The Presidency
Multiple-Choice Questions:
1. Which institutional resource is closest to the president?
a. Executive Office of the President b. White House staff c. the Cabinet
d. the vice president e. Joint Chiefs of Staff
2. Which of these became an official presidential qualification in 1951 with the ratification of the Twenty-Second Amendment?
a. natural born citizen b. at least 35 years old c. resident of the United States for two years
d. a maximum of two terms e. a college degree
3. What is executive privilege?
a. the ability to refuse to spend money appropriated by Congress b. the ability to veto programmatic requests in a bill
c. the power to declare war or initiate a police action d. the right to direct the policy of federal agencies
e. the right to keep communications confidential to the presidency
4. What has to happen in Congress before the president can be impeached?
a. The House can impeach the president by a simple majority; the Senate does not have a vote.
b. The Senate can impeach the president by a simple majority; the House does not have a vote.
c. The House can impeach the president by a simple majority; the Senate needs a two-thirds majority.
d. The Senate can impeach the president with a two-thirds majority; the House does not have a vote.
e. The House and Senate must both have a two-thirds majority.
5. Throughout most of its history, which was considered an insignificant office?
a. attorney general b. chief of staff c. secretary of state d. Speaker of the House
e. vice president
6. Which of the following is an example of the rally-round-the-flag effect?
a. George H. W. Bush was reelected after winning the first Gulf War.
b. Jimmy Carter gained respect during his handling of the Iranian hostage crisis.
c. During the Watergate investigation, Richard Nixon's approval ratings soared.
d. George W. Bush's popularity was boosted following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
e. Ronald Reagan's approval rating increased sharply during the Iran-Contra scandal.
7. The use of __________ in foreign matters is an example of the president acting as a global leader.
a. pocket vetoes b. executive privilege c. executive agreements
d. executive orders e. signing statements
8. What role was Thomas Jefferson performing as president when he made the Louisiana Purchase?
a. chief executive b. chief diplomat c. chief legislator d. commander in chief
e. chief of state/head of state
9. What role does a president play when celebrating a national holiday?
a. chief of state/head of state b. chief of staff c. chief diplomat d. chief legislator
e. chief executive
10. Appointing which group is the first major job for the president-elect?
a. the White House staff b. the Executive Office of the President
c. the National Security Council d. the Cabinet e. the Supreme Court
11. When Abraham Lincoln imposed a blockade of Confederate shipping, he claimed inherent powers under which constitutional requirement?
a. war power b. take care clause c. pardon power d. veto power e. vesting clause
12. Why does the perception of a mandate matter in presidential politics?
a. Since public approval has become much more important to modern presidents, most presidents rely on the mandate and the polls to measure their popularity and increase their approval ratings.
b. The presidential mandate claimed by modern presidents makes it easier for them to get their choices of Supreme Court justices approved than in the past.
c. Because Congress sees the president as holding a mandate of the people, the legislators do not block the president's agenda as vehemently as legislators in the past did.
d. The president's mandate consists of the modern perception among members of Congress that, by virtue of having been elected, the president has the ability to manage the bureaucracy.
e. Because modern presidents are more dependent on the people for election and more involved in policy making than early presidents, they are prone to claim the mandate of the people when governing.
13. Which of the following statements best characterizes the nature of the conflict between presidents and Congress?
a. The conflict is a by-product of the weakening of American political parties.
b. The conflict is integral to the design of the Constitution, deliberately intended by the authors of the constitution.
c. The conflict is a by-product of the recent polarization of the American party system.
d. The conflict is a by-product solely of divided government.
e. The conflict intensifies when Republicans control the presidency and Democrats control Congress.
14. How has the office of vice president changed over the years?
a. The vice president is no longer trusted as he once was.
b. The vice president, who once was very involved, is now frozen out of the policy-making process.
c. The vice president has been more involved in the policy-making process in recent years than in the past.
d. The vice president used to be involved in important tasks, but now spends most of his time acting as a figurehead.
e. The vice presidency has become a prerequisite for the presidency.
15. What distinguishes the modern presidency from the institution originally envisioned by the Framers of the Constitution?
a. The modern presidency has become the central focus of American politics since the 1930s, supplanting Congress as the "first branch" of government.
b. The modern presidency is less involved in the development of foreign policy than the Framers intended.
c. Modern presidents exhibit a greater level of deference to Congress in budgetary matters than the Framers intended.
d. Modern presidents are much less democratic than the Framers intended.
e. Modern presidents are more cautious in advocating for their legislative agendas than the Framers intended.
16. What was the turning point that gave rise to the modern institutional presidency?
a. the social strife arising from the civil rights movement
b. the economic and social turmoil of the Great Depression
c. the demands of managing a modern army during World War I
d. the rise and importance of television as a mechanism that brought the president into the living rooms of American citizens
e. the rapid contraction of government following the conclusion of World War II
17. Why was it significant that George Washington was the first person elected to the presidency?
a. His ambitions greatly expanded the powers of the presidency.
b. His early actions served to establish important precedents that greatly increased the political legitimacy of the office.
c. His military leadership as president was critical during the War of 1812.
d. His ambitions set up an early struggle between Congress and the presidency.
e. His early actions served to weaken the office of the presidency, making it subservient to Congress for much of American history.
18. How does the White House staff differ from the president's Cabinet?
a. The White House staff has greater access to and more influence on the president than the Cabinet.
b. The Cabinet has more access to the president than the White House staff.
c. The president can fire the White House staff but only Congress can dismiss a member of the Cabinet.
d. The Cabinet is less democratic and less accountable than the White House staff.
e. The White House staff has less specialized policy knowledge than the Cabinet.
19. Why was the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution adopted?
a. to clear up ambiguities over the constitutional provisions surrounding presidential powers to conduct war
b. to clear up ambiguities over the constitutional provisions surrounding the role of the vice president should the president die or become incapacitated
c. to clear up ambiguities over the constitutional provisions surrounding the president's powers to negotiate treaties
d. to clear up ambiguities over the constitutional provisions surrounding the separate election of the vice president
e. to clear up ambiguities over the constitutional provisions surrounding the separation of powers between the executive branch and the legislative branch
20. Which of the following is a major concern surrounding current congressional-presidential relations?
a. Presidents are delegating too many constitutional powers to Congress.
b. The principle of the separation of powers is eroding in favor of expanded congressional power.
c. The principle of the separation of powers is eroding in favor of expanded presidential power.
d. Congress is overriding presidential vetoes too easily, effectively ending the Madisonian system of checks and balances.
e. Congressional oversight over the bureaucracy is making it impossible for presidents to carry out executive functions.
21. What is a possible problem of the War Powers Resolution (1973) as written?
a. It makes Congress too powerful in the conduct of war.
b. It runs counter to the intentions of the Framers by diminishing the separation of powers between the two branches of government in favor of Congress.
c. It gives Congress the power to wage war without the president's consent.
d. It gives the president the power to wage short-term wars without congressional approval.
e. It gives the president too much discretion in allocating how funds are used in war.
True-False Questions:
22. The president may grant pardons to anyone convicted of a federal crime for any reason.
23. When a bill is sent to Congress, the president is not allowed to encourage specific members of Congress to vote for the bill.
24. Congress has the sole authority to declare war.
25. A parliamentary government elects prime ministers from the parliament.
26. If a president does not sign or veto a bill within ten days after receiving it, the bill does not become law.
27. The Framers originally decided that the vice president would be the presidential candidate who received the second most Electoral College votes.
28. The Framers included a two-term limit to the presidency in the Constitution.
29. Joan O'Leary wants to run for president. She is a natural-born citizen of the United States. She is 45 years old. She has been a resident of the United States for 10 years. Therefore, she meets the requirements to become president.
30. If Barack Obama wants to disapprove individual items within a spending bill rather than the bill in its entirety, he can use the line-item veto.
Fill-in-the-Blank Questions:
31. The idea that the president may be advised by executive branch officials in confidence without the advice becoming public is called __________.
32. As a result of the __________ scandal, Richard Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment and a Senate trial.
33. The __________ address has become one of the most important tools a president can use to call attention to the presidential agenda.
34. A __________ is a binding and public agreement between the United States and one or more nations, requiring mutual action toward a common goal.
35. The __________ is the president's loyal assistant who oversees the flow of information in and out of the White House.
36. The __________ is an advisory group chosen by presidents to help them make decisions and execute laws.
37. The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 created the __________ authority of the president, although the use of that authority was later sharply curtailed in 1974.
38. In the role of __________, presidents have argued that they have inherent power to respond to emergencies and protect the safety of Americans and the security of the United States.
39. The power of the veto depends on how difficult it will be to __________ a president's decision.
40. The president would seek the advice of the __________ regarding how much the administration should propose to spend for each government program.
41. According to the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, if a vacancy occurs in the office of the vice president, the __________ appoints a new vice president.
42. If a president wants to appoint a particularly controversial nominee to office without Senate confirmation, he or she may choose to use the __________ while Congress is on a formal break.
43. According to the Constitution, __________ should be reserved for serious criminal offenses, not political conflicts.
44. The Framers were concerned that giving the president too much power would lead to a __________.
45. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, George W. Bush and Congress added the Department of Homeland Security to the executive body known as the __________.