to serve, who is next in line for
the office of POTUS
The Speaker of the House. This is the
elected representative chosen by the other
members of the Majority Party in power in the
U.S. House of Representatives.