Military Leadership

  As Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, the President has the power to formulate and direct military strategy and actions in times of war and peace. As the country's principal military commander, the President is responsible for the nation's security and the safety of its citizens. Although the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war, historically the President has had nearly total freedom to send troops into combat. In the second half of the 19th century, many Presidents sent U.S. forces into Latin American countries to defend American business interests. Harry Truman made a much more substantial commitment of American soldiers in 1950 when he decided to fight the Korean War (1950-1953). A series of Presidents—Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon—waged war in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war from Congress. Since the establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1947, nearly every President has used executive power to order the agency to conduct covert³⁰ military operations abroad.

Appointive Powers  

Subject to confirmation by a majority of the Senate, the President appoints the members of the Cabinet, the heads of independent federal agencies, and a large number of the administrative personnel of the federal executive departments and agencies. The President also appoints federal judges, including the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States; many federal employees; and the diplomatic representatives of the United States. The President also commissions, subject to congressional confirmation, all officers of the armed forces.

The appointive powers of Presidents include the freedom to spend substantial sums of money to facilitate their administration of the government and the exercise of their constitutional powers. Franklin Roosevelt, for example, authorized the Manhattan Project—a massive federal project to build an atomic bomb during World War II. Since the end of World War II, Presidents have used their budgetary authority to support the CIA's secret projects.

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PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION

  Presidents can be removed from office only through death, resignation, an inability to discharge the powers and duties of their office, or by impeachment and conviction of treason, bribery, or other serious crimes and misdemeanors. Congress has conducted impeachment proceedings against only one President, Andrew Johnson. After the House voted to impeach Johnson in 1866, the Senate tried him in 1867 and acquitted him by one vote. Only one President has resigned, Richard Nixon in 1974, when the House Judiciary Committee drew up articles of impeachment for his crimes and misdemeanors in the Watergate scandal. Eight Presidents have died in office: William Henry Harrison (1841), Zachary Taylor (1850), Abraham Lincoln (assassinated 1865), James A. Garfield (assassinated 1881), William McKinley (assassinated 1901), Warren G. Harding (1923), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1945), and John F. Kennedy (assassinated 1963).

The order of succession upon the demise, removal, resignation, or incapacity of a President has been changed four times in the country's history. Under the Constitution, the Vice President is the undisputed successor to the President. But should both the President and Vice President be unable to govern, Congress mandated in 1792 that the President pro tempore of the Senate or the Speaker of the House, in that order, succeed to the presidency, but only for the purpose of ordering a new election. In 1886 Congress changed the succession rules so that if both the presidency and vice presidency were vacant, the Secretary of State and then other Cabinet members in their order of seniority would become President. In 1947 Congress again changed the order of succession and this order remains in effect today: the Speaker of the House, followed by the Senate's President pro tem, the Secretary of State, and then other members of the Cabinet assume the presidency if there is no President or Vice President. In 1967 the 25th Amendment to the Constitution described the conditions under which the Vice President could temporarily replace an incapacitated President. (1780)

TEXT 27 ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY

  The power of the presidency makes it the most sought-after position in American politics. The keen competition for the post and high cost of waging an effective campaign limits the pool of candidates to a select few. The Constitution originally provided for the election of the President and Vice President by the Electoral College. Members of the Electoral College, who are called electors, represent their states by casting votes for two candidates, with the person receiving the greatest number of votes becoming President and the second-place finisher, Vice President. A tie vote in the 1800 election between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr led to the enactment in 1804 of the 12th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides that the electoral college use separate ballots, one for President and one for Vice President.

By the mid-19th century the votes of the Electoral College had only symbolic importance. Electors from each state simply followed the will of the voting majority by giving their votes to the candidate receiving the most popular votes.

The President and Vice President are the only public officials in the United States chosen in a nationwide election, which takes place every four years. There are three major steps in a Presidential candidate's journey toward the White House: primary elections, the party convention³¹, and the campaign for the general election between party nominees. After winning election the President takes an oath of office on Inauguration Day. The long and expensive process from primary elections through the general election weeds out³² most potential candidates.